Christian Agnosticism
A friend of mine gave me two of your pamphlets, Fundamentalist or Catholic? and No ‘Assurance of Salvation.’ I read both of them and was compelled to write to you.
I was raised in a very strict Catholic home. I received all the sacraments you are supposed to receive. For 36 years I lived as a good Catholic should live. Five years ago I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. That was the best thing I’ve ever done. My life hasn’t been the same since.
Needless to say, I disagree with almost all of the statements made in those brochures. How can you criticize born-again Christians if you’ve never experienced it yourself? The Spirit fills you with so much joy and peace–it’s indescribable.
No one knows which faith is the “right” faith–only God knows for sure. But from my own personal experience of being a Catholic and being born again, I’m glad I accepted the Lord into my life.
My question to you is: What if you are wrong? Why don’t you accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Savior? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Jo Ann Gouin
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Editor’s reply: Some folks here used to be born-again Christians. Then they discovered that born-again Christianity is only partial Christianity. We don’t decide which brand of Christianity is true by seeing which makes us feel best. We decided by seeing, well, which is true–and that’s something we can do.
If we couldn’t, if, as you say, no one can know which faith is the right one, then there’s no reason to adopt any particular faith. Just adopt the one that makes you feel best. If it’s Catholicism, fine. If it’s Protestantism, fine. If it’s animism, fine. If it’s Manichaeanism, fine. Right?
Wrong! It’s not fine, and our minds rebel against the notion that all these faiths are equally good, because we know they’re not. Our question to you is: What if you’ve abandoned the true faith (which you have, frankly) for a pale substitute?
But Has He Kilt a Bar?
Thanks so much for coming to East Tennessee. I’ve gained an enormous amount of renewal, an excitement with my Catholic faith. I had no idea an organization like Catholic Answers existed. The resources you have available are of great benefit to me. I have a very difficult time offering and even defending Catholic Christianity to non-Catholics in this area. I am challenged often.
There’s a tremendous amount of misunderstanding and outright untruths. With your talks, books, tapes, and our prayers, I know I can make a difference. Please come again.
Gregory Asztalos
Johnson City, Tennessee
Working with the Holy Spirit
I love what you’re doing in apologetics and evangelization. I’ve long wanted to do something like this and have really been caught up and encouraged by This Rock, of which I’ve been a subscriber from the beginning. I’m doing small-scale apologetics and evangelization now by talking to school kids and cantoring in church with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Ron Secaur
Decatur, Indiana
See, Prayer Does Work!
Although I would very much like to send you more than what I have in this envelope, I will try to fill the “gap” with prayers so that the trip you have planned to Rome will become a reality, together with all your dreams for the Catholic Church. I hope you will be able to have a meeting with our Holy Father.
Sr. Mary Joan Weissler, ASC
Red Bud, Illinois
Editor’s reply: Your prayers (and those of many other friends) worked. See my report a few pages on.
Laughing Them Away
The article “Blind vs. Blind” [February 1992]–put it in pamphlet form. It’s like Voltaire, who laughed the monarchy out of existence.
Rev. Denis O’Brien, M.M.
Dallas, Texas
Telling the Truth Down Under
Recently I summoned up a lot of courage and spoke clearly yet compassionately about the wrongfulness of contraception. I should have done it years ago, although no one had any doubt about where I stood on the matter.
I’ll be glad to see you if you can come to Australia, as you said you hope to do. I am no longer in Ceduna (which you have called in writing “the middle of nowhere”), so I can’t show you kangaroos, emus, and wombats, except in zoos. Now I live 160 kilometers from Adelaide in a very historical place.
Rev. Adrian Head
Burra, Australia
Fundamentalist Doubts
Thank you for providing the Catholic community with a first-rate magazine (without outside advertising, thank God). Back in my days of ignorance, when I was a Fundamentalist, I would have been angered by This Rock because the arguments would have been too logical for me to refute.
I know this is true because I have frequently used the very arguments that I have found in your magazine to refute the arguments which others put forth. When I present the case the way you have taught me, my opposition ends up simply sitting there in awe and disbelief at the unerring logic of the Catholic position. I don’t think I have produced any converts yet, but I have produced quite a bit of thinking!
