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...

One of the issues of the Catholic Bible is that there are some whole verses that are found in the King James Version (KJV) but not in their translations. It's also common not to have Matthew 23:14 in the other translations used by born-again Christians such as the New International Version (NIV) or the English Standard Version (ESV). Some versions do put a footnote which indicates that other manuscripts have them. Some amateur Catholic apologists (or better called Catholic fake defenders) tend to say that Matthew 23:14 is not in the Catholic translations. However, Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 do appear even in the Catholic translations. I will cite them from the Good News Translation (GNT) since it's one of the most commonly used Bible for Roman Catholics.  Mark 12:40 - They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!” Luke 20:47 -  who take advantage of widows and rob them of...

I'm not writing this to condemn all Catholics as hypocrites living illicit lifestyles. Some Catholics are humanly speaking, good citizens, who try to live a good life as possible. I'm talking about some people who are active in their respective Catholic parishes, carry their Rosary around, attend processions, and they're living life like they've got a license to sin. It really became an issue when some Catholics end up renouncing such behavior. I'm glad there are some Catholics who renounce such bad behavior among their parishioners. However, I do still feel or hear the lousy excuse something like, "At least the person is still religious! He may be having another woman but he's active in the parish!" Sadly, such actions won't help that person living in sin. It's common to see many people in jail who are religious. I'm not saying that every person praying the Rosary or doing other prayer rituals in jail is automatically a criminal. There are...

One of the most common Catholic prayers I memorized aside from the "Hail Mary" is called "Angel of God". The prayer was described as a prayer to the guardian angel. Yes, guardian angels are biblical though the Bible doesn't really say that every Christian has a guardian angel. To believe that everyone including unbelievers has a guardian angel is not biblical. The prayer "Angel of God" is a prayer to one's supposed guardian angel or to ask one's guardian angel for protection. There is the problem of not just praying to saints but also praying to angels. Those two kinds of prayers are two reasons why I don't believe Catholics and born-again Christians just pray the same prayer. Some Catholics make that mistake when they think that Catholic masses and born-again Christian worship services are just essentially the same.  The problem of worshiping angels was already in Colosse. It's called Gnosticism or people made a pretense of wisdom. One...

As a former Roman Catholic, I remembered that there were certain saints that my folks and I prayed to. There was St. Claire, St. Nicholas (who is seldom affectionately called  Santa Claus ), St. Jude, St. Bartholomew, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Benedict, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the list can go on . My childhood Pope, the late John Paul II, was later canonized during the reign of Pope Francis. John Paul II became an influential figure during his 25-year reign. Pope Pius XII was also considered for sainthood after Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI declared him a "blessed" - something that's below a saint but still considered an important figure. You have other contemporaries like Theresa of Calcutta who has also become a saint. Each saint had a special purpose, like praying to a particular saint for a particular purpose. Then you've got several Catholic saints for in times of sickness, like St. Therese of the Child Jesus and St. Peregrine, to name a few of the...

There's news that the Sinulog celebrations in Cebu City will be given new rules. There would be no grand parade but the veneration of the Sto. Nino still continues . I'm really disheartened at how so many Cebuano Catholics are still thinking that the Sto. Nino represents Jesus as a child. The problem of the issue with the upcoming Sinulog is that Catholics think that they're doing God a favor. I heard of many stories behind the Sto. Nino. One story even said that there was a great fire and a miracle occurred. That alleged miracle was that of the image of the Sto. Nino that supposedly survived in the great fire. If that were true then I guess any artifact that survived in the fire means it's from God? Let's say that a Buddha image survived in the fire then does that mean Buddhism is the truth? Certainly not. The logic is not really working at all with the alleged signs and wonders. Some say that I'm crazy to say that Sto. Nino is idolatry because it's suppose...

Hearing news that the Black Nazarene grand procession has been canceled is a good thing. However, it doesn't mean that the Feast of the Black Nazarene is completely canceled. Monsignor Hernando Coronel decided that they will hold masses (which will be broadcasted during the feast) in lieu of the grand procession that got canceled due to health protocols. I could agree with the more or less practical compromise that Coronel has given due to the COVID-19 disaster. However, this doesn't change that the Black Nazarene is still a vain graven image.  Roman Catholics always have their objections that they don't worship the image but the one being portrayed. I hear the same claim done by Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Jains, and other world religions that use graven images as visual aids for worship. I decided to get materials from a Buddhist temple where it said that when they burn incense to the image - they are praying to the one who's portrayed. It's not any different from...

I find it so ironic that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his book An Invitation to Faith would say that Mary's greatness consists of the fact that she wants to magnify God over herself. However, Roman Catholics unknowingly exalt Mary above God. Although their doctrine doesn't describe Mary as such or that they reject the "Mary is God heresy" - they do still end up exalting Mary above God. This is a serious issue as devotion to Mary itself is a very subtle deception. How do Roman Catholics end up unknowingly lifting or exalting Mary above God? From Litany of the Blessed Virgin  and Litany of Loretto - we read the following names are attributed to Mary: Mother of God Conceived without sin (please check on 2 Corinthians 5:21) Our intercessor (please check on 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 7:21-25) The ark of the covenant Gate of Heaven (please check John 10:1) Our life, our hope, our salvation (Romans 8:24-30) Queen of Heaven (please check Jeremiah 44) Glory of Israel (please chec...

I remembered being told that if I wanted to go to fellowship - I could just go with my Roman Catholic folks to the Sunday Mass. It's a shame that I was told that it's just a matter of interpretation and it's just the same prayer. Same prayer? I really wanted to laugh and cry at the same time with the idea because of my experience after I got saved vs. the prayers of Roman Catholicism.  The same prayer? I would like to really and politely point out why I disagree with that one: The Roman Catholic prayers are mostly vain repetitions. The Rosary looks like that it could just be a tape recorder prayer. You are praying like a broken record or a looped song. There was even a joke that you could just say "the same" until the prayer is finished. The prayers after the confessional are just vain repetitions too. The Roman Catholic doctrine doesn't really encourage direct dialing to God. Back in Colosse, the Gnostics were involved in angel worship. They thoug...