Seventy percent of Roman Catholics do not understand the Eucharist? There's that anti-catholic James Swan again, making stuff up about the one true church. Everyone knows, those who are members of the one true church have the benefit of the infallible magisterium. The papacy has God-given authority keeping Catholics unified!
Actually, what most who may think this about me don't realize is I probably read more Roman Catholic books at this point than Protestant books. I certainly listen to more Catholic broadcasts than Protestant. This particular fact was not something I made up. It comes from the April 6, 2009 broadcast of Catholic Answers Live. Catholic apologist Jim Burnham devoted an hour on "How to Defend and Explain the Eucharist." You can listen to Jim's statistics in this short clip. Jim says in part,
"Poll after poll in recent years has confirmed that more and more Catholics are mistaken... they have misguided views about the Eucharist. it used to be everybody understood that the Eucharist was Jesus. it was the true flesh and blood... the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine. And now more recent polls suggest that sometimes up to fifty percent depending on how the question is phrased, sometimes as many as seventy percent of Catholics can't identify that core Catholic belief..."So, if I were to ask seven out of ten Catholics to explain the Eucharist, according to Burnham, I'd probably get a few different answers, or maybe even seven different answers. Here again we find a simple truth, typically ignored by Catholic apologists. Catholic apologists will repeatedly claim a Christian relying on the Bible as his sole infallible authority will produce confusion. They claim one must have another infallible authority, the Papacy. Yet, here is one of their key doctrines, what Burnham calls, "the crown jewel" of the Catholic faith, the Eucharist, and seven out of ten Catholics are confused on it.
In this period of economic crisis, many companies are evaluating their work plan, trying to find ways in which their company is failing and losing money. I submit, If your alleged infallible teaching magisterium is working as Burnham describes, you may want to evaluate the effectiveness of upper management at this point.
This sentence put a smile on my face, a grin from ear to ear!
ReplyDelete"...In this period of economic crisis, many companies are evaluating their work plan, trying to find ways in which their company is failing and losing money. ...".
Here's a couple of plans. The first one was being perfected.
The second one is the first one perfected:
Psa 132:1 A Song of Ascents. Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured,
Psa 132:2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
Psa 132:3 "I will not enter my house or get into my bed,
Psa 132:4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
Psa 132:5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."
...
Eph 1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
Eph 1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ...Eph 3:8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
Eph 3:9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,
Eph 3:10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Eph 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Therefore shall we not clap our hands and shout?
Psa 47:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
Psa 47:2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
Psa 47:3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
Psa 47:4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
Psa 47:5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Psa 47:6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
Psa 47:7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
Psa 47:8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
Psa 47:9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!
I'm concerned at the number of re-posting old posts going on lately, as if there is nothing new to write about. To me, posts like these don't help either side because they're based on opinion rather than fact.
ReplyDeleteA dubious poll telling us a percentage of Catholics might or might not know a teaching doesn't affect whether the Catholic Church really teaches it or not and whether or not it is true. If I took a poll in your church and found out 99% of the members didn't know the Doctrines of Grace, that wouldn't make the Doctrines of Grace false (ipso facto).
I want to see some posts where you personally have defended or demonstrated the truth of Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Sacrametns, etc. Just posting quotes about what Luther said or what this or that Catholic apologist said isn't the same as making a theological argument and defending it.
I think you and your readers will see that once you start writing such articles having to defend Protestantism, it's not as easy as you think, and you'll think twice about picking a single quote from a Catholic article and going to town with it. Then you'll see you'll need go a little more easy on Catholics from then on.
Nick, I think the point is that the Magesterium is supposedly guaranteeing a uniform faith, and this is what we get told all the time, claiming that Protestants have nothing but multitude of private opinions, but in fact, this is not happening.
ReplyDeleteFor any of us who know Roman Catholics it is obvious that the faith is not being held very uniformly, not is it being taught in that way to converts in RCIA classes.
(As far as the Eucharist goes, I will just annoy everybody once more and say that we should be holding simply what the scripture says, anyhow: "this is my body". --not this represents my body nor this is transformed into my body.
Despite Nick's complaints about the content of this blog...I for one really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing negative, and many positive things about posting things that Luther said or what RC's think Luther said.
Many RC friends of mine have given me quotes from Luther that are supposed to show how wrong and even crazy he was....and I have come here to see that Mr. Swan has spent much work/time/etc, in showing the falsehood of these claims. They have been very helpful in stopping RC's in bearing false witness against him actually.