Before I became a Catholic I had many doubts about the things I was being taught by my church. The two most glaring errors were that baptism was a mere ordinance and that the Lord’s Supper was a mere memorial meal. Neither theory could be found in Scripture. Baptism seemed to be the actual washing away of sins, and the Lord’s Supper seemed to be highly identified with his Passion.
I couldn’t put together the pieces of the puzzle from the misinformation I was getting (I was only fifteen at the time), until one of my Sunday school teachers gave me a Jack Chick pamphlet titled Are Roman Catholics Christians?
What I read in that pamphlet was like reading something condemning my own beliefs. I had no Catholic friends or relatives at that time, and I really had no idea what the Church taught. That pamphlet began for me a time of research when I desperately tried to find the truth, and all the facts tended to support the Catholic position.
For a while I was scared I might be doing this under demonic influence (who else would lead me into the Whore of Babylon?), so I picked on every Catholic kid I came into contact with while I was in high school. (Of this I am awfully ashamed.) After I joined the Army I entered the RCIA. On March 25, 1989, my twentieth birthday, I came into the Catholic Church. I finally felt I had come home, and I had Jack Chick to thank for bringing me there.
Christopher P. Fair
Milton, Florida
Praise to Sisters
Could I survive without your magazine? Probably, but I don’t see how! Your April 1992 issue was especially valuable to me because of the article from Gregory A. Krehbiel, ” ‘Assurance’ Isn’t Assuring.”
Having grown up in the very un-Catholic South, and having come from a parish with too few children to justify a school, I experienced a mixed blessing. Although I missed the joys of a Catholic school, I gained an excellent knowledge of Protestantism from the public school I attended. There was absolutely no prejudice, and we Catholic kids were lucky enough to have two Sisters of Charity come over from an adjoining city to teach us our religion each Sunday in Sunday school.
It was one of these great ladies who straightened out my muddled thinking on the reasons for the Incarnation and the Crucifixion. She saved me from that eternal Protestant question, “Are you saved, sister?” She gave me the proper Catholic response.
The once saved, always saved position made no sense to me, but I didn’t know why until Sister explained why Christ died–to forgive original sin, to reconcile us to his Father, to open the gates of heaven.
Marian E. Mahony
Roanoke, Virginia
Power-Packed Answers
You may not know what a blessing it is to know that a publishing ministry like yours is in existence. I really owe my increased interest in Catholic apologetics to all of you and those former Protestant brothers and sisters I left when I returned to my Catholic faith.
As a former Fundamentalist, I understand how necessary a Catholic answer is to those “ever seeking.” It amazes me how powerful a Catholic answer can be. I have decided to devote myself to defending the faith with love and patience, as my heart cries for those in hatred and ignorance of the Catholic faith, as I once was.
Michael McGrath
Elgin AFB, Florida
He Came and Was Conquered
We are related (I’ll explain as I go along). To me it is like finding a lost brother. This Rock and its mention of Calvary Chapel–I have attended that church, in Costa Mesa, California, about ten times. Then the mention of Bart Brewer on page 4–he has written to me a couple of times, and I met him personally when I spoke in San Diego some years ago. Then the mention of E. L. Bynum and the Plains Baptist Challenger in Lubbock, Texas was like talking about family. What memories!
Bynum was one of the ordaining pastors on my ordination council (1983), and I have a great fondness and a deep appreciation for the man. I have preached in his church. The only problem is that I let them all down. I returned to the Church of my baptism in 1987 in Perpignan, France. Bynum would say the pig went wallowing in the mud after having been cleaned up. Anyhow, I still love him as a dear brother in Christ.
I was ordained by the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys, California in 1975 when Harold Fickett, Jr. was the pastor. Then I had to get rebaptized in Little Rock, Arkansas and reordained because certain Baptists hold to the perpetuity of the Church. This means that if a Baptist church does not hold to this view and admits people baptized by other churches, then these people are not real Baptists, they are just “plain Protestants.”
