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There are dozens of points of contention between Catholics and Protestants. But they stand or fall on one fundamental question: Who or what has the ultimate authority to decide what Christians are to believe?

Protestants hold that Scripture alone is the ultimate authority in Christian life. Each Christian is responsible for reading the Scripture and determining its teaching.

Catholics say that the two sources of God’s revelation are Scripture and Tradition. The pope and the bishops in union with him have the authority to interpret this divine revelation for the Church.

But does Scripture support our belief in papal authority?

There are several passages we could point to, but we want to focus on the relationship between Matthew 16 and Isaiah 22.

Matthew 16:15–19
“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’”

This passage seems to clearly show Jesus giving authority over the Church to Peter. But the case is made even stronger by a look at the Old Testament passage that prefigures Matthew 16.

Isaiah 22:20–23
“In that day I [God] will call my servant Eli′akim the son of Hilki′ah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.”

Notice how God gives Eli′akim the key of the house of King David — a symbol of authority at that time. He becomes the chief steward of David’s house in the king’s absence.

His authority is absolute: “he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” Compare this to the giving of the keys to Peter in Matthew 16 and Jesus’ assurance that “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Why does this Old Testament passage matter?
Christians have always emphasized typology in Scripture. That means that people, places, and events in the Old Testament foreshadow people, places, and events in the New Testament.

This method of interpretation is justified in Scripture itself, when St. Paul refers to Christ as the “new Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:22). The Fathers of the Church build on this principle. St. Augustine said the “New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”

Saints and theologians have traditionally seen Christ as the new King David and David’s kingdom as a prefigurement of the Church. Therefore, it makes sense to see Eli′akim as a prefigurement of Peter and the papacy. Jesus’ disciples would likely have understood the meaning of the “keys of the kingdom” in light of this Old Testament backdrop. After all, they were Jews who were familiar with the Old Testament prophecies.

If you’re not into typology, you may find this argument unconvincing. But if you are (and you’re in good company with many saints and theologians), then this is a powerful argument in favor of the papacy.

Non-Catholics have produced countless pamphlets, books, and videos “proving” that Catholicism is false. You may have a Protestant preacher claiming that Catholicism is nothing more than paganism with Christ added to the pantheon. And many secular skeptics often point to the Crusades or Inquisition as evidence that the Church has zero credibility.

Some non-Catholics do an okay job arguing their case. But many others use the same old oft-refuted explanations.

If you’re a non-Catholic, here are three arguments you should stop using because they are simply bad.

 

1. “Catholics worship Mary and the saints.”
No, we don’t. We worship God alone. Part of the confusion here stems from the definition of “pray.” For many Protestants, prayer is always an act of worship. When they see Catholics praying to Mary and the saints, they think we are worshiping them.

But to Catholics, the word “pray” simply means “to ask.” So when we pray to Mary and the saints, we are asking them to intercede for us. It’s no different than asking a friend on earth to pray for you.

We don’t worship statues, but we do treat them with the reverence many people show to a photo of a deceased family member. Not because the photo itself is alive or magical, but because it calls to mind those dear to us.

2. “Catholics believe you can earn heaven.”
Not true. This objection usually comes from Protestants who believe in salvation by faith alone through grace alone.

Catholics don’t believe in salvation by faith alone. We recognize that we have to exercise charity to grow in that faith and become more like Christ.

However, we do believe in salvation by grace alone. Our good actions are meritorious, but grace enabled us to perform them. Therefore, we cannot boast about our accomplishments. If we make it to heaven, it will be because of God’s grace and our free cooperation with it, but even that cooperation is performed under the influence of grace!

3. “There have been many evil popes, bishops, and priests.”
This is a convincing argument at first. Many of us judge an organization based on its leaders. And there’s no doubt that there have been some awful characters and events throughout the Church’s 2,000-year history.

But this argument is bad for a couple of reasons. First, it ignores the countless saints that have held the Church up even as others tried to tear it down. Few people can match the incredible charity of people like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Teresa of Calcutta — individuals who gave up everything to serve the poor.

Second, there have always been reformers within the Church to counter the actions of its less savory leaders. For example, take a look at all the saints that arose during the Counter-Reformation (or perhaps better called the Catholic Reformation) and led the Church to a new period of flourishing.

The truth of an institution’s claims does not depend on the holiness of its members. Remember that Christ included Judas Iscariot among His 12 apostles, knowing that Judas would betray Him. Jesus made it clear that the Church on earth would be full of saints and sinners.

If you wish to make a case against Catholicism, don’t use these worn-out arguments. They just don’t work anymore and are based on misunderstandings.

There are many different beliefs about what the soul is and whether we even have one. Atheists deny its existence since it can’t be discovered through our five senses or scientific experiments.

