In the realm of real-world apologetics, Catholics always seem to be on the defensive when it comes to talking about the Bible or religion in general. “Where is that in the Bible?” “Why do you confess your sins to a man rather than to God?” “Why do you believe you can work your way into heaven?” “Why do you believe the pope can’t commit a sin?” “Why do you baptize babies?” We always are correcting false notions and answering questions. Well, we need to start asking the questions—we need to take the offensive instead of always being on the defensive.
Of course, you don’t want to do it in a way that will offend someone or scare him away from further discussion. Most non-Catholic Christians are not prepared to deal with a Catholic who can answer their questions. When they do come across one, they generally retreat and wait for an easier target, or they get offended by what you have to say and refuse to discuss the matter any more. Sometimes that cannot be avoided. After all, truth is offensive to many people—look at what happened to Truth himself.
So, how can you be offensive (aw-fensive) without being offensive (uh-fensive)? Simple: Let the other person evangelize you.
Whenever someone starts coming at me with questions about the Catholic faith or attacks against it, I try to use his zeal to evangelize me to evangelize him. I’ll say something like this: “Scripture tells me that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. I believe that. I want to know the truth, because to know the truth is to know Jesus Christ! You’re telling me that the Catholic Church is not giving me the truth. Well, I’m open to hearing what you have to say, because I’m searching for truth—and if the Catholic Church doesn’t have it, then I want to know that.”
Now, you can stop there, but I usually go further: “If you can prove to me that the Catholic Church is wrong on any single one of its doctrines, I will renounce my faith and be fellowshiping and worshiping side-by-side with you this Sunday in your church.” And I mean that when I say it. Even if someone can confuse or befuddle or aggravate you or twist your arguments, he can never prove the Church wrong. Remember, there is nothing in the Bible contrary to the Catholic faith, and there is nothing in the Catholic faith contrary to the Bible.
What have you accomplished by saying this? (1) You probably have him salivating at the opportunity to “save” a Catholic from the darkness of “Romanism.” In other words, you’ve almost guaranteed that he will engage you in dialogue. (2) You have elevated him to the role of teacher and lowered yourself to the role of student. And what does a good student do? He asks questions. (3) You have let him know that you are willing to hear him out and that you’re giving him the benefit of the doubt, so to speak.
You’ve also changed the dynamics of the dialogue. It is no longer you versus him, Catholic versus Baptist or Evangelical or anything else. You’ve turned it to a discussion of “What is the truth?” This is what the discussion should be about. Of course, you know where the truth leads: to the Catholic Church. But you’re going to let him find that out on his own—with a little guidance from you and a lot of work from the Holy Spirit.
The Socratic element of this strategy can’t be emphasized enough. Ask questions. Be the good student. Answer questions with questions (like Jesus did—”Is it lawful to pay taxes?” he was asked. “Whose head is on the coin?” he answered).
Here’s a typical example: “Why do you Catholics believe in confessing your sins to a priest, a mere man, instead of straight to God?” The Catholic response: “Well, I’m sure you know the Bible better than I do, so tell me—does it say somewhere in the Bible that we shouldn’t confess our sins to a man? That we should confess our sins to God alone?” Let him show you the direct scriptural prohibition against a particular Catholic teaching. He won’t be able to do it—not when Scripture is interpreted in context.
As your knowledge of Scripture increases, you could add something like, “Well, if we’re not supposed to confess our sins to men, I’m a little confused. Maybe you can explain this to me. Doesn’t James 5:16 tell us that we are to confess are sins to men? And, in Matthew 9:8, why does God give the authority on earth to forgive sins to men if we are supposed to confess our sins to God alone?” Read Matthew 9:8 to him and ask, “What does that mean?”
As another example, you could say, “The Catholic Church teaches that both faith and works play a role in our salvation. But I think you believe in salvation by faith alone, right? Where in the Bible does it say that we are saved by faith alone?” He will likely take you to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” or Romans 3:28, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law” (Paul was speaking of the law of Moses, and specifically circumcision).
The key here is to read what Scripture he offers and compare it with what he said he believes. In this case, they don’t match. What he said he believed is that we are saved by faith “alone.” What it says in the Bible speaks of belief in Christ or “faith.” Catholics believe we are saved by faith, and our understanding of faith means that we believe Jesus is God, and, therefore, we trust what he says and we do as he asks, which demonstrates our love for him. That’s biblical (Matt. 5:48; 19:16–17; John 14:21; Gal. 5:5–6). But nowhere does the Bible say that we are saved by faith “alone.”
Any non-Catholic doctrine that your opponent is trying to justify from Scripture cannot be justified from Scripture—not when Scripture is interpreted in context. Pay close attention to what he says and what the Bible says. I guarantee that the two will not match.
This is why it is necessary to have it ingrained in you that there is nothing in the Bible that is contrary to the Catholic faith. When you ask questions, you will get hit with Bible verse after Bible verse. Whenever someone puts a Bible verse in front of you that “proves” that the Catholic Church is wrong, slam your hand down on that Bible and say, “Amen! As a Catholic, I believe 100 percent of the Bible. But I do not necessarily agree with your personal, fallible interpretation of that passage.”
No matter what passage he puts in front of you to “prove” that the Catholic Church is wrong, you can rest assured that either the passage doesn’t actually say what he is trying to make it say or he is taking the passage out of context. When you get to your second or third question on the same topic, I can almost guarantee that his responses will start to contradict themselves. But always keep in mind the “ignorant Catholic” technique. If you get turned around or confused, if you feel like you’ve gotten in over your head, say, “You know, that’s a good point. I don’t know the answer to that. I’ll have to think about it and pray about it and get back to you.” Then go do your research and get back to him.
By asking questions of your “teacher,” you are in fact the one doing the evangelizing. Protestant theology, where it differs from Catholic theology, is razor-thin. There is no depth to it, and it does not hold up well under scrutiny. The problem is that many folks just accept it at the surface and never try to plumb its depths. That’s what you should be attempting to do through your questions: getting this person to examine exactly what it is he believes and why. As with anything, it takes practice; but this is something that all Catholics can be and should be doing.
This questioning technique is also useful in taking the first step when wanting to engage people in a discussion. Let’s say you have a family member who has left the faith and become a member of a nondenominational church. You’ve wanted to start a discussion with him, but you’re not sure how. Tell him you’ve been thinking a lot lately about truth, and you were just wondering about why different Christian faiths believe different things. Would he mind if you asked him a question or two about his church?
People generally love to tell you about their church. Then, when given the green light, you could ask, for example, why does he believe in salvation by faith alone? Exactly what does that mean? Where did that teaching come from? Remember, you’re the ignorant Catholic, searching for truth. And remember, not only is the Bible on the Catholic’s side, but so is logic. Use it.