How Not To Share Your Faith

[Cure of Ars]

This is one that I need to keep in mind more.

Not distinguishing enemies from allies is the Fifth Deadly Sin of Catholic Apologetics. We are in the middle of a culture war in the West. Many people whose theology we Catholics cannot wholly subscribe to are, nevertheless, on our side in the culture war. To use the late Evangelical thinker Francis Schaeffer’s term, they are “cobelligerents.” We must be able to distinguish allies from true enemies on an issue.

In the grand scheme of things, it is not Catholic vs. Protestants so much as believers vs. unbelievers; absolutists vs. relativists. It is truth vs. error, which the old serpent, the Father of Lies, using others to front for him. Consequently, we risk unintentionally shooting an ally (or ourselves in the foot) by always aiming our apologetically firepower so close to home-at those nearest us theologically-or, at the other extreme, by shooting at anything that moves on the non-Catholic theological landscape.

And later;

It is easier to talk with Evangelicals of Fundamentalists, but is that where our apologetical focus should be? If you were the lone Catholic apologist in a room full of religiously diverse people interested in discussing religion, would you zero in on the Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christian and start arguing about the papacy, say, or justification by faith alone? Many apologist would not, but more than a few I know would. Meanwhile, the non-Christians would be ignored. More likely than not, they would also be scandalized by Christians bickering among themselves. The moral: as Catholic apologists, we must guard against a preoccupation with Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism that leads us to ignore the wider mission of talking with non-Christians.

And later:

This is not to say that Catholics apologists should not engage Evangelicals or Fundamentalists, only that we must discern the proper time and place for it. We should not spend all our time and energy arguing with those who know Christ while neglecting those who do not.

[morostheos]

Amen to that!

Something I definitely need to work on too. It's so much easier to defend Catholicism though, because it is all logical; wheras Christianity itself is based on faith in God...much harder to convince people of.

[[jas]]

So you agree that catholicism is not equal to christianity?

And yeah, faith in God is a GOOD THING! I think you'll find that most people believe not through logic but through faith that God is there and he is doing something in their lives.

[ironmonk]

,Oct 2 2003, 12:57 AM] So you agree that catholicism is not equal to christianity?

And yeah, faith in God is a GOOD THING! I think you'll find that most people believe not through logic but through faith that God is there and he is doing something in their lives.

Catholicism is pure Christianity.

God Bless,

ironmonk

[[jas]]

What makes you say that? I would have called it a subset of Christianity (just like every other denomination)

[Anna]

Protestantism is a subset of Catholicism.

Catholicism began in 33 A.D. and continued until today.

Luther, the Father of Protestantism, began editing the Bible and creating his own man-made doctrines in the 1500's.

How old is your church?

Pax Christi. <><

[[jas]]

Protestantism is a subset of Catholicism.

Oh, cool, so I'm a catholic then?

[Trooper4DaHolyG]

,Oct 2 2003, 04:59 AM] Oh, cool, so I'm a catholic then?

well acording to your group your not!

and according to my group I am phat!

[Trooper4DaHolyG]

:lol: hahaha that was a joke....

:lol:

[BLAZEr]

I think that there is a difference between EVANGELIZATION and APOLOGETICS.

Apologetics is the defense of Christian Truth (Catholic Teaching) from error and heresy. That means, by its nature, that we are defending against others who are Christians but in error, or those who are distorting Christian teaching. Sometimes we Apologize when speaking with a non-Christian because they are portraying something as Christian that isnt. Usually we Apologize with Christians who have some misconception of false understanding of Catholic Christian Doctrine.

Evangelization is sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and the Trinity with those who do not share our foundational belief that Jesus Christ is Lord, Son of God, and Redeemer of Mankind. Sometimes we evangelize Christians who do not know the full truth of what Christ teaches and God reveals, because they are uncatechised. Usually, however, we evangelize those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and we share him as the source of all that is good and true and beautiful in the world.

I think we should AlWAYS evangelize and when necessary APOLOGIZE . . . but never say we're sorry . . . lol . . .

And to be perfectly honest with you, whenever I'm in a room with a hardcore fundamentalist it's usually not me who goes over and starts arguing that he needs to believe in the Apostolic Authority of the Pope . . . it's usually the other way around . . . but hey I can handle it. They're going down! LOL :P

[jasJis]

,Oct 2 2003, 04:59 AM] Oh, cool, so I'm a catholic then?

You became Catholic when you were baptized. Catholicism is the fullness of Christianity. We spend the rest or our lives working at seperating and repairing our relationship with God. All baptized Christians are part of the Body of Christ. Protestants partially seperate themselves and don't have all the available opportunities for grace to repair the relationship. Just because it's damaged, doesn't make it destroyed. Catholics can (and do) easily damage the relationship, but have more graces available, because of the Church, to repair the relationship.

But hey, just because we have opportunities, it doesn't mean we know them or take advantage of them. Ask the average Catholic how often they make use of the Sacrament of Reconcilliation... In one sense, Catholics can be much stupider than Protestants. One doesn't know about it and they don't, the other knows better but they still don't.