"Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence..." (1 Peter 3:15)
Despite the apparent similarity between these words, "apologetics" is not synomymous with "apology". We are not apologising for our faith, but, as our first Pope, St Peter admonishes us, we must "be prepared to make a defense (Greek: Apologian) of the hope that is in us."
Especially nowadays as information can be obtained through the push of a button, resources for Catholic apologetics are a-plenty. However, it often happens that we are caught off-guard by a certain comment on YouTube; a conversation may become a little heated over a certain topic; or the Faith is once again challenged by condescending show host or ridiculed in an irreverant TV show. Whatever the case may be, we know that such remarks or statements are wrong, but do we also have right words and enough knowledge to refute them?
Dealing with the knowledge aspect is perhaps the easier part. In short, everything we need to know to defend the faith (regardless of who the attackers may be), are found in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition - all of which is succinctly summarised and coherently presented in the Catechism. As such, there are two books that every Catholic should have a physical copy of in their home:
The Holy Bible (preferably the Douay-Rheims or the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
In future blogs, we'll discuss these invaluable resources in more detail. For now, let us look at some of the most common claims made by sola scriptura Christians against the Catholic faith and how to respond and debunk these claims in a few short sentences.
Adherents of sola scriptura, believe that the Bible is only source of Divine Revelation and is the only authority that informs our faith in Christ. It is therefore advisable to remind ourselves of why the sola scriptura position is inherently false:
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Bible is the only source of Divine Revelation. 'Sola Scriptura' is therefore a non-biblical premise and therefore directly contradicts itself and exposes itself as nothing more than a "man-made tradition" which adherents of the sola scriptura should, by their own logic, reject.
Nowhere in the Bible is there a list of books that belong to the Bible. The Bible is a collection of 73 divinely inspired Scriptures and was compiled by the Church in the 4th century AD. During the Protestant Revolt of the 16th century, Martin Luther removed 7 books from the Old Testament and almost discarded James, Hebrews and Revelation from the New Testament as well. He deliberately mistranslated Romans 3:28 to read "justified by faith alone" (he added the word 'alone' which does not appear in the original text). In short, protestantism is a man-made religion that has taken the bible (an abridged and mistranslated bible) out of the Church and used it to found their own 'churches' (of which there are now more than 30,000 all claiming to be right and having the true interpretation of God's Word).
The vast majority of claims and accusations made against the Catholic Church and her doctrines are in fact NOT what the Church teaches but rather what her opponents THINK she teaches. Again, this is where your knowledge of the Bible and Church teaching (as laid out in the Catechism) will come in.
Leading on from Point 3 above, let us now look at a list of seven common claims often used to undermine and refute (their view of) the Catholic faith. This list is based on a poster I once came across on social media called "Catholicism vs the Truth" where their version of "Catholicism" consisted of the following (mostly erroneous) statements:
"You are justified by good works to attain righteousness"
"You need a priest"
"Mary mediates between you and God"
"You need to make sacrifices to be at peace with God"
"You can lose your salvation"
"Do good deeds, perform the sacraments, live holy and get canonised to be a saint"
"You can worship graven images"
These seven statements were listed in the left column and "refuted" by one or two scripture passages listed under a generic heading called "The Truth". Again, it is important to stress that the majority of these seven claims are what many Protestants THINK Catholics believe. Based on the Church's own teachings (i.e. what the Church actually teaches), we will now look at how we can respond to and refute such claims, for when we come across them online or in person.
1. "You are Justified by good works to attain righteousness"
Based on Protestant Claim: "We are justified by faith alone" (mistranslated version of Romans 3:28)
Catholic Response: The reformed protestant view of justification is a man-made invention that always means something different depending on which denomination you ask. A very common (but false) view is that justification (how we are made right in God's sight) is distinct from regeneration/sanctification (how we are changed interiorly).
The Catholic Church has always maintained that to be justified is to be regenerated/sanctified and vice versa. We are first justified by God's grace through the merits of Christ's salvific sacrifice on Calvary and these merits are applied directly to us at water baptism as the Bible teaches again and again (John 3:5; Acts 2:37-38, 22:16; Rom 6:4; 1 Cor 6:11; Titus 3:5; Heb 10:22).
As for good works, the Bible is very clear that we are "justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). Martin Luther wanted to remove the Letter of St James from the Bible because it didn't match up with his theology.
2. "You need a priest"
Based on Protestant Claim: "Christ is the only priest in the New Covenant" (as per Hebrews 2:17, 3:1 et al)
Catholic Response: "You need a priest" is an incomplete statement that has the same value as saying, "You need a doctor" or "You need a plumber". We have priests because Christ established a priesthood for the New Covenant at the Last Supper.
Christ is indeed the eternal high priest as per the Epistle to the Hebrews, and just like Ancient Israel, the Church has a high priest (Jesus Christ) and a priesthood consisting of bishops, priests and deacons (Rom 15:16; Acts 15:6, 23; 1 Tim 4:14. 5:17, 22), the first of which were the apostles whom Jesus Himself had selected and who in turn ordained their successors by the laying on of hands (Acts 1:15-26; 2 Tim 2:2; Titus 1:5).