With the growing popularity of atheism, it’s a good idea to rationally examine your belief in an immortal soul to answer objections that may come your way.

The good news is that you don’t even need religion to demonstrate its existence! You simply need reason. That makes it much easier to debate an atheist who would otherwise dismiss your arguments as religious dogma.

Here’s how you know that you have an immortal soul.

First, what actually is the soul?
Consider a deer leaping through a field. Now think of that same deer dead on the side of the road. It’s the same collection of matter.

What’s the difference?

According to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, the main difference is that the living deer has a soul and the dead deer does not. Aristotle sees the soul as the thing which unifies a bunch of matter, forms it into a living thing, and then serves as a springboard for all other acts. In the deer’s case, this means walking, running, leaping, and eating.

In other words, it’s the form that takes matter and makes it into a plant, animal, or person and directs the unfolding of their nature to a higher level of realization.

There are different kinds of souls.
All living things have souls, but not the same kind. Plants have vegetative souls. Animals have vegetative and sensory souls. Humans have vegetative, sensory, and rational souls.

Plants and animals don’t have immaterial, immortal souls. We know this because we don’t observe any sort of immaterial activity in these living beings. They show no evidence of rational thought or free will. They act on instinct based on sensory stimuli.

Since they don’t have immortal souls, plants and animals don’t continue to exist after they die. There’s no dog and cat heaven.

This is how you know you have an immortal soul.
You perform actions that transcend the material realm. Your soul has an intellect and will that are capable of reasoning and loving. While these activities make use of the body, they are fundamentally immaterial actions.

Think about a flower. While that concept relies on your previous sense experience of flowers, it’s universal and immaterial, abstracted from the particulars of many individual flowers. You may have an image of a small blue flower in your head, but your understanding of “flower” goes beyond it. Otherwise, you would think all flowers are small and blue.

Or, consider a triangle. You can form a concept of a perfect triangle, but how many people have actually seen perfect triangles in the world? While the imperfect triangles you encounter help you form the concept, that concept is an immaterial reality distinct from these sensible objects.

Since your soul is immaterial, it follows that it’s immortal. Death involves matter. Immaterial entities can only be destroyed by annihilation. We don’t have any way to annihilate souls and God has promised that He won’t erase us from existence.

Therefore, it seems we will persist forever. Better make the most of it!

 

 

There’s no escape from suffering. No matter how little or how much you’ve suffered, you probably wonder how to overcome it. The Church and the world offer different answers.

For those without faith, suffering lacks spiritual meaning. They see constant, pain-free pleasure as the ultimate value of life.

Catholics don’t want to suffer, but we accept it as a necessary reality in this vale of tears. That’s why we need to learn how to suffer well.

Here are a few tips.

1. Realize that there is good suffering and bad suffering
You recognize the existence of good and bad suffering by asking, “How do I suffer well?”

You can’t escape suffering, but you get to decide how to face it. “Good suffering” means trusting God and offering your pain to Him as an act of love and as penance for your sins and the sins of others.

“Bad suffering” means letting your pain destroy your faith and hope in God and capitulating to despair.

The choice is yours: Will you use your inevitable suffering to grow in holiness or waste it and perish?

2. Recognize that God allows suffering to enter your life
God originally created the human race to live in pure joy without the admixture of pain and suffering. He doesn’t want you to suffer and doesn’t directly will it.

But He allows evil and suffering in order to bring about a greater good that often only He can see. He lets you suffer because He loves you and knows that this pain will help you grow.

But this greater good only comes about if you trust Him and say, “Your will be done.” It’s tough, but it’s the only way back to peace. If pleasure is your ultimate goal, you’ll only find more pain in the end.

3. You need faith to fully make sense of suffering
Reason alone is incapable of solving the mystery of suffering. That’s why many atheists struggle with the Catholic idea of redemptive suffering.

In a moment of darkness, reason often buckles under the weight of pain. If you’ve lost a spouse or child, then you know that logic doesn’t help much.

You need faith and you need to nourish that faith with the sacraments.

These three tips will not magically cure suffering. You will still suffer. But Jesus is always there, ready to help.

After all, He carried a cross heavier than any of us could bear, so rest assured that He can handle your crosses.

In itself, politics is a noble thing. But in the real world, it is messy and sometimes dangerous.

God calls certain Catholic men and women to enter political life to serve the common good and help build a just society. St. Thomas More is probably the most famous example of a truly Catholic politician.

Maybe you’re wondering if you have a vocation to political life. If so, here are a few things to keep in mind as you discern this path.

1. You may be persecuted for your beliefs
Let’s face it, we live in a culture that’s hostile to anyone who’s pro-life and defends the truth about marriage and gender. We’ve seen people lose their jobs for not jumping on the LGBTQ+ train.

