Bible QUESTION from Shelley May 1, 2000 I was in a relationship with a Baptist and he ended the relationship because I am Catholic, And Catholic teachings go against the Bible. We had many discussions on our different religions in order to understand the differences. He was becoming open minded toward Catholicism when our relationship ended. How can you explain to someone that our religion is based on the Bible and that the Bible came out of our Church. I can never get him to give me specifics on what I believe that is not found in the Bible, so it is very hard to reply. I understand that the relationship is better off over because he is not open, but I still see him everyday. I just recently became his supervisor, and in the office the topic of religion comes up. I feel that this is an opportunity I was given for education.
Thank you, I really like this web site.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on May 4, 2000 Dear Miss Shelley:
If your friend will not specifically list the things he thinks are not Scriptural in Catholic doctrine it probably means that he is not wanting to hear the truth. He is coming from prejudice, not reason.
If a person refuses to reason together, then their is nothing we can do to convince them. Pray for them and hopefully someday they will have their blinders lifted.
As for how to tell people about the Biblical basis for Catholicism, that is easy. Learn and begin to tell others what the verses in the Bible are that form the basis of our doctrine.
There are many apologetics website, including ours, that deal with this subject.
For example, did you know that the word Pope referring to the leader of the Church is actually in the Bible? And that that papacy is specifically mentioned by Jesus?
Did you know that purgatory is mentioned in the New Testament? That praying for the dead is in the New Testament?
There are VERY FEW doctrines in Catholicism that are not based on the Bible. This is not speculation. It is a fact.
Now a Protestant may say that we are misinterpreting the verses of the Bible, but we could say the same thing about their interpretation. The point is that we DO have a BIBLICAL basis for our belief according to how we interpret the Bible. That is no different than the Protestant. They base their doctrine on the Bible based upon THEIR interpretation of the Bible.
We both come from the Bible in most things.
The problem is to determine who is right in their interpretation.
Well the Catholic interpretation has been the interpretation of 2000 years. The Protestant interpretation did not exist for 1500 years for the most part after Jesus as on the earth. That make their interpretation suspect since it just pops up out of no where except the egos of the reformers. But the Bible and the Bible alone PROVES the authority of the magisterium and the Pope. Once that is realized and that sola scriptura (the Bible alone) is actually an unscriptural doctrine, then the rest is gravy. We must concede the authority of the Church to interpret.
Nevertheless, regardless of interpretation arguments, Catholic do base their doctrine on Scripture. Only a bigot will not concede this once it is explained to him.
So find and discover the Biblical Basis for our Catholic belief. They explain that to your friend.
Here is a site that specializes on this issue: http://ic.net/~erasmus/
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