I went over to Bynum’s ideas in my search for good, logical, and strong practicing Christians who had some idea of who they were. I was convinced of the teaching that Christ set up a church against which the gates of hell would not prevail. Can you imagine that?
This is what led to my coming into their fellowship and my connection with Bynum. Then I was sent out by Central Baptist Church in Little Rock to preach in Perpignan, France. Here in Perpignan I bought some very old second-hand books (1839), the translation of conferences on Protestantism by Cardinal Wiseman of England.
These books were providential. I had been searching the Scriptures and Church history. I found much to say for the Catholic position on baptism and much to say against the eschatology taught in Baptist and some other circles.
Finally, I was received back into the Catholic Church after one year’s wait at the bishop’s request. My wife (a baptized Catholic and a former Jehovah’s Witness, as I was) came back to the Church, as did our three children. So you can imagine that we are pleased to see other pastors coming into the Church.
I have written three books. One is my testimony, La verite vous rendra libres. Another, more apologetic, is Les Temoins de Jehovah, l’envers du decor. I have another book before a publisher now but have not received word on it yet. I do not have a job here in France and receive very little help in trying to evangelize.
Ken Guindon
Perpignan, France
First and Last Time in Prison
I wish I could thank personally whoever was responsible for sending me all the information I requested, plus more. I had no way to pay for it since I was in prison and still am. So, since I cannot thank the individual, I would like to thank all of you for a job well done. Your efforts, I promise, will not go unrewarded. Someday, when I leave prison, I will help you out financially. What you sent gives me hope–hope that the Catholic faith does have in it the right stuff, people like you.
The Catholic Church didn’t fail me. My being in prison is not a direct result of a so-called “dead” church. I failed: I became lazy, complacent, content in being number one. I failed, not the Catholic Church. But now that God’s got my attention, I intend to reeducate myself to understand my faith. I also intend to defend my faith with the help of your materials.
This is my first time in prison. Wishy-washy people are eaten alive here. If a person cannot defend himself spiritually as well as physically, prison can be hell on Earth.
Name Withheld by Request
San Diego, California
Prisoners Start Rosary Group
I am an inmate at Southern State Correctional Facility in New Jersey. Some volunteers, Catholic ladies, come in each week to pray the rosary with us and to leave spiritual literature for us. Recently I picked up a few old copies of This Rock. That magazine has helped answer many questions asked around this prison by the separated brothers, which this joint is full of.
We Catholics formed a prison rosary group about four years ago and have prayed the rosary and had group discussions every day since. Most of us have grown in our knowledge of our Catholic religion and desire to understand as much as possible about Scripture. Catholic literature is scarce around here, and whatever you could send us would be greatly apprciated.
James T. Krowl
Delmont, New Jersey
In, Out (Way Out), Back In
In 1975, after seventeen years as a typical (nominal?) Catholic, I underwent a true conversion. I became involved with the charismatic movement, but because of certain disagreements (or disapprovals) of the Catholic Church, I soon became involved with a small, cultish group within Evangelical Christianity. After about ten years of struggling, I broke free.
Later, after studying, I returned to the Catholic Church. Reading the Church Fathers proved particularly influential.
John A. Roetzer
Williamsville, New York
Where’s Walter Martin?
Keeping up with the “Bible Answers Man” radio program: A few weeks ago, in an attempt to prove he isn’t “soft on Catholicism,” Hank Hanegraff, the president of the Christian Research Institute, described the doctrines of the Catholic Church as (and I quote) “heresies and abominations.” He doesn’t listen very well, does he?
Bill Kling
Pacific Grove, California
Thanks, Bishop!
Thanks so much for the recent presentation in the Diocese of Rapid City. We were very happy to have you here. Your presentations have made a wonderful impact on the life of our diocese. I heard very positive reports from those who attended, and I am very grateful. We look forward to your next visit. May God bless you and all you do abundantly.
Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap.
Rapid City, South Dakota
Right Place, Right Time
I’d like you to know that I appreciate your work, and I’m thankful that you were around when I was looking for some answers. The local (and only) Catholic book store in the area had only a few apologetics books. Luckily, one of them was Catholicism and Fundamentalism. That book allowed me to answer my friend’s misconceptions about our faith reasonably, and it alerted me to Catholic Answers.