If you believe you can enter politics as a faithful Catholic and be loved by all, think again. You need to expect to be mocked and harassed and perhaps receive death threats.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enter politics. Jesus said that those who adhere to His teachings would be persecuted. That’s just part of following Christ in a fallen world.

The question is whether you have the guts to stand strong while others try to knock you down. Think hard on this.

2. You’ll be tempted to compromise where you shouldn’t
Don’t underestimate the power of political success. Once you find it, you may never want to lose it.

Although you have to compromise in some areas in politics, watch out for the temptation to abandon your essential values in order to stay popular.

3. You’ll need God’s grace more than ever to stand strong
To develop the spiritual and moral strength you’ll need for political life, it’s essential that you maintain a strong prayer and sacramental life. God’s grace alone will carry you through the trials you’ll face.
To do this, plan to attend Mass each Sunday — or daily, if possible. Go to confession at least once a month. Spend time praying to our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

As a public servant, you’ll need a heart for the poor and abandoned. Give to charities and volunteer with some. While there can be legitimate disagreements on how to best help the poor, one thing is certain: Any politician who neglects the poor is unworthy of their office.

Plato said the “state is the individual writ large.” The political landscape can only improve if individuals improve. As a Catholic, the greatest contribution you can make to society is to try to be a better person yourself. That will also give you the strength to weather the headwinds should God call you to enter into political life.

The beginning of the 2020 pandemic was rough on everyone. But for Catholics, there was an additional pain point. In many cities, churches were shuttered for months and the sacraments were out of reach.

At times, government regulations forced bishops to do this. Bishops may have the authority to close churches, but does the government? It’s one thing to encourage churches to implement social distancing. It’s another to completely cut off people’s access to the sacraments.

Here are two reasons to be extremely careful about how much authority you let the government have over churches.

Some of the sacraments are necessary for salvation.
For Catholics, the sacraments are not just symbolic ceremonies. They actually communicate God’s grace to us. One of the sacraments — baptism — is necessary for salvation because it washes away Original Sin and gives us a share of God’s divine life.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is necessary if we’ve committed a mortal sin. Christ said of the Eucharist that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).

It’s true that God can save us in other ways if we’re cut off from the sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but He Himself is not bound by His sacraments.”

Still, the ordinary means of salvation is through the sacraments. Governments need to keep this in mind when enacting public health policies — even in a pandemic.

History shows the horrific consequences of giving the government power over church attendance.
Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Church history knows that bad things often happen when the government gets too much power over the Church. In the Roman Empire, Christians were seen as subverters of society. At times, they were forbidden from meeting in common for worship. Those who disobeyed faced horrible consequences.

Then there’s King Henry VIII during the Reformation. He declared himself to be the head of the Church of England. Catholics who refused to recognize his authority over their worship were often sentenced to death.

Of course, most governments today don’t execute Christians for worshiping as Christ commanded. Still, we are seeing many disturbing intrusions into our freedom, especially when it comes to sharing the truth on abortion, transgenderism, euthanasia, and other highly controversial issues.

That means there can be legitimate trust issues when it comes to government regulations or decrees affecting religious practice.

Again, we’re not saying that governments shouldn’t enact health policies that affect churches. But we need to be extremely careful with just how much power we allow them to have. History offers dozens of warnings of government overreach. If we’re not watchful, we may end up handing too much of our God-given religious freedom to those who don’t respect it.

Is lying always wrong?

Most of you probably just shouted, “Of course!”

But consider the following scenario: You’re in Germany during World War II. Some close Jewish friends of yours come to you and ask you to hide them from the Nazis. Of course you agree and hide them in a secret room.

Later, you hear a knock on the door and open it to find a Nazi officer standing there. He asks you if you are hiding any Jews in your house.

Can you lie and say there are no Jews in your house? Some of you may have said yes immediately. The rest of you may desperately want to agree, but hesitate because you wonder if lying is ever justified.

Is it?

Here is our friend Dr. Peter Kreeft’s take on this question. (In their conversation, Matt doesn’t agree with him on every point.)

Lying is a more relative thing than most evils.
Lying affects your interpersonal relationships. You lie to someone either to harm them or protect them. Lying to someone to protect them is not a bad thing.

In the Nazi scenario, lying would be justified because you promised to protect people from a death they don’t deserve. You’re also helping the Nazi officers from committing the additional sin of murder by convincing them that you’re not hiding anyone.

Lying, properly understood, is not an intrinsic evil.
Part of the debate boils down to how you define “lying.”

If you believe lying is “deliberately deceiving someone in a way that harms them,” then you think lying is an intrinsic evil (meaning it’s evil in and of itself). But if your definition is broader and includes deception with the intent of protecting someone from real harm, then it’s hard to argue that it’s intrinsically evil.

