As a lifelong evangelical, I note that we evangelicals typically ignore the ensuing set of questions that should precede discussion of Catholic doctrinal distinctives:
I. QUESTIONS PRELIMARY TO A DISCUSSION OF CATHOLIC CONFESSION OF TO PRIESTS:
(1) Why do evangelicals spend so little time searching their hearts for unconfessed sins of omission, thought, word, and deed?
(2) Why do most evangelicals devote so little time confessing their sins to each other?
"Confess your sins to one another...so that you may be healed (James 5:16)."
(3) Why do evangelicals ignore Jesus' authorization of His disciples' role as mediators of divine forgiveness? "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:22-23)."
II. QUESTIONS PREMINARY TO A DISCUSSION OF THE REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE ACT OF PARTAKING OF HOLY COMMUNION:
(1) Why do evangelicals duck the fact that Jesus relocates His discussion of Holy Communion from the Last Supper (John 13:2ff.) to John 6?
(2) Why does Jesus mean when He teaches that He comes to abide in "those who munch on (Greek: "trogo") my flesh and drink my blood (John 6:56)?" "Trogo" is never used figuratively!
(3) Why does Jesus say, "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink (6:55) and then add, "Whoever eats me will live because of Me (6:57)?"
(4) Why doesn't Jesus explain that He is speaking figuratively about Holy Communion here to prevent the mass exodus of offended disciples who take Him literally (6:66)?
(5) Why are "many of you sick and ill and many have died" because you "eat and drink (the bread and wine) without "discerning the Body (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)?" Put differently, why are such dire consequences singled out only for "unworthy" Eucharistic participation?
III. QUESTIONS PRELIMARY TO A DISCUSSION OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY:
(1) Don't believers enter the afterlife with the same free will and flawed character that they had developed in this life? Then how can evangelicals with serious character flaws immediately enter a heavenly realm in which "nothing impure will enter (Rev. 21:27)?"
(2) Why is John shown a vision of the eternally open gates of Heaven ("the New Jerusalem") for the benefit of those "outside" the gates, the sinful dead (Rev. 21:25 as clarified in 22:15)?
(3) Doesn't Peter teach the doctrine of a 2nd chance for sinful deceased "spirits in prison" to hear the Gospel and get saved (so 1 Peter 3:19 as clarified in 4:6)?
(4) What is the postmortem purifying "fire" that tries flawed believers, so that they can ultimately be saved (1 Corinthians 3:15)?
(5) If Paradise is located in "the third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-3)," then might not the 2 lower Heavens include a realm like Purgatory? Ancient Judaism also locates Paradise in the third Heaven and sometimes teaches that the 2 lower heavens are spiritual dimensions.
IV. QUESTOPMS PRELIMINARY TO A DISCUSSION OF CATHOLIC PRAYING TO SAINTS:
(1) What do the righteous dead know about their loved ones on earth?
(2) If the righteous dead know about ongoing earthly persecution of Christians and intercede with God for divine intervention (so Rev. 6:9-10), does this not mean that the righteous dead monitor the earthly lives of their loved ones and continue to pray for them?
(3) In our race as spiritual athletes, righteous dead spectators ("a cloud of witnesses") are not said to precede us, but rather to actually "surround" us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Might one not reasonably infer that deceased righteous spectators remain aware of our plight, cheer us on and support us during our race?
(4) If the righteous dead pray for the living and remain aware of their earthly plight, why not infer that we can request (pray) that they pray for us in our hour of need?
In Paul's vision the same verb "euchomai" used for prayer to God is used for a prayer to Paul from a physically absent Macedonian man: "During the night Paul had a vision: There stood a Macedonian man, praying to him, saying, "Come over, and help us (Acts 16:9)."
I. QUESTIONS PRELIMARY TO A DISCUSSION OF CATHOLIC CONFESSION OF TO PRIESTS:
(1) Why do evangelicals spend so little time searching their hearts for unconfessed sins of omission, thought, word, and deed?
(2) Why do most evangelicals devote so little time confessing their sins to each other?
"Confess your sins to one another...so that you may be healed (James 5:16)."
(3) Why do evangelicals ignore Jesus' authorization of His disciples' role as mediators of divine forgiveness? "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:22-23)."
II. QUESTIONS PREMINARY TO A DISCUSSION OF THE REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE ACT OF PARTAKING OF HOLY COMMUNION:
(1) Why do evangelicals duck the fact that Jesus relocates His discussion of Holy Communion from the Last Supper (John 13:2ff.) to John 6?
(2) Why does Jesus mean when He teaches that He comes to abide in "those who munch on (Greek: "trogo") my flesh and drink my blood (John 6:56)?" "Trogo" is never used figuratively!
(3) Why does Jesus say, "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink (6:55) and then add, "Whoever eats me will live because of Me (6:57)?"
(4) Why doesn't Jesus explain that He is speaking figuratively about Holy Communion here to prevent the mass exodus of offended disciples who take Him literally (6:66)?
(5) Why are "many of you sick and ill and many have died" because you "eat and drink (the bread and wine) without "discerning the Body (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)?" Put differently, why are such dire consequences singled out only for "unworthy" Eucharistic participation?
III. QUESTIONS PRELIMARY TO A DISCUSSION OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY:
(1) Don't believers enter the afterlife with the same free will and flawed character that they had developed in this life? Then how can evangelicals with serious character flaws immediately enter a heavenly realm in which "nothing impure will enter (Rev. 21:27)?"
(2) Why is John shown a vision of the eternally open gates of Heaven ("the New Jerusalem") for the benefit of those "outside" the gates, the sinful dead (Rev. 21:25 as clarified in 22:15)?
(3) Doesn't Peter teach the doctrine of a 2nd chance for sinful deceased "spirits in prison" to hear the Gospel and get saved (so 1 Peter 3:19 as clarified in 4:6)?
(4) What is the postmortem purifying "fire" that tries flawed believers, so that they can ultimately be saved (1 Corinthians 3:15)?
(5) If Paradise is located in "the third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-3)," then might not the 2 lower Heavens include a realm like Purgatory? Ancient Judaism also locates Paradise in the third Heaven and sometimes teaches that the 2 lower heavens are spiritual dimensions.
IV. QUESTOPMS PRELIMINARY TO A DISCUSSION OF CATHOLIC PRAYING TO SAINTS:
(1) What do the righteous dead know about their loved ones on earth?
(2) If the righteous dead know about ongoing earthly persecution of Christians and intercede with God for divine intervention (so Rev. 6:9-10), does this not mean that the righteous dead monitor the earthly lives of their loved ones and continue to pray for them?
(3) In our race as spiritual athletes, righteous dead spectators ("a cloud of witnesses") are not said to precede us, but rather to actually "surround" us (Hebrews 12:1-2). Might one not reasonably infer that deceased righteous spectators remain aware of our plight, cheer us on and support us during our race?
(4) If the righteous dead pray for the living and remain aware of their earthly plight, why not infer that we can request (pray) that they pray for us in our hour of need?
In Paul's vision the same verb "euchomai" used for prayer to God is used for a prayer to Paul from a physically absent Macedonian man: "During the night Paul had a vision: There stood a Macedonian man, praying to him, saying, "Come over, and help us (Acts 16:9)."
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