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...

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...

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. ...

Ash Wednesday is already coming except there will be some modifications due to COVID-19. Roman Catholics usually would line up to have their ashes administered to their foreheads, to believe that God forgives through the Roman Catholic priests. Philip Koslowski of Aleteia   states the following:  Ash Wednesday is supposedly an ancient liturgical feast quoting Job 42:6. It is a day of fasting and abstinence.  But what does Job 42:6 say? Job repents in dust and ashes. It's not just the application of ashes on the forehead. Rather, the repentance and mourning went to dress in sackcloth and sit on the ashes. Unfortunately, this has become a sign of hypocrisy such as in the case of Ahab's faked repentance in 1 Kings 21. Ahab remained wicked throughout as followed in 1 Kings 22 when God decides it's time to allow wicked men to fool Ahab to his death. Micaiah the real prophet warned Ahab of the others but was ill-treated. You can see how Ahab's unrepentance hurt a genuine prop...

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...

It's very easy to accuse me that I'm saying all Roman Catholics are living sinfully. On the contrary, I don't believe that and I want to say there are some Roman Catholics who are humanly speaking, good citizens. Some Roman Catholics aren't only faithful to attend Sunday masses - they are also faithful to do whatever good they can. Some Roman Catholics are doing their best to be good people, humanly speaking. Some Roman Catholics can be seen even shaking their heads and disapproving of their fellow parishioners who sin from Monday to Friday, go to confession on Saturday, go to church on Sunday, and the cycle repeats again. I would agree with a Roman Catholic who said I can't judge them because of a parishioner of theirs who lives wantonly. Some of them even renounce the pseudo-apologists who tend to get dubbed as Catholic fake defenders because they aren't truly scholars in their religion. That would be a fallacy of generalization or false dichotomy.  However, t...

Having grown up in a Roman Catholic family meant that lying about Santa Claus was very normal. It may already be past the feast day of Nicholas of Myra but the myth of Santa Claus has him delivering presents on December 24. It's a problem that Roman Catholic salvation is faith plus works rather than salvation by faith that results in works. There's that license to pride going on when salvation is faith plus works. Even worse, it also teaches that the Catholic priest can restore salvation or that God restores salvation through the Catholic priest. This is really nothing more than a Santa Claus style of salvation.  How does Santa Claus work as a fictional character? The song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" says that he's making a list and checking it twice. The song says that he's finding out who's naughty or nice. The song then concludes "so be good for goodness sake". In short, Santa Claus' determination of who's been naughty or nice is b...

Roman Catholics want to deny eternal security by quoting Philippians 2:12 from the Good News Translation which renders it as follows: So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation.  At first, it feels like salvation is faith plus works  on the surface, right? However, other Roman Catholic-approved translations such as the New American Bible may render it as follows: So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling . The GNT says that you need to working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation. Yet, the same version also says in Ephesians 2:8-10 the following:  8-9 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift,...

  Roman Catholics may ask, "Can a person be saved and be a criminal?" I remembered one article from Just for Catholics was called, " The Believing Murderer! " to talk about that. Also, I was once asked to ask my pastor on who is better between a Buddhist living a decent life and a Christian who is a rapist. Christian? Hmmm... maybe Roman Catholic though I don't want to deny that the late Jack Hyles' group was actually mired with sex scandals too. I don't want to deny the existence of the late Tony Alamo's sexual immoralities. I do believe that a murderer can be saved if he or she believes strongly enough but that person will depart from that lifestyle. The Apostle Paul was indeed a murder yet he got saved after Jesus called him to repentance on the way to Damascus. Paul put his trust in Jesus and got saved. So, yes I believe that a murderer can be saved but there will be a major change after that. A rapitst can be saved but can't remain a rapist....

One of the many damning false accusations by some Roman Catholics is that Sola Fide leads to Antinomianism. However, Martin Luther the Reformer had affirmed one biblical truth that while salvation is by faith alone but it's not by a faith that is alone.  My friends the Antinomians preach exceedingly well - and I cannot but believe that they do so with great earnestness -  concerning the mercy of Christ, forgiveness of sin, and other contents of the article of redemption. But they flee from this inference as from the devil, that they must tell the people about the Third Article, of sanctification, that is, of the new life in Christ. For they hold that we must not terrify people and make them sorrowful, but must always preach to them the comfort of grace in Christ and the forgiveness of sin. They tell us to avoid, for God’s sake, such statements as these: ‘Listen, you want to be a Christian while you are an adulterer, a fornicator, a swill-belly, full of pride, avarice, usurious...