If RC's did not so abuse and sin by bearing false witness against him, I suppose blogs like this, or at least some of the content in blogs like this that you specifically don't think are worthy, would be unnecessary.
Really Nick, if you do not like the content of the blog, why visit? even more, why post on a specific topic that you don't care about?
Rather, why don't you use your comments to actually relate to the actual blog post, instead of complaining about the blog, and the blog post that you don't think is worthy of your time?....indeed, this is very strange.
Further, the topics you wish to discuss have been discussed at varying levels. Look at the links on the left side...they will show some of the topics that are of interest to you. And, please do not take this as being offensive, but, who cares what you specifically want in this blog? Why should Mr. Swan care and tailor his posts to your requests? If he does, that is his decision, if he does not, who are you to tell him otherwise?
Okay...perhaps I overstepped here. James does not need me to defend him of course...but your comments bothered me knowing on a very limited level, how much time/energy/money/etc that he does in this blog.
in Him,
-Joe
actually the links are on the right side, not left.
ReplyDelete;)
Interestingly, another Pew poll shows that people are leaving the Catholic church at a rate of 4 for every one who joins.
ReplyDelete"It’s the recruitment side that sets Catholics apart. Four people leave Catholicism for every one who joins, and there’s no other religious group where you see a similar ratio."
here
"The most striking thing about Catholicism in America isn’t that it’s losing people, but that it’s not recruiting them as successfully as other groups."
James,
ReplyDeleteAs a Catholic, I have to admit that I agree with you on this.
Sad but true, most Catholics don't get it--I would probably say that you get it more than most Catholics!
I think the problem lies with very poor catechesis by the priests and bishops over the years--in the United States (as I can't speak for other countries.)
The weaknesses within the Church sadly isn't in the Church's teachings but rather in the Church's silence.
Good post.
I've been away from the computer for about a week so I'm just now catching up with various things.
ReplyDeleteBridget,
I understand what you're saying, but that's not the argument. The Magisterium guarantees a uniform faith by the very fact it creates Dogmas. This says nothing on how many people will be obedient to it, and especially what some nonauthoritative poll claims.
Joe,
I have always given credit where it is due, including appreciation for James' work in Luther research and even stopping misinformation. That said, defending Luther doesn't make Protestant right nor Catholicism false, and instead is merely an endeavor in biographical research. That's where theological and philosophical arguments come in, and hence apologetics. In my opinion, based on the sorts of posts appearing for a while now, I don't see much in the way of defending key Protestant doctrines and instead see things like this post which paints a pretty grim picture of Catholicism but isn't based on anything sound.
Hi Nick.
ReplyDeleteYou said: I have always given credit where it is due, including appreciation for James' work in Luther research and even stopping misinformation. That said, defending Luther doesn't make Protestant right nor Catholicism false, and instead is merely an endeavor in biographical research.
Me: You very well could give credit where it is due, I guess I do not know you enough to comment...but you certainly have not done so here in this instance. James providing correct info on Luther and showing many examples of how RC's bash Luther and bear false witness against him is very appropriate in a Reformation blog...or any blog that wants to help people from sinning in this manner. Really don't see how you could argue otherwise. And again, why should he care on what you think is valid in a blog? I personally have been told my many RC's to not trust Luther for many things he said, and this blog has given me the correct context of the quotes falsifying these claims. So again, do not see how these posts are appropriate and directly related to the goals of HIS blog.
You said: In my opinion, based on the sorts of posts appearing for a while now, I don't see much in the way of defending key Protestant doctrines and instead see things like this post which paints a pretty grim picture of Catholicism but isn't based on anything sound.
Me: Again, why should James care on what you want in a blog? Really, real question. Why should he take your preferences on what should or should not be included in HIS blog?
I submit he does not, and to post negative statements about his blog on his blog in this manner is rather strange to me. If you do not like it, don't visit or post.
And who says the posts are not based off anything sound? According to who? You? Well, if you disagree with his points and want to actually discuss the matters, instead of commenting how bad the posts are, then make comments appropriate for discussion and not opinions on what you desire in a blog. I for one think they have been "sound".
Hope that you will see the arrogance of your comments, correct the attitude, and post comments that are applicable and helpful to all...since from what I have seen, you do have good points to offer.
in Him,
joe