Apologetics

For the purpose of Catholic/Christian debate, one point stands out. It is the Catholic position that a Roman Catholic, with seven children, can claim after 20 years of marriage that he was psychologically immature when he got married and can therefore get an annulment and become free to remarry.

Or a Catholic can cite the fact that he and his fiancee decided to have no more than 12 children, and get an annulment.

If it were not for the unbiblical provision of annulments for discontented spouses, one would admire the consistency of the Catholic position, even if not agreeing entirely with it.

(There are several chapters with which we have no basic disagreement and, while we cannot go on record as agreeing with all Patrick writes, there is no reason to include them in this article.)

Chapter 13, Why Confess to a Priest?

(In passing, it is interesting to note that this became a subject of interest to many, especially American Roman Catholics. This, and other abuses like General Absolution, became so widespread that Pope John Paul II had to issue an encyclical stating that absolution demanded confession to a priest. This was still largely ignored; as the saying goes, a practicing Catholic in America is one who reads the pope’s encyclicals before disobeying them.)

Patrick “tiptoes through the tulips” as he tries to maintain that “God alone forgives sin” and “the priest actually forgives sin” with the addition of “in the name of Christ” to take the sting out.

Then he uses 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 in an apparent attempt to say that “entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” has reference to the Rite of Reconciliation, the new name given at Vatican II to the Sacrament of Penance.

From a look at what the Bible actually says, it is talking about reconciliation through the Gospel message, and has no thought of penance.

At a debate in Denver, I asked Patrick if he first became a Christian at his baby baptism. He said that his baptism was the time he was born again and became a Christian.

Since the Bible pointedly excludes human cooperation in the process of the New Birth, I was brought to the conclusion that, by his own testimony, Pat Madrid was not a Bible Christian. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that a natural man cannot receive spiritual truth.

I am going to quote a fairly long paragraph from Patrick’s book to illustrate this point. We will have to excuse him as he has not the biblical prerequisite for biblical understanding. He writes, having quoted Mark 1:40-44 and stating that “there’s a parallel between what happened to this leper and confession to a priest.

“Sin, especially mortal sin, is like leprosy - a contagious and horribly disfiguring disease that causes one’s (sic) flesh to literally rot away. The leper is like the sinner. He asked Christ for healing, as Catholics do by repenting and turning away from sin. Christ healed the sinner just as he (sic) forgives the repentant sinner. But notice that Christ didn’t simply heal the leper and send him on his way. He instructed him to go into the city and present himself to the priest so that the priest could examine him and verify the cure; upon that determination, the priest would formally declare the man to be healed and permit him to reenter society. Similarly, in the sacrament of confession, the priest absolves the penitent. He then imposes a penance on the penitent; the cured leper likewise performed a sacrifice of ritual expiation (Leviticus 14). From this passage we can see why Christ instituted the great sacrament of confession.”

Read Leviticus 14:1-32 and see if this compares with Catholic confession.

Patrick closes with a quote from 1 John 1:9, emphasizing If we confess our sins . . .Of course, the word “confess” has nothing whatever to do with confession to a priest. It merely means assent; that we agree with God concerning the wickedness of our sin.

Chapter 15, The Saints: A Great Cloud of Witnesses

We can assume, by using this title that Patrick will be using the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 as examples of Catholic saints; which is what he does.

He correctly points out that the Greek word for “witness” is martus, meaning martyr. However, he proceeds from there to make the assumption that, now in heaven, they are witnesses from above.

From this point he concludes that, as witnesses, they observe how we run the race toward our heavenly goal.

It is important to interject here the fact that the heavenly goal to which Patrick is referring is the attainment of Heaven itself, what Catholics call “the beatific vision,” or actual completed salvation.

For the Christian, the completed work for our salvation has already been completed (Hebrews 10:14) and this work for salvation has already received God’s pronouncement of His being satisfied with the price paid (Isaiah 53:11).

If Patrick’s concept of the goal were biblical, we would have a basis to believe the ultimate finality of the Catholic argument: that the saints help us, by their intercession, achieve Heaven.

