Catholics are often scolded for not being able to speak with complete confidence about their eternal future.

Actually, this puts us in pretty good company, as it was Paul who wrote, “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby justified. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:4).

Paul understood, as do Catholics, that even the most fervent believer does not lose his free will and can ultimately reject God, who alone can foresee what our ultimate choice will be.  Protestants who disagree with this point to verses, such as John 10:27-30 and Romans 8:28-39, which suggest that there are some who are kept by the power of God.

These verses refer to the elect, who are predestined for glory, but the mistake that some Christians make is assuming that everyone who sincerely accepts Christ is among the elect.  There are, after all, those who “believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away”, according to the parable of the sower (Luke 8:13).

As Master Poe would say in the TV series, Kung Fu, “Do not go in fear, Grasshopper.” For a Catholic, also, can have assurance of salvation by resolving to avoid mortal sin and to reconcile with God through confession when serious sin occurs.

After all, we can have hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2), but it is only “he who endures to the end [who] will be saved” (Matt. 24:13).

 But if we’ve done nothing to earn our salvation, a faith-alone Christian might argue, we can do nothing to lose it!

Tell that to Adam and Eve, who did nothing to earn their time in the Garden, but still found themselves toiling for thorns and thistles as the forbidden fruit digested.

Scripture tells us that even the Christian who stands “fast only through faith” can be cut off again (Rom. 11:13-22); that those who have “received the knowledge of truth” and have been sanctified by the “blood of the covenant”  can “sin deliberately” and face “a fury of fire” (Heb. 10:26:31); that even he who has a knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus can again become entangled in the defilements of the world from which he escaped, facing worse fate than he who never knew the way of righteousness (Pet. 2:20-21).

The truth is that salvation is spoken of in terms of our marriage with the bridegroom Christ (Eph. 5: 25-27), and what marriage could last if we only proclaimed our love and didn’t live it, as well?

The permanence of a marriage can be assured when both spouses commit to serving and honoring each other, but one can predict how long that relationship would last with no sacrifices, no sense of commitment, and no signs of affection.  When that same apathy is allowed to rot a believer’s relationship with Christ, a divorce can occur then, as well.

In other words, work allows us to sustain our faith.

While some Protestant groups object that works have no role in our faith, the only place that “faith alone” appears in Scripture is when James tells us that we are justified by our works and not by faith alone (Jas 2:24).  When Paul warns that we are saved by faith apart from works, such as in Eph. 2:8-9, he speaks of “works of the law”, which are those Jewish traditions, such as circumcision, which are no longer binding in the New Covenant.

None of us can boast of that work (Eph. 2:8-9), as even our good deeds are a free gift from God. Yet, Paul so recognized the importance of an active faith that he urged his readers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phi 2:12).

 Are you saved?  Am I?

I have been saved, but the process continues. Let us pray for one another that we remain doers of the word and not just hearers (Jas. 1:22-24), and that when we stray, we remember the loving forgiveness of God, who waits to welcome home even his most prodigal son.

See if you can figure out which this is:

A new coach, determined not to pollute the game of T-ball with his opinions on how the game should be played, gives each of his five-year-old aspiring sluggers a copy of the book of rules for the sport and tells them to be ready for the big game in a couple weeks.

A good team needs a good coach.  While the book of rules may explain that one hits the ball with the bat, a good coach demonstrates how to choke up, follow through, and slide into second without a mouthful of dirt. With each child left to make sense of the book on his own, the team would be a mess by the first game.

With that in mind, should Christians go by the Bible alone?

This question is the question that Catholics should ask when discussing our teachings with other Christians when challenged on Catholic doctrine, such as Purgatory or confession.

What is our authority in matters of faith?

All Christians, Catholic and Protestant, believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word of God.  It is an authority for any true disciple.  As attributed to St. Jerome, ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

Yet there is a huge problem with assuming the Bible is our only authority. 

The Bible never tells us to go by the Bible alone.  It is, ironically, an unscriptural concept. 

Often Protestants will point to verses such as 2 Tim. 3:16.  But Paul’s only claim there is that Scripture is useful, or purposeful.  Gas is useful to get my truck around, but without tires and engine oil, I wouldn’t get very far.

Another practical problem with going by the Bible alone is that, until the sixteenth century, there was no printing press.  Most men and women were illiterate and also could not have afforded a personal Bible, as they were copied by hand (by Catholic monks, by the way).  One of these rare books would have cost, in modern terms, well over a hundred thousand dollars. 

If Christ meant for his disciples to go by the Bible alone during these centuries, it would mean that he had designed a religion for the rich and well-educated, which certainly isn’t the message of the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12).

To our knowledge, Christ never wrote any of his teachings down.  Nor did he instruct his apostles to do so.  In fact, that rebel John even insists he would rather communicate face-to-face than with pen and ink (2 John 12; 3 John 13).  There is, after all, not enough room in the whole world for the books that would need to have been written to contain all that Christ did (John 21:25).

As Peter understood, Scripture is hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16), so much so that it befuddled the poor Eunuch who was trying to make heads and tails of the book of Isaiah (Acts 8:30-31).

