Ask a Catholic

[Salacious B. Crumb]

I understand it took you awhile to respond; you answered people for a while in this thread, and it is quite time consuming, and you also have other threads you have conversations in as well, so no big deal there.

 Yes. I know so.

It really isn’t right to say, “Yes. I know so.” with regards to prayer working, and then not give examples. If you know so, then shouldn’t be ashamed of your prayer stories. Your stories wouldn’t be able to be ridiculed or explained away if “you knew so”. If there was an answered prayer, that couldn’t possibly happen without a god, the least we could say is that we don’t believe you, but likely would offer rational explanations if it was something that could be explained away. So, if your stories aren’t strong, you’re right, many people would probably make fun of you or try to offer a rational explanation. Rational explanations are something you should definitely consider. Maybe say, “I believe so”, not “I know so”.

I am going to assume that you do not believe in God and the Bible is just a work of fiction. I understand that.

I’m glad you can understand that, many christians can’t, even provided with very good reason.

However, would you be willing to concede that Catholics believe that God does exists and that the Church and the Bible are authoritative? That's logical, right?

I can concede to that is what the catholic faith accepts, but that doesn’t make it very logical. Do you realize that the catholic faith contradicts the bible in multiple ways (and the bible contradicts itself)? The bible says that jesus is the only mediator in 1 Tim 2:5. Catholics believe that mary and many other saints are mediators. I don’t think this is a requirement, but it shouldn’t be optional, when it clearly says in the bible that jesus is the only mediator. Which would mean, the rosary, and the countless other chaplets and prayers to saints, would be heresy. Catholic doctrine teaches mary was a perpetual virgin, in Mat 1:25, it says, mary remained a virgin UNTIL she gave birth to jesus. The bible says to only call your father in heaven, father. Not call priests father. I would agree that it’s minor, but I don’t understand why the church would contradict that. There are others, including, this next section.

So, the Bible (and the Church) teaches that the apostles were given authority by Jesus to forgive sin .

John 20:22-23
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

I can actually see where you’re coming from, especially in context, with the verse before that saying, “My father has sent me, so I send you”, but I don’t see how this relates to a priest, bishop, pope, etc. needing to be a mediator between man and god, in order to be forgiven of sin. This is completely made up by the catholic church. Jesus doesn’t tell his apostles to bless their successors, so that they too, can forgive other sins. I can’t interpret it the way you do, because of Jam 5:16 says to confess our sins to one another, pray for each other, and forgive one another that we shall be healed. This is a clear instruction in the bible, that can’t be left up to  interpretation. So, there is a contradiction here, if you interpret it the way you do. I also don’t think this makes sense, because there are many people around the world that can’t get in contact with a catholic priest. That would mean that these people couldn’t be forgiven.. correct? And, if your response is that they don't know, so god understands, then why would jesus suggest it, knowing that his message would not reach everyone on this planet? This is another reason why this interpretation falls apart. You can confess your wrongdoings to one another, and confess your wrongdoings to god, without a priest. I would say, jesus is saying to forgive one another, if you don’t, then your father in heaven won’t forgive you. This is something that is more relatable to people, in general, in my opinion.

Now, how could the apostles forgive sins unless they knew of them? And how could they know of them unless they were confessed?

There are many other verses from the OT and the NT which support the sacrament of reconciliation.

I gave you one that contradicts that. If you give me others, then that would mean even more contradictions. This is just one reason why the bible doesn’t make sense. You can’t throw out verses in it that agree with a point that you are trying to make, and ignore the others. That’s called cherry-picking, which is dishonest.

What I would suggest instead is that you ask, ask again, or continue to ask that God reveal Himself to you. He's been waiting for all eternity to do so.

I’ve done this.. and absolutely nothing. This is another reason to not believe in an omnibenevolent, omnipotent god. When god reveals himself to me, with others to witness, and confirm I’m not hallucinating, then I’ll believe. God knows this and other ways to convince me, yet doesn’t, do you think he doesn’t want me to believe in him? I am still open to the possibility of some sort of higher power out there, but I find it highly unlikely. But, I’m open-minded. That open-mindedness led me to realizing that for the very few reasons I gave you, plus many more logical ones, that the religion you adhere to (and that I used to adhere to) doesn’t make any sense.