I bought this book today and the title is a bit misleading… This is actually an anti-Catholic book that discusses how all the things we believe aren’t backed up in scripture… I’m hanging out with J-Dawg, H-Love, and C-Money and we’re having fun defending our faith…to ourselves… We NEED to be prepared to defend our faith!!
If someone came up to you and asked you… “Why do you believe in God?”, “Why are you Catholic?”, what do you say? Are you prepared? Protestants are known for being well educated in their scripture so when one of our protestant friends inquires into our beliefs (purgatory, confession, Mary) it’s pertinent that were ready to back ourselves up… WE know personally why we believe what we do but being able to explain it and defend it is super important. The point is to show them WHY we believe not to convince them that what we believe is right… so don’t get frustrated when they don’t suddenly decide to convert… THAT’S NOT THE POINT! But we DO want to try and leave them wondering…
:::How do we do this:::
We need a plan! My suggestion… and something I will be doing myself soon…
*First*
Answer the questions “Why do I believe in God?”, and “Why am I Catholic?” Take some time to really think about it and write whatever you can come up with… no need to organize it just yet.
*Second*
Make a list of important and unique things that Catholic’s believe. Easily found by using a search engine and searching something like “Why do Catholics believe what they believe?” or something similar.
*Third*
One by one come up with a defense. A reason for your beliefs to each question… Use scriptural backup as well as common sense… powerful statements are key. Consider what the person you may debate with will say back to you and prepare to defend yourself.
*Fourth*
After you’ve done all this redefine “Why you are a Catholic believer in God.” This should be your basis to any religious debate/conversation you have with people… when in doubt, come back to it… for instance: Someone asks you a question about your faith and you just don’t have the answer… your response… “look… I don’t know everything yet, I’m learning every day and I’m trying to find the answers but God’s plan and his creation is so intricate I will NEVER know everything by the day I die… but I do know that I believe because [insert powerful believer statement here] and based on that and the experiences I’ve had… I have nothing to doubt, nothing to fear, nothing but faith to guide me and lead me on my path to heaven” WHAM BAM THANK YOU CATHOLIC!
This is all just a guideline and was just me streaming my quick thoughts into something to share so there’s no need to feel the obligation to follow these steps… but just think about the possiblities of being prepared… the difference we could make if were pro-active instead of reactive. God has given us each individual gifts… what are yours? Harness them and create your powerful believer statement cause one day God will bring an unbeliever to you and if you’re ready you will greatly please the Almighty One.
“I command you: be firm and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God, is with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9
^^C-Money throws a shout out to all her peeps in da hood yo
^^^J-Dawg does not have any shout outs
^^^^H-Love also is shoutoutless
^^^^^hardlyperfect throws a shout out to his faithful reader TQ (you know who you are)
God Bless,
hardlyperfect
totally agree! We really do need to be more prepared to defend our faith. I know i’ve been caught off guard before with”attacks” and not been able to support my beliefs.
oh my blogness, i got a shout out! woohoo! great post! I just wanted to mention that in writing all one’s defenses down there are SO MANY awesome Catholic resources available (I personally like using the Web, reliable sources that is). Anywho, these resources can lead you to the exact place in the bible where lots of things we believe are founded on. I know you mentioned this kind of but i just wanted to mention that there really are some great sites out there.
Faith is a personal choice and that choice, whatever it may be, should not need to be justified or defended to anyone.
while that may be true, the defense is not for your own personal benefit but so that you can show the light to others who may not see certain aspects of faith in the same way. I almost made an addition to say that it’s also important when debating or rather discussing faith that we stay calm and always remember that we don’t need to PROVE ourselves because like you said, it doesn’t need to be justified
Another WONDERFUL resource that will help us better understand our faith and inform others about why we believe what we believe is the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Check it out! Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about Catholicism is in there!
Courageously His,
MC