Returning to the baseball analogy, our coaches, the Pope and bishops, have had their wisdom passed down through two-thousand years of Sacred Tradition and protected from error by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).

After all, one place the Bible isn’t silent is in claiming that the oral teachings of Christ were on an equal level with the written teachings (2 Th. 2:15; 2 Tim 1:13-14) and that they weren’t all meant to be written down but taught to others (2 Tim. 2:2).  Paul even goes so far as to say to “shun those not acting according to Tradition” (2 Th. 3:6).

The Catholic Church goes by the Word of God.  In fact we go by all of it, not just the part that was written down, which is why many of our teachings seem different from those of Bible-only groups.

Without Tradition, as with that team of little-leaguers, the faithful are left to scramble around in a game of Bad News Bears Christianity.

First, enough individuals have signed up for this update list that Google was rejecting what I’ve tried to send as SPAM.  As of this mailing, I’m using the Google groups feature, which should fix that problem, so hopefully all of you receive it. I’m sure I’ve lost a couple people in the transfer (I had to type in some addresses manually), but the best way to fix that is for you to forward this on to anyone who may be interested in what is happening with Apologetics from Scratch.  Our website is at www.apologeticsfromscratch.org.  It will be updated soon.

Second, if you have been named as a liaison for your parish, thank you for volunteering to help with this effort.  For pastors and pastoral administrators on this list, thank you for your cooperation.  Sometime this summer, possibly closer to fall, liaisons will be contacted with information to pass on to pastors and administrators, and then to the parish community upon pastoral approval.  If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this e-mail.

Very soon, early registration for the event will be available at our website www.apologeticsfromscratch.org.

While we have already met our financial goal for our November event, we are still accepting donations to help fund future events.  One type of donation we are particularly interested in are frequent flier miles to assist in flight costs for Mr. Staples’ trip from CA to Missouri.  If you have miles that you would like to donate, please reply to this e-mail.

As we plan this event, the apologetics committee would like your input for topics for Tim Staples’ keynote talks.  He will give three talks aimed at the general audience and one talk specifically for teens.  Teens will otherwise be encouraged to attend the same talks as adult participants.  Following this paragraph is a link to take you to a survey to indicate titles of interest for Mr. Staples’ talks.  Keep in mind that, in addition to his keynote addresses, there will be “training” workshops where other topics of interest will be explored.  You may vote for more than one title on this survey.  There is also a comment section for any additional thoughts you have.

Survey – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MFPQX39

Thank you for your time and support.

In Christ,

Spencer Allen

President – Apologetics from Scratch, Inc.

                Certainly, as St. Francis is supposed to have said, we are to preach the gospel always and, when necessary, use words.  And sometimes, it is necessary.

                That occasion might come at Thanksgiving when your sister remarks that she hasn’t been to confession since 8^th grade.  It could be when your niece comes home from Bible camp, bothered that she was told that Catholics were idolaters.  Even more troubling, it might be when that little voice inside asks, is there really a God?

                The practice of defending the teachings and practices of the faith is called “apologetics” (from the Greek apologia).  Many, upon hearing the term, assume Catholic apologetics has something to do with obsessively apologizing for being Catholic: I’m sorry, everyone.  I know I smell like fish and incense today.

                This series of columns is designed to equip you with the tools and insight to defend any teaching of Catholic Christianity.  This may seem like a daunting task, but the good news is that your partner in this effort is the Holy Spirit, who (if you haven’t heard) is excellent with this sort of thing.

                There are certain tools with which all Christians must equip themselves to defend the faith, including an understanding of the teachings of Christ and his Church.  One of the most important tools, though, is the confidence to speak up when God gives us opportunities to instruct those who have questions and counsel those who have doubts.  Scripture exhorts us to always be ready to give an explanation for the hope that is within us (1 Pet. 3:15) and to contend for the faith delivered to the saints (Jud 1:3).  And really, do any of us want to experience the fate of the lukewarm mentioned in Revelation 3:16, which is that God will spew them out of his mouth?  That honestly sounds like it wouldn’t be very fun at all.

                For the individual wanting to get better at defending the faith, now is as good a time as any to begin filling that toolbox.  One of the best ways to start would be to record the book, chapter and verse from any Scripture citations within these columns, labeling them by subject.  The three in the last paragraph, for instance, are great verses to be labeled “Zeal for the Faith”.  Before you know it, you will have built a notebook of handy Scripture references to help explain your very Biblical Catholic faith to others.

                On that note, there are many teachings of the faith that others wonder about or challenge, especially members of Protestant denominations who come from a very different background.

                Where is Purgatory in the Bible?

                Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints instead of God alone?

                Why should I go to some man to confess my sins?

                When asked questions such as these, Catholics should always meet them with charity and with a willingness to either provide an answer or find one if we are still growing in the faith ourselves.

                However, there is one extremely important question that we, as Catholics, must ask first when dialoging with other Christians.  This question, which will be revealed and explored in the next column, is one that many non-Catholics have never asked themselves, but which makes all the difference in the world when understanding the faith that Christ, himself, established