In fact, you may find yourself morally obligated to deceive someone who doesn’t have the right to know the truth you are hiding! Murderers don’t have a right to know where their intended victims are because they’ll use that truth to do evil.

The goal of speech is to communicate what is, but there’s more to it than that.
This goes back to our scenario of hiding the Jews. The main purpose of speech is to communicate the truth. But if that entails bringing a horrible evil upon a person, is your speech really in service of God?

Lying is a tricky topic and Dr. Kreeft gives us a lot to think about.

What’s your view? Is lying always wrong or is it sometimes justified? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section of the YouTube clip above or the social media post you clicked on to get here.

When you think about the writing process, what comes to mind? Is it a blissful scene of someone tucked away at their desk, smoking a pipe by a crackling fire and letting the Muses guide their pen?

It’s easy to romanticize the life of a writer. And while it can be a great hobby or career, writing actually is more difficult than it seems.

Here are three points to keep in mind.

 

1. Only write if you truly love it
Although this may seem obvious, many people dream of having their name on books even though they hate writing. This includes avid readers who are so moved by published stories, they want to create some of their own.

Oftentimes, if they sit down to write something, they quickly realize it’s not easy to do. For those storytellers out there who don’t like writing, there are other avenues to explore, such as acting or music. Why force yourself to do something you hate?

2. Don’t wait for inspiration
As Stephen King said, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

This advice certainly paid off for King, who has written over 65 books and more than 200 short stories! Our friend Peter Kreeft, author of over 60 books, writes whenever he finds the time, even if it’s just a few minutes.

You won’t get anywhere by waiting for the “right moment” to start writing. Just sit down and push the words out. It won’t always be pleasant, but it’s the only way to get a piece of writing done.

That being said, it helps to create a comfortable, attractive writing environment with good lighting. Make it someplace quiet and, by all means, invest in a comfortable chair. Your body will thank you!

3. Be humble enough to revise and rewrite
One problem many novice writers have is trying to create a perfect first draft. Instead of getting all the words on the page first, they spend forever trying to make the first paragraph a literary masterpiece. Not surprisingly, this wears them out and discourages them from writing further.

Don’t fret too much over your first draft. Get your main ideas down and go back and revise. Then revise some more. Finally, revise again.

If these three tips haven’t fazed you, start practicing them now. If you keep it up, you’ll become more proficient and make your dream of writing a reality.

Many people today believe that the world is heading to a scary place. This includes those of different faiths and political persuasions. They may not agree on what’s wrong with the world, but they feel something big is about to happen — whether that be a civil war in the U.S., more worldwide pandemics, nuclear war, increased religious persecution, or even a complete collapse of modern civilization.

From a Catholic perspective, it’s hard to close our eyes to just how bad things are — especially on the spiritual front. There was a time in the United States and Europe when most people held certain Judeo-Christian values in common. They didn’t always live up to those values, but they accepted them in principle.

Now, those values – the nature of marriage, the importance of the family, the existence of objective morality, and the freedom to evangelize – are under attack. And proponents of the many anti-Christian “isms” seem intent on silencing those who speak the truth.

What’s a Catholic to do when the entire world is going mad? Rely on your Faith and follow these principles to maintain your peace.

1. Accept the state of things with a healthy degree of pessimism
Don’t pretend things are sunny when they’re not. Realize that you’re in a decadent, decaying culture. Expect that God may increasingly call upon you to make heroic sacrifices. We’ve already seen faithful Christians lose their jobs because they refused to get on board with today’s LGBTQ+ ideology.

God willed to send you into a battlefield, not a garden paradise. We’re here to help save people from spiritual death.

2. Realize that Christ has already won the war
You may lose many battles in the near future, but we already know the outcome of this great spiritual war. Christ won it 2,000 years ago with His Passion, death, and resurrection. He destroyed death and opened heaven to all who answer His call to follow Him.

Always remember, you are on the winning side! God has provided the whole story, including the final chapters. The Book of Revelation — while full of symbolism — offers a glimpse of what will actually happen at the end. Despite horrible events unlike anything ever seen in history, Christ will come to rescue His faithful ones from the darkness to live with Him forever in heaven.

3. Understand that you need supernatural faith
So great will the final battle be, that without supernatural faith you’ll perish in the fight. That’s why you need to nourish that faith by frequenting the sacraments and praying without ceasing.

Purely human faith, while helpful, will not be strong enough for this supernatural battle.

Of course, we don’t know if the events of the present are the beginning of the end of time. Even if they aren’t, we need to be ready for the spiritual fight of our lives.

Let’s take inspiration from the words of Samwise Gamgee from “The Lord of the Rings”:

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. . . . Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. . . . There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”