Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 91: Holy Scripture and Tradition

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Show 91: Holy Scripture and Tradition · The Uncensored Catholic

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The a B. Y'all, welcome to today's show. I know today's the
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big travel day, the day before Thanksgiving. Maybe you wanted to listen to
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a podcast while you're driving or flying or taking whatever means of transport you were
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using today. So I figure to go ahead and try to put out one
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a little bit earlier today, so you'll have that opportunity if that's something you
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want to do. I would like to say though, that well, during
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these times when you're traveling, it's a great time to listen to podcasts.
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And you know, tomorrow and your family starts driving you crazy. You know,
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we all have that one relative that wants to start an argument over politics
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or religion or something, and we'll drive us insane if we let them.
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Pop in the earbuds listen to my podcast. I've got about ninety app is
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this. I think this is gonna be the episode ninety one. So you
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can literally spend all day listening to my dulcet tones, soft southern draw as
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someone described it lately recently, and stay in your happy place of orthodox Catholicism
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and conservative politics. Shall we say so, let's kick this off. I'm
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gonna try not to go as long as I did on yesterday's show Boy,
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that one turned out to be about an hour. You know. I try
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to keep these things round thirty minutes, but there was just a lot to
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cover, you know, And so I'm just gonna dive in. I'm gonna
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get right in here. We'll start with a couple of questions and answers from
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radio replies. The person who's been asking about the flood and various stories in
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Genesis says, do you believe that reflection and refraction caused no rainbows before the
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flood? They say, no, I do not believe that, Nor does
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scriptures say that there were no rainbows before the flood. If God said,
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look at the sun, as surely it is there in the heavens, I
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shall not do the thing again, that would not suggest that the sun had
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not existed before that moment. The person says, God sent the flood to
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wipe out sin, but in vain said began again. Did God make a
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mistake or is it all fable? And the answer you are making a mistake.
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God sent the flood as a just punishment for previous sins and as a
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lesson to future generations. He did not send it to wipe out the gift
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of free will, nor to prevent the possibility of future sin. That's what
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you know. Atheists always say, why does God allow sin? Well,
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you can't have it both ways. You can't have free will and no sin,
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because free will means the ability to choose wrongly. You know, think
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about the Oh what a great movie. Hey, now there's something you can
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do on a Thanksgiving afternoon when there's nothing on TV. Look, a lot
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of y'all at North just loved the Macy Thanksgiving Day parade. I think it's
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boring as sin. Honestly, it is just why, Why when the world
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would I want to watch a bunch of people walk down the street with big
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balloons. That is not my thing. And I honestly do not like professional
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football at all, you know, I mean, I know that's that's like
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heresy in the South. I don't he doesn't like football. No. I
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love to play football, my gosh. When I was a kid, that
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was my sport. And I mean, you know, I loved football.
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Then I got into rugby, and I loved it even more because you could
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just beat the crap out of people. And you know, we go out
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there no pads in rugby. I'd be walking around sprained ankles, broken fingers.
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I don't even know how many bones I broke playing rugby and loved every
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minute of it. I mean that, really, But even beyond that,
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I was even more of a baseball fanatic. But I never enjoyed watching football
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on television. It's just so start stop, start stop, start stop,
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It's really I mean, college football is a lot more entertaining than professional football,
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and even I've lost my taste for it. And after all that Colin
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Kpernet junk his kneeling during the national anthem and all everything got all woke,
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I just had forget it. And I haven't turned it on the game since,
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and I don't miss it now. I avidly watched baseball. That is
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one sport I enjoy watching as much as playing, well almost. You know,
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if I had it all to do over again, I spent a lot
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more time practicing baseball, a lot more time because you know, I didn't
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have a dad around. Grandfather died when I was ten. Uncles didn't really
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take any time with me, you know, every now and then, they
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spent a little time with me on a holiday, but they weren't part of
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my life. And no one told me that if I had refined the art
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of pitching, I could have gotten like one hundred or two hundred million dollar
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contracts straight out of high school. No one told me you could, actually,
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I mean I should have known, you know, common sense should have
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told me as a kid, you can make a lot of money playing baseball.
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No, I never thought of it. I never, honestly, it
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never even crossed my mind. It was just something I did for fun.
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And yeah, I mean I was such a good second baseman, first base,
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third I mean, you know, an infielder. I was quick reflexes,
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really quick reflexes. I could have played first easy. You know,
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I won't say as well as Freddy Freeman, but yeah, you know if
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I had put my mind to it and really practiced, yeah, I could
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have been one heck of a first baseman. You know, being right handed,
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this is not ideal for third base. But yeah, I was good
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there. I was very good. Chipper Jones was my hero. So yeah.