Bob Miller
Glendale, Arizona
How Could He Lose?
On April 3 I attended the debate in Lincoln, Nebraska between Karl Keating and Greg Litmer. Mr. Keating won. How could he lose? He was armed with the truth. The next day I attended the seminar. It was highly entertaining and informative. As a new (convert) member of the Catholic Church, I must say that I made the right choice. My life has truly been enriched, and your work has greatly added to that enrichment. Keep up the great work.
Duane Oden
Beatrice, Nebraska
“What Catholics Believe”
I am inquiring about the weekly Saturday-morning 30-minute television program called “What Catholics Believe.” Is it a legitimate, Catholic approach to Roman Catholicism? I do not believe it is. The panel consists of three professed Roman Catholic priests and an interviewer who seems to play the role of the devil’s advocate. Their position is concentrated on humiliating the Pope.
I am appalled and embarrassed to say the least that these priests publicize negative pictures of the Pope visiting with members of other religions. The object is to inform the public how far the Pope has gone since Vatican II. They encourage you to call a toll-free number for Tridentine Mass locations in your area. Is there anything we can do to stop this act of treason?
Lucia Williams
Fort Worth, Texas
Editor’s reply: The people who produce “What Catholics Believe” have removed themselves from the Church, though they claim, on the contrary, that what the rest of us call the Church is little more than a gigantic sect of 900 million former Catholics. They’re the only true Catholics left–this is the refrain of every schismatic and heretic throughout history.
These folks believe it is a sin–not just unwise, mind you, but a sin–even to attend a Novus Ordo Mass. They also tend toward sedevacantism, the theory that the See of Peter is vacant and that John Paul II isn’t a real pope.
Two of the priests featured on “What Catholic Believe” visited San Diego a few months ago. A dozen of us went to listen and were dismayed both at the low level of argumentation, which played on conspiracy theories, and at the unthinking credulity of the rest of the audience.
When some of us, in the question period, tried to explain how wrong the speakers were, their followers became more than rude. Believe me, you don’t know raw fear until you’ve seen well-dressed, matronly women turn at you and bare their teeth, hissing that you’re going to hell because you belong to the “Conciliar Church.” How true it is: By their fruits you will know them–and also by their fruitcakes.
Our advice: Tune out this show. Whatever truths are conveyed by it are compromised by outright falsehoods and misleading arguments. You don’t have to settle for such stuff. Pick up a good Catholic book instead.
Staff Sergeant Praises Mag
I’ve watched you guys go from tracts, to a newsletter, to debates, to a magazine. I still learn something every month from you.
I really enjoyed the January 1992 issue, especially “The Scoop on Catholic Answers.” The history and background, little profiles of your staff, where your money goes–very interesting.
I’m also glad to see cartoons by Jeffry B. Harris. Cartoonists have always had a knack for conveying an idea in one or two panels, what it would take a writer three or four pages to explain. (Unfortunately, Jack Chick has known this a long time.) I was also happy to see your new editorial, “Up Front.” Each time you change, it’s for the better.
Dave Yuers
Adelanto, California
Killing Yourself into Heaven?
Your April 1992 issue had an article about “absolute assurance of salvation.” The author stated there are two versions of “assurance.” I have found Evangelicals who take a third, more unbelievable view. They say that once you accept Jesus, no matter what you do, including renouncing your faith, you will be saved.
An Evangelical I used to work with said once, “Nothing is going right today. Maybe I’ll kill myself so I can be with the Lord.” He was joking about killing himself, but not about where he thought he would go if he did. Believe it or not, I have heard other Evangelicals come up with the identical belief: A “saved” person who commits suicide goes straight to heaven!
All my adult life I have suffered from severe depression. If I believed what those Evangelicals said–that suicides go straight to the Father’s arms–I would kill myself today.
I thank God I’m Catholic and know the truth about salvation. Evangelical beliefs about salvation could literally have destroyed me. My Catholic faith has saved my life and, more importantly, my eternal soul.
Name Withheld by Request
Anaheim, California
Tell Me About Moonies!
