Why Be Catholic

● Because it is the fullness of Truth

-We talked about the white light of what God has
revealed to us, passing through the fallen prism of
humanity, and refracting into many different colors.
-This isn’t a “we’re right, they’re wrong” dichotomy.
There’s fullness, and lack of full participation in the
truth, sometimes with full-blown errors included (For
instance, “x” religion likes red but rejects green. Both
colors are true). But every religion contains truth.
-”Decisions”: As much as I love diversity and
inclusivity, there are fuller and less full participations
in the Truth of God. And as we get closer and closer,
there are things we’ll have to leave behind. (e.g. If ‘x’
is true, and ‘a’ is true, and ‘y’ is false, you could
believe in ‘xa’ but not ‘xy’ or ‘ay’.) The word “decide”
comes from the same ancient greek word as
“scissors”. Every decision is like a cut.

● Proposition #1 “God Exists”

~Is it true?

~What we will have to let go of:

-Atheism

~What was true of it?

 -Atheism puts a strong emphasis on the
importance of science. And that is true. Science is
incredibly important, and we cannot reject science.
We retain all of the sciences as Catholics. Science
doesn’t disprove God at all. It couldn’t even do it in
principle. Science is the study of the material world--
of physical, observable things. As Catholics, we would
say that Science is the study of all of God’s creation.
Science is one tool we have for understanding the
world that God made for us, and is a good tool that
we must retain. But it’s a limited tool. We can’t
“discover God” with Science. It would be like taking a
metal detector to the beach, and then trying to use it
to find the inventor of the metal detector. But it is an
incredible tool nonetheless and should be given every
credit it deserves. Some of the best scientific
discoveries were made by Catholics (Big Bang,
Genetics).
--

● Proposition #2 “God is One”

~Is it true?
-God is the necessary grounds for all of
existence. He is perfection itself. What makes
something more than one, is that they are somehow
distinct from each other. (E.g. Giovanna is distinct
from Erica because she has properties that Erica
lacks, and because Giovanna lacks properties that
Erica has.) But God is perfect and does not lack
anything, and cannot be distinct from a hypothetical
“other perfect being”. If there were “two” perfect
grounds of existence, they would not be distinct from
each other, they would be one. If there were three,
They would be One.

~What that leaves behind:

-Buddhism
-Hinduism
~What was true of it?
-Buddhism puts a strong emphasis on the need
to limit our expectations and wants, or in their own
words “snuff out the candle of desire” with methods
like meditation. There’s something true in that,
sometimes our aims, wants, and temptations can be a
hindrance to the truth. So we must keep them under
control. The difference is that Buddhists would be
doing the meditation for its own sake, and Catholics
should meditate to clear out everything so that God
can take its place.
-Hinduism believes in the many spiritual
creatures and their power. Catholics would say it’s
true, but that they are not Gods. They are creatures, if
they exist. Be it angels, or demons, but not God.
--
● Proposition #3 “Jesus Christ is God”

~Is it true?
-What we’re left with after we realize that ‘God is
One’ are the three major religions of the world which
believe in One God. Judaism (Jewish religion), Islam
(Muslim religion), and Christianity. Judaism in many
ways is the truest religion without Christ. They knew
about the existence of the One, True, God long before
humanity was able to prove He exists philosophically.
They were God’s chosen people, and He had His way
of relating to them. God spoke to the Jews through
people called prophets and He revealed to them the
Fall, original sin, sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin,
the Passover, the Paschal Lamb, and things like the
Temple being the place where God and creation
meet. All of that is true of Judaism, but not the full
story. Jesus Christ, a Jew, claimed to be the One
True God which the Jews believed in. Only that He
was God in the flesh, and he began to fulfill the
prophecies and fulfill the law of the Old Covenant. He
became the New Temple, He forgave sins, He
rescued humanity from original sin, He became the
perfect sacrifice, the Paschal Lamb of God. Jesus
proved that He was the One True God of the Jewish
people by fulfilling the promises that God had made to
them, by performing miracles, and by dying and then
 resurrecting from the dead after 3 days. Jesus Christ
is God.

~What we leave behind

-Judaism
-Islam
-Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc
~What was true of them?
-Islam for instance puts a great stress on the
importance of God’s work in our lives, and how we
are called to surrender our lives completely to God.
They are very spiritually disciplined and passionate.
They have the great virtue of Zeal. And they believe in
the same One God that we do, but not the fullest
picture of Him revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

--

● Proposition #4 “Jesus Established a Church”

~Is it true?
-Now that we know Jesus Christ is God, there’s
no question that we give our lives to Him. But how?
It’s easy to become paralyzed at this point by all the
options, because now we get into the nitty gritty of all
the different denominations of Christians. We turn to
the Bible for a quick and decisive solution. A direct
line to the words of Jesus. Jesus, when He was on
 Earth, established a Church. A church of all people
who believed in Him, and He chose 12 Apostles to be
the leaders of that Church. They were to have
authority as Jesus taught, to administer the
sacraments he revealed to them, and to teach,
instruct, and guide all of the faithful members. This
authority comes from Jesus alone, but is passed by
Him to the 12 Apostles who He promised would be
guided by God the Holy Spirit. No one can simply take
that authority for themselves, it belongs to Christ
alone.

● Proposition #5 “That Church still exists today”

~Is it true?
-Many Christians agree that Jesus established a
Church, but they will say something like “Well... That
original Church fell apart for a little over a thousand
years, and around the 16th century, wise people like
Martin Luther and John Calvin picked up the torch of
the True Christian Church and lit it once again.
-Honestly, if the Original Church really did
succumb to evil, fall apart, and lose its apostolic
authority, that scenario is probably the best we could
do as Christians. Follow the only authority that
remains, the Bible, to the best of your ability and have
a sincere relationship with Jesus Christ.
 -The trouble is that this Original Christian Church
did not disappear or fall. It still exists, with a traceable
lifeline all the way back to the Apostles themselves.
This means, unfortunately, that we will have to set
aside any Christian church that does not have a
connection to the Apostles.

-The apostles passed their authority to their

successors as bishops, and so on, and so on. A few
of those bishops got into a disagreement with the
mainline and broke off, that is the Eastern Orthodox
Church. They do still have some of the apostolic
succession, and they believe nearly all of the same
things that we believe as Catholics. They are in a very
deep participation and fullness of truth. But they are
out of union with the mainline of the church, namely
with the successor of Saint Peter.

● Primacy of Peter
-He is the leader of the apostles and the
representative of Christ on Earth. He has primacy
over the other apostles
-While other Apostolic lines can be a bit foggy in
certain sections, we have a totally unbroken and
definite chain of succession all the way to 33 AD with
Peter and his successors.
-Which Church are Peter and his successors found in?