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But the other thing was we didn't realize how bad my eyesight was when
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I was a kid. So I was really you know, early teens before
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I got glasses. And then we had trouble with these prescriptions. I have
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a stigmatism in both eyes, and contacts didn't work. And really went to
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a pretty lousy eye doctor just because he was the father of a friend,
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and he gave me a bad prescription, and so I couldn't see the ball
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to hit it. Well. Now, if I had had, you know,
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a better eye doctor, if I had had a coach, I also
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had a really there was a coach that taught me like the most ridiculous batting
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stance possible. For some reason, he thought that the harder you glared at
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the picture, the better you were going to be. So he taught he
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wouldn't even tell you to look with both eyes straight on. You were supposed
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to like look out of the corner of one eye. So nobody was hitting
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on our team. Our team didn't hit because our coach was a little off
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the beam. But yeah, if I had it all to do over again.
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But anyway, where was I going with that? Great thing to do?
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On Thanksgiving afternoon? What I will be doing is watching movies and eating
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a lot. I love the MST three K Mistery Science Theater three thousand Turkey
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Day Marathon, which you can get online now. I watch really bad movies
8:28
and laugh at really bad jokes for a few hours. Well it's actually twenty
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four hour marathon, so many hours I will be watching the worst movies of
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all time. But when I said he chose you, you have the ability
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free will to choose poorly. That comes from Indiana Jones Last Crusade, which
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is actually a pretty good Catholic theme movie. So really great option. You
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know, I know I saw Temple of Doom when I was probably in third
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grade. It scared me half to death. And you know, if you
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have the small kids, maybe don't show them Indian Jones and the Temple of
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Doom by the Last Crusade is a classic, and it actually is a very
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Catholic themed movie. Great way to spend your time after you've listened to ninety
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episodes of my podcast. And of course the neuro Wolf series that I mentioned
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yesterday, they're all availed on YouTube. I checked last night. It's the
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A and E version of Nero Wolf. They are so cool. I mean,
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really, those are just the best mystery shows of all time. Of
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course I love Poiro, you know, I can watch all that, but
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you know, the Nero Wolf series really really good, really really good,
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and I know I made a point yesterday I never finished. I was talking
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about my books, and that's actually how I started talking about the near A
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Wolf series and the quote was nothing so thoroughly correct. Some man is writing
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a book. So that's why I don't buy my own books or read my
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own books. Once it's written, it's done, it's you know, all
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I care about is does it sell. I don't have a copy of my
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own I don't ever look at it again, basically unless someone tells me,
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hey, you made up you must spell something here, go back and fix
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that. Yeah, because you know, like I said, I don't want
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to build a little shrine to myself of having my books on a shelf.
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That's how I avoid the the corruption as has mentioned. Anyway, Yeah,
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great options. Remember, holidays should be spent with your loved ones, your
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family of friends, and should be enjoyed. It's not a day to argue.
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I mean, really, you'll have these people in your life so briefly.
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That's that's what sinks in as you get older. You know, I
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I'm forty six and of my family's gone. I have three relatives left and
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they're all over seventy. So God willing, maybe someday I'll meet the right
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lady and even maybe start a family at my age, but it hasn't happened
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yet. And so no, don't argue about politics or religion on Thanksgiving.
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When someone's trying to bait you, remember that's their problem. We're Victor Fronicle,
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you know who was in a Nazi concentration camp. He said, you
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choose how you respond. Choose how you respond. Pop in the air buds,
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listen to a podcast, go watch a Miss T three K or an
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Indiana Jones movie, or a Nero Wolf show, and just enjoy spending time.
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You know, you can love somebody without liking him. That's another thing
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you learn as you get older. You can really love a family member and
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disliked being around them. You don't have to like the people you love.
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That's very true. So anyway, as you can tell, I get a
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little emotion around the holidays. Lot was blessed by God. Yet can you
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imagine a lower moral code than that of a man who would sacrifice his own
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daughters. That's a real tricky part of the Old Testament. They answer,
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Lot was blessed by God in some things, not in others. He ended
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his days in miserable poverty. Not every man who is approved for some good
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points is therefore an example of all that men should be in everything. God
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did not approve of Lot's actions in this particular case. Yet let us analyze
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it. A Lot was in a sudden and grave difficulty, with little time
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to weigh things. He was obsessed by the notion of a duty to his
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guests greater than to himself and his household. The law of hospitality was very
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strict, and still is very strict in the East. Very true, Very
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true. Yeah, I mentioned before, you know, good example of getting
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along with people with not agreeing with people. I've been some of my Muslim
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friends who have been as gracious and kind and generous as can be. Now
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we don't talk politics and religion. There's a reason for that. Absorbed by
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this ideal, he did not advert to the full gravity of the alternative.