I have been a subscriber since day one, but I have one complaint. I border on despair at your apparent lack of interest in one religious-political cult, the Unification Church.
I have frequent discussions with a Moonie (ex-Catholic, of course, as most of the world seems to be), and no matter how I simply point out the conflicting theology she expounds or how I just bear witness to the truth, she seems rockbound. It is almost possible to see her eyes go blank as automatic answers come out of her.
This inane theology, where words take on Alice-in-wonderland meanings, is driving me insane. So please, address this “church.” No, wait. On second thought, ignore that request. I just realized that the deeper I go into insanity the more I will understand this cult.
Russell S. Pond
Nashua, New Hampshire
Calling Sci-Fi Fans
Sue Branum writes of her interest in science fiction in a letter headed “Are There Catholic Klingons?” She and others may be interested in Radio Free Thulcandra, a Christian-oriented science fiction fanzine I edit and publish. I will send a sample copy to any reader of This Rock who requests it. RFT is not a Catholic, nor a general Christian, magazine with an interest in science fiction. It is a science fiction fanzine with an interest in Christianity and its relationship to science fiction, fantasy, and fandom. Anyone not interested in these subjects will be unlikely to be interested in RFT.
Although I am an active Catholic apologist elsewhere, I keep doctrinal debates out of RFT, but, to return to the heading of Mrs. Branum’s letter, we have discussed whether Christians should seek to evangelize non-human rational species, if we encounter any.
Marty Helgesen
11 Lawrence Ave.
Malverne, New York 11565-1406
Almost Home…
I am presently a Protestant, but, due to a series of more-than-coincidental circumstancnes, I began investigating the Catholic faith. I’ve come a long way from sola scriptura Protestantism to accepting the Immaculate Conception.
Your magazine has been instrumental in my (slow) conversion. I find your apologetics approach very well done. I especially like “The Fathers Know Best” section. It was looking into the Fathers that convinced me the most (after Scripture, of course). I would like to see more topics and as many Ante-Nicene Fathers as possible quoted.
Chip Krolik
Whittier, California
Starting Apologists Young
Our two boys, Ben and Jonathan, were at your seminars at St. Mary’s and St. Dominic’s. They had questions for both speakers. Thank you for taking the time to answer them and to encourage them. There is only one other Catholic family in this school, and the boys have had to learn at an early age how to defend their faith.
My husband and I have many Protestant friends, and we need much help from the Holy Spirit in how best to share our faith with them and also how best to share our faith with our Catholic friends–many are lukewarm or into some New Age theologies. These seminars were beacons of hope for us!
Nancy Fisher
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Back and Forth, Forth and Back
Your seminar was very meaningful for me. I think about it a lot every day. This is a tremendous struggle. I’m sort of caught out in the middle with nowhere to go. The thought of sharing a faith with Ted Kennedy is somewhat distasteful to me. I guess I’m a person who hasn’t very well separated his religious beliefs from his conservative political beliefs. It just puzzles me how so many Catholics can vote for pro-abortion politicians.
I stumbled across John 6 a few days ago. I suddenly found it very hard to read it in the Protestant way. I know that Jesus often used metaphor, but by saying “Does this offend you?” he seems to be confirming the fact that his flesh and blood were literal equivalents to the Old Testament manna.
I went to visit with a priest. He was largely pro-contraception. That troubled me too. I have taken the Catholic position on birth control for the past year or so. He even said women “ought to have a way out” when they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant, but then he went on to say that he “now” finds abortion wrong. I didn’t care to have him elaborate.
Some days I wake up feeling very Catholic. Then, as the day wears on, I begin to have doubts. I have no problems with Mary. All that I accept on faith. But how did the bishop of Rome get to be the all-powerful pope? Purgatory troubles me. Of course, if it’s true, it’s true, but it’s not a comforting thought that a dead loved one may be burning in purgatory. Why the confessional? Why can’t I just pray directly to God for forgiveness of sins?
I like stuff that isn’t watered down. Currently I’m reading Bainton’s biography of Luther and Calvin’s Institutes. I don’t have anything Catholic to read right now.
Name Withheld by Request
Iowas City, Iowa