Called To Communion: 2016.09.14

What's stopping you from becoming Catholic?

Called To Communion is a live, listener-participated radio program. Whether you are a non-Catholic or a Catholic, you are invited to contact the show with your question. Host David Anders, Ph.D., is a former Protestant (Presbyterian Church in America).

Visit their Web site at www.CalledToCommunion.com.
This page of their site has a list of various ways you can listen to and participate in the show.

Questions answered on this episode, with some links related to their answers, are below the video.




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QUESTIONS & CONCERNS ANSWERED THIS EPISODE

1. CALVINISM VS CATHOLICISM. a) Can you define Calvinism? b) What is the main difference between Calvinism and Catholicism?
  • Note: Anders has a Ph.D. in Reformation history and historical theology. His dissertation was on John Calvin.

2. HOMOSEXUALITY. It seems that the majority of the priests in St. Louis are gay (based on the way I think homosexual men behave).

3. INDULGENCES. A Protestant publication is saying that indulgences manipulate God and is a way of controlling Him. I would like to get some information on this to provide to them.

4. SCHOLARLY BIBLE STUDY. Could you explain the historical-critical method and how it relates to the Old Testament?

5. ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF CATHOLICISM -- MARY. It seems to me, without having actually looked into this issue, that the Catholic Church puts Mary on the same level as Christ, and you have to worship Mary as you have to worship Christ.

6. ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF CATHOLICISM. a) How can I answer a person of the Orthodox faith who told me that Catholics do not worship Jesus but worship the Pope, as they will not listen to me when I tell them this is incorrect? b) Where does the Orthodox religion come from?

7. ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF CATHOLICISM -- MARY. a) How can you say Mary is not divine with the Church approved apparitions in Fatima and Guatemala [sic]?

HOW PRAYER WORKS. b) You said that God doesn't change. But also in the Marian apparitions she has said that "the cup is full" and "now the cup is running over" and that "if men don't amend their ways, the Great Chastisement will come," which means that our prayers can change the way God will react to us. Why would we say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy?

8. COMMUNAL VS INDIVIDUAL PRAYER. Why do we ask for the prayers of friends, family, and the saints? Shouldn't my own prayers be enough to get God's attention?

9. COMMONALITIES. I'm Methodist. Reading history I saw that Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church, and John Wesley broke away from the Church of England and started Methodism. What do Methodism and Catholicism have in common?

10. AUTHORITY. Since the Catholic Church does not hold to sola Scriptura, a) what is her authority? and b) why is this authority not part of the Bible?

11. CHANGING CHURCH DOCTRINE? The new Methodist bishop here is in an openly same-sex relationship. Is it true, as the secular media and some politicians claim, that the Catholic Church is headed that way?

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