3. "Mary mediates between you and God"
Based on Protestant Claim: "Jesus is the only mediator between you and God" (as per 1 Timothy 2:5)
Catholic Response: Depends on how you define the term "mediate". Don't we also "mediate" when we pray for each other? Should we stop praying for healing, conversions, safety because Christ is the sole mediator?
Mary's role in God's divine plan is hidden in the Old Testament in plain sight and revealed in the New Testament:
1) As Christ is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve. Gen 3:15 refers to the "woman" by whose seed the serpent will be defeated. Jesus applies this prophecy to His mother when He refers to her as "woman" (John 2:4, 19:26) and John also sees this woman in his vision, where she gives birth to the child whom the devil tries to devour (Rev 12).
2) She is the Ark of the New Covenant who carried the Word made Flesh (foreshadowed by the stone tablets), the Bread of Life (jar of manna) and the eternal High Priest (staff of Aaron) in her womb (also compare 2 Samuel 6:9-15 with Luke 1:39-45).
3) She is the 'Gebrirah' (Queen Mother) in the Kingdom of Heaven (compare Bathsheba and Solomon in 1 Kings 19-20 with Mary and Jesus in John 2:1-11).
4) The biblical figures of Ruth, Judith and Esther are all types of Mary as Mother, Virgin and Queen, respectively.
4. "You need to make sacrifices to be at peace with God"
Based on Protestant Claim: "We no longer need to make sacrifices as Jesus already sacrificed himself" (as per Matthew 9:13 and some other New Testament references to the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant)
Catholic Response: The supposed "Catholic" claim that "we need to make sacrifices to be at peace with God" is a very vague and ambiguous statement (again, remember that this is what many protestants think Catholics believe and not what Catholics actually believe).
As He Himself declared, Jesus is our source of peace (John 14:27, 16:33). We make sacrifices to help us grow stronger in the faith and to reject the worldly things that get in the way between us and God. Giving up sin (as Jesus and St Paul said to do in John 5:14, 8:11 and 1 Cor 15:34) can be considered a form of sacrifice; especially if it's become a habit or a disordered desire we struggle with on a daily basis.
5. "You can lose your salvation"
Based on Protestant Claim: "Once saved, always saved" (System Error: Bible reference could not be found)
Catholic Response: Statement 5 is the only one in this list that accurately represents the Church's posiition on the matter. The fact that we can lose our salvation is very clear in Scripture, and the Church has taught this from the very beginning. Here are some examples straight from the Bible:
"...continue in God's kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off." (Rom 11:21-22)
"I beat my body and subdue it, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified." (1 Cor 9:27)
"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall." (1 Cor 10:12)
"You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace." (Gal 5:4)
"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12)
"The promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it." (Heb 4:1)
"For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they [those who had been saved] then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold Him up to contempt." (Heb 6:4-6)
"For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries..." (Heb 10:26-29)
Church teaching, which is based on and entirely compatible with the Bible, affirms that salvation comes in three stages:
It is a past event - "I have been saved" (Rom 8:24; Eph 2:5-8; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5)
It is an ongoing process - "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12)
It is a future event - "I will be saved" (Acts 15:11; Rom 5:9-10, 13:11; 1 Cor 3:15; Heb 9:28)
6. "Do good deeds, perform the sacraments, live holy & get canonised to be a saint"
Based on Protestant Claim: Same as Point 1 above (justified by faith alone)
Catholic Response: No, you don't need to be formally canonised in order to be a saint. Every person who died in a state of grace and is now with God in heaven is a saint. Canonisation is an official declaration by the Church that a specific person of tremendous faith, hope and love has been entered into the catalogue of saints and can be asked to present prayers and petitions before God whom they now see face to face (Tobit 12:15; Heb 12:1; Rev 5:8, 8:3)
We are all called to holiness. Doing good deeds (Mt 25:31-46; Gal 6:6-10), availing of (not "performing") the sacraments which Christ Himself instituted (all sacraments have a biblical basis) and living holy lives (Ex 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9) help us on our journey to becoming the saints God wants us to be.
7. "You can worship graven images"
Based on Protestant Claim: Catholics are idolaters who worship pictures and statues
Catholic Response: Absolutely not. Church teaching has always been clear that worship (Latin: "Latria") is due to God alone. Icons and sacred images remind us of those they depict and are not objects of worship in and of themselves. Looking at photographs of your loved ones isn't idolatry and neither is an image of Christ (whom we worship because He is God) or of a saint (whom we venerate and revere for their examples of steadfast faith, hope and love).
Idolatry is the worshipping of a created item as though it were God. The golden calf is a case in point. Here the Israelites created a bull out of gold and declared that this was the "god" who brought them out of Egypt.
On numerous occasions, God told His people to create images which then served a specific purpose in public worship:
* the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert (Num 21:8-9)
* the golden cherubim which were placed in the Holy of Holies (Ex 25:18)
* the images that decorated Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:23-35, 7:29 and 36)
* the bronze pool/molten sea outside the Temple which stood on twelve oxen (1 Kings 7:25)
If a Catholic "worships" the actual picture or a statue, then yes, he is committing idolatry. Praying to God in front of an image and remembering what He did for us or in the life of a particular saint, is not.
In Conclusion
Let us close with a quote from the late and great Archbishop Fulton J Sheen who wisely stated that "There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be."
Scripture and Tradition are our most important resources to defend the Faith and the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ. We have all the tools we need, it only remains for us to put them to good use.