Catholic Faith Crisis

I remembered the time I used to waste my time on Catholic fake defenders such as the site The Splendor of the Church ran by Abraham Arganiosa, a Novus Ordo priest. The behavior of the members of that site is anything but admirable. I made a hasty generalization for more than some time about the attitude of Catholic apologists. In truth, it's easy to ignore that some Catholic apologists are good people, humanly speaking. I checked out Catholic Answers and Aleteia . I also checked out Catholic apologist Taylor Marshall or Catholic Answers' very own Trent Horn. I'd say that official Catholic apologetics sites are very scholarly, courteous, and polite - a far cry from what The Splendor of the Church is with many of its contributors. The members of Catholic Answers and other scholarly Catholic sites defend their stand without losing their cool. Those sites are very scholarly and I'm impressed at how they remain professional in the face of disagreement. It's because they

Catholics are often quick to point out these verses to say that Mary had indeed become the mother of the Church: John 19  25 Standing close to Jesus' cross were His mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing there; so He said to his mother, “He is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home. (GNT) Did Mary really become the mother of the Church with that act of compassion Jesus gave to His earthly mother and follower of His? We need to take the context of what truly happened. Catholics say that if Jesus had brothers and sisters then why to leave Mary in the care of John. Psalm 69:8 has the prophecy of becoming a stranger to the children of one's mother. Later, Jesus' maternal half-siblings in John 7:5 said the sad truth that neither did Jesus' own family believe in Him. Other Catholic-approved transl

Good Friday has become synonymous with associating it with the dolorous passion of Christ. I believe that Jesus did die on a Friday (Thursday, Jewish time). One of the movies that Catholics watch on Holy Week is The Passion of the Christ aside from Jesus starring Jeremy Sisto. The Catholic view of the crucifixion of Jesus denies penal substitution and teaches the satisfaction view instead. The satisfaction view teaches that Jesus offered a holy, perfect, blameless sacrifice that appeased God's wrath. I could agree with that in part except that the Catholic view says that Jesus didn't take the punishment for ourselves. I would like to quote verses from the Good News Translation to further prove that Jesus did take our punishment upon Himself on that Good Friday: Isaiah 53:4-10 - But He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that His suffering was punishment sent by God. 5 But because of our sins He was wound

Catholics have this deep belief in the dogma of transubstantiation. Since it's Maundy Thursday then this blog entry is written in hopes of any Catholic stumbling on this entry will wake up. Transubstantiation is defined as where the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Christ. Transubstantiation is defined where the bread and wine still look like such but have already shared the properties of the literal body and blood of Christ. Catholics have also quoted John 6:53-58 saying: 53 Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in yourselves. 54 Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. 55 For My flesh is the real food; My blood is the real drink. 56 Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood live in Me, and I live in them. 57 The living Father sent Me, and because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats Me wi

One of the reasons why I had a faith crisis in Catholicism was because of how often it was to be in good behavior on Christmas and Lent. It was easy to see one's enemies getting kind on those two specific times then all the conflicts return after both seasons are over. It was very easy to get civil on Christmas season and Lenten season but the rest of the year isn't. Again, this isn't to condemn all Catholics to be guilty of doing such. Some Catholics are good people in human terms but still lost as they're still trusting themselves. I had some churchmates in my former Jesuit parish who are humanly speaking, good citizens. Some of them are celebrating longevity in their marriage, others are good housewives, others even condemn the hypocritical behavior of their fellow parishioners who live like they have a license to sin. Yet, these humanly speaking, good Catholics still wonder why such a problem persists. The problem with being a Catholic lies in faith plus works rathe

As Good Friday approaches, I remembered the time I was scolded for complaining about the food and told that we were to abstain from meat and the like in remembrance of Jesus. Yet, ironically, Jesus' death happened during the Passover when Passover Lamb was shared. I decided to check out on Catholic Answers' article " Here's What You Need to Know About Lent " by Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin. Akin mentions Daniel as an example. Catholic Answers' article "Why Do Catholics Practice Fasting and Abstinence during Lent?" by mentioning Daniel. I don't deny that Daniel did enter into a period of fasting in Daniel 10. We also can't deny that Daniel and his friends also requested vegetables to eat during their captivity to Babylon. I think I could talk first about Daniel and his friends going vegetarian in Babylon. Babylon is obviously a pagan city. Daniel and three friends were expected to follow the Levitical laws on diet (Leviticus 11). Babylon was

Today is Palm Sunday and I felt like writing this for Catholics out there. Granted, the COVID-19 epidemic is still ongoing so probably we're not getting as many "blessed" palm leaves in contrast to before the lockdown happened. The problem of believing that Catholic priests "save" souls has created yet another day of superstition namely Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is supposed to celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. I don't deny the homily every Palm Sunday from a Catholic mass is about that triumphal entry. However, these palm leaves unknowingly overshadow the real reason for the Lenten Season - our Lord Jesus.  As a former Catholic, I remembered the time that I tore some palm leaves and was scolded for committing alleged blasphemy. Another moment was when our helpers were scolded for burning the blessed palm leaves because they were "sacred". However, these "blessed" palm leaves eventually shriveled and became dried palm leaves.