It's very common for Roman Catholics to immediately label someone as a Protestant even if the said person didn't belong what classifies as Protestant. It's really something when some sources actually tell us that cults like the Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, and the Iglesia Ni Cristo as "Protestant" but these groups do not stick to the Five Solas of the Reformation. Did Sola Scriptura cause the division or was it not sticking to what the Bible says for the final authority in faith and matters that did? Rather, it was the rejection of Sola Scriptura - not affirming it that caused the great division and gave birth to one heretical sect after the other. Then there was the damning false accusation I got that said, "You don't know how to pray because your god is Martin Luther." Then I remembered a recent quote by Pastor Paul David Washer saying, "The Reformers didn't want to be Reformers, they just wanted to be biblical ."  What was the whol...

There's one truth Roman Catholics need to hear and that's there's no resume on Judgment Day. The problem with Roman Catholicism is its salvation of faith plus works. That is they believe that they must both believe and do their part to stay saved. They must do everything from getting baptized as an infant to doing the sacraments and all for good works.  This is why Roman Catholics insist that salvation is mostly by their own works and faith is just the start: "The specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation," (CCC, par. 2036).   "The Decalogue [the Ten Commandments] contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason," (CCC 2080)   " . . . the Second Vatican Council confirms: 'The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to...

  I was thinking about the scene in the movie God's Not Dead when an old woman with dementia faces her apostate son. The movie scene itself has the description of a comfortable prison cell that would keep the person inside then the door is shut. Sadly, some Roman Catholics today are in the situation that they don't want to leave their religion because it's like a comfortable prison cell. It's just like how some criminals actually dread the day they are set free from jail and would rather be in jail. Roman Catholicism itself has become a comfortable prison cell for some Roman Catholics - it's their comfort zone and they enjoy this captivity. As a former Roman Catholic, life seemed really easy until God turned it upside down with family dysfunctionality. I was thinking of how being a member of a Jesuit parish before meant plenty of business connections, you could easily do business, you could easily earn money, get prestige, and all of these are comfortable. It's ...

It's indeed very heartbreaking that many Roman Catholics are too stuck in their pride. A lot of problems happen today because of pride . Ever wondered why you have a hard time forgiving or asking for forgiveness? It's because of the sin of pride . A lot of people today have their pride.  Yes, pride leads to destruction and nowhere but it (Proverbs 16:18). A lot of Roman Catholics today are stuck in their pride. What pride are they stuck in? Well, you have to consider that man is not a humble creature. Roman Catholicism's system of faith plus works is still salvation by works. Salvation by works gives a lot of room to brag. "I"m good enough for Heaven!" However, Ephesians 2:8-9 says that salvation is by grace  through faith and not of ourselves so no one could boast.  While growing up Roman Catholic - it's very easy to hear people brag about going to Heaven. I was a mean kid and I was told that I would go to Hell if I did more good than bad. It...

It's not a general statement that all Roman Catholics love to sin. I observe that some Roman Catholics do try to live their best lives, they don't cheat, they do charity work, they do the best they can to live peaceably with all men. Yet, there are Roman Catholics who actually live like they've got a license to sin all they want. I was thinking that my sinful relatives were many of them are religious Roman Catholics. Many are even active in the parishes while living in sin. Some are even going to Sunday masses together with their live-in partners. Other religious Roman Catholics are even involved in illegal activities, much to the surprise of well-behaved Roman Catholics. The double standard is really something to think about. At one moment, you have Roman Catholics who say that the doctrine of eternal security teaches a license to sin. They can brag all they want about how they are working on their salvation with "fear and trembling," demonstrated by their ri...

While this is not meant to be a rude generalization but I feel that I need to write this. While there are some Roman Catholics who are living good lives, not fooling around, doing the best they can - all that works righteousness isn't going anywhere. Also, what I've noticed is that there are also many (not all) Roman Catholics who are actually living like they've got a license to sin. It's really disturbing how it's often said that the doctrine of eternal security leads to a life of sin. Well, it could if it's taught by an Antinominian. However, eternal security is not taught that a person can be saved and live all they please. It means that a person may not be perfect but he or she is going to endure to the end in the long run. Endurance is the fruit not the root of salvation.  I remembered growing up in a sinful Roman Catholic family. Folks were religious but lost. Many were active members in the parish but displayed several signs of hypocrisy such as wo...