Catholic theology has invented a logical way of getting necessary merit of the saints transferred to our account to make Heaven possible. It is called the Treasury of Merit or the Treasury of the Church.

According to Roman Catholicism, This Treasury contains the superabundant merits of Christ and the saints from which the Church draws to confer spiritual blessings, as Indulgences. The thought is that some saints had a surplus of merit (more than they needed for Heaven). Rather than lose these, God stored them so others who have need can draw from this superabundance.

Dr. Ludwig Ott, in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, page 441, states, "By an indulgence (indulgentia) is understood the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment of sin remaining after the forgiveness of the guilt of sin. This remission is valid in the sight of God, and it is granted by the Church out of Her treasury of satisfaction.”

While Patrick tries to emphasize the idea of the saints encouraging us, Roman Catholic teaching is that the saints can be a practical help us as we strive toward Heaven.

The modern American Roman Catholic church has likewise tried to minimize the salvific benefits gained through prayer to the saints.

In October 2006 the heart of St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests, was displayed at several places in the Eastern United States.

Those who gather to venerate the relic, which they will do by genuflecting and kneeling in prayer in the presence of St. John Vianney’s heart will not be seeking selfish desires.

In the words of The Rev. Daniel Hennessey, vocations director of the Archdiocese of Boston, they will “ask St. John Vianney to intercede with God for the Archdiocese of Boston, (so) that the Lord might send to us more men who are called to be ordained priests.”

Chapter 18, Are Catholic Prayers “Vain Repetitions”

It is interesting to see how Patrick will give definitions of Greek words when they seem to bolster his point but ignore them when convenient to do so.

He emphasizes that Jesus, in Matthew 6:7, forbade the use of “vain repetitions,” not all repetitions. He failed to mention that the Greek word used is Battios, which means a proverbial stammerer and is translated “vain repetitions.” Strong says that the definition “to prate tediously” is implied, and if you have ever heard a recitation of the entire 15 decades of the Rosary you must admit that is a good definition!

Patrick mentions some prayers which he would categorize as repetitions but not vain repetitions. We would agree with him regarding the “Lord’s Prayer,” and Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. But God’s use of repeated prayers does not condone the use of a prayer like the “Hail Mary,” which is a vain repetition.

To be vain means to be void of real meaning, to be empty. Let us consider the Rosary . The oft repeated Hail Mary or Ave Maria consists of several parts.

The first is, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.” The only problem Christians have theologically is the Roman Catholic ascribing of fullness of grace to Mary and implying that this means sinlessness.

Romans 5:20 tells us that abounding grace is present because abounding sin makes it necessary; yet Catholics reverse the God-given definition to adopt one that is used to promote Mary.

But the “Hail Mary” goes downhill from there. After a reference to Mary’s and Jesus’ being blessed, it gives Mary the ridiculous name “Mother of God.”

I was in the Philippines several years ago and had an opportunity to converse with a young Filipino. After a while, I asked him a question.

The question, “Are you older than your mother?” brought a smile to his face, and, before he could respond I asked “Is God older than His mother?”

Putting theological theories to one side, one would have to say that, if Mary be the Mother of God, she must be older than He is. Simple, yet profound. To grant this status to Mary would be to promote her to a position she never, as “the handmaid of the Lord” would have desired.

The Catholic Church has always promoted the belief in the equality of the Members of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If she is the Mother of God and the Mother of Jesus and the Spouse of both the Holy Spirit and Joseph, we have a situation that outdoes Peyton Place. As Shakespeare has said, “O what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

Patrick’s closing statement about pagans who invoke “the assistance of gods that do not even exist” comes close to summing up fundamentalist understanding of the Roman Catholic Rosary.

Chapter 19, Do Christians Have an Absolute Assurance of Salvation?

Patrick writes, “Many Protestants understand being ‘saved’ as a once-in-a-lifetime moment.” Other people, including but not limited to Roman Catholics, look upon salvation as a process. As this is such a vital subject, we will go into detail as to why Bible believing Christians believe it is folly to view salvation other than a work of God that is infinite and complete.

The best way to understand the difference is to look at the Person Who purchased our salvation, and see if other world religions have the same understanding of Him.