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He hypothetically suggested an alternative which he probably felt would not be acceptable. It
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was the act of a man distracted by anxiety, much as a mother might
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cry, kill me rather than my child, in the hope of moving hardened
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hearts to spare the child she loves, rather than any deliberate intention of being
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herself killed. Can I imagine a lower code than that of Lot? Yes,
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that of the man who is ever ready to take the worst possible view
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of other people's conduct, with no allowance for the interior states of mind,
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or circumstances or environment is a far lower code than Lot. With his ideals
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of charity and hospitality, even though they were excessive ideals, Lot did not
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lack a moral sense. He wished to prevent what he considered the greater of
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two evils. On that we need more priests like that. That's a pretty
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harsh statement to say that someone who could not put themselves in someone else's shoes
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and understand the circumstances and for you know, understand, people make mistakes.
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That someone who is so judgmental that they feel so morally superior to others that
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they have no passion is actually a lower moral code than one who would sacrifice
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his daughter to save his guests. You know, if you know the story
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of Lot, you know it's a horrible, horrible story. All right,
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let's get into father Sparago. You know it could be Spirago. I have
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no idea he was check if you all happen to I mean, I know
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I have several listeners from Eastern European countries. If there's a check out there,
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or there's one who is familiar with this surname s P I R A
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G O. Who would like to tell me whether it's pronounced sparago or spirago
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or something I can't even fathom. Please, do you know I would rather
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be I don't. I will not sacrifice the message for being accurate, but
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I would rather be correct than not. All right, so he begins to
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speak today of holy scripture and tradition. You know, this is the big
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divide. This is the big divide between Catholic and Protestant. We believe in
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the Bible and sacred tradition because the Bible actually says that Jesus did and taught
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his apostles more things than are written down in the Bible. The Bible never
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says it's the sole authority. The Bible says that the pillar and foundation of
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the truth is the Church, and that we are to listen to all the
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teachings of the Church. There was no Bible for more than two hundred years
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of Christianity, and until just about two hundred years ago, most people couldn't
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read even though the Bible was printed in various languages, universal literacy was not
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commonplace in any town, in any community, in any state or nation.
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So the fallacy of the Bible alone is where we have our big, well
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at least one of our biggest differences. You know, you'll talk about the
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role of the saints, the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary, and A
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protests to say, the Bible doesn't say that. Well, what do you
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say to them? You say, so, okay, the Bible doesn't say
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that. The unbroken tradition of the Catholic Church, going all the way back
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to the apostles who learned directly from Jesus say it. Where does the Bible
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say that? The Bible says everything Christians are supposed to believe. Put it
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back on them, say, okay, I agree, the Bible doesn't say
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that. Now tell me why the Bible is the only authority sol is scripture,
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that's the sole authority. It doesn't the Bible doesn't say that. Their
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whole argument falls apart when you turn it back on them, and I mean,
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they'll say, well, the Bible says it's good for instruction and correction,
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and yeah, absolutely it is one percent. The Bible is the inspired
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word of God. But the Bible is by no means the fullness of the
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faith given to us by Jesus. It doesn't claim to be, and in
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fact, in so many places in the Bible it says exact opposite. You
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know, those who hear you hear me, and he who sent me,
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and those who reject you reject one who sent me. I meant to say,
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go forth and teach all nations. There was no Bible. They weren't
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using a Bible. The eunuch said, how can I under He was reading
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the scriptures, and he says, how can I understand it if I have
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no one to explain it to me. That's what the Bible actually says.
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And I mean in my book Confirmation, An Autobiography of Faith, where I
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discuss these, you know, my conversion and the discussions I had with people
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in the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church at a best certain Baptist university in
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Virginia, the name of which I will not mention. I have discussed the
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arguments we had and the evidence that was shown. And if you if you
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need to defend your faith, or if you know someone who is considering Conversion.
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I hope you'll buy a copy of that book. I'd give it them
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all away if I could, and I have given away many, but I
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cannot say that I've sold many copies of my conversion story. Yeah, it's
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the worst selling of all the books I've written. I've written and published eleven
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books, soon to be thirteen. I have two that I'm finishing up right
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now. And you know, a lot of people say, you know,
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I love your articles. You know you're a great Catholic writer. They don't
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buy my books. They're not buying that one book that I literally wrote for
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the purpose of helping fellow Catholics and fellow Christians who are considering conversion. You
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know, be really good gifts for people in your family who may be going
19:49
off to college, they need to defend their faith, maybe considering conversion,
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maybe getting married, and you know, their spouse isn't quite as orthodox as
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Catholic because you might wish, or they have kids that they're going to be
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raising and they need to instruct them, you know, nine nine nine for
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an e book, I think the print versions went still less than twenty bucks.
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You know, got to get it from Amazon. Sorry, but that's
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the only game in town right now is Amazon to do for self published authors.
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Yeah, my book would make a fantastic Christmas present for probably several members
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of your family or for yourself, So I hope you'll consider it. You
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know, the Bible says, the workers do is pay. I got to
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pay my bills too, I got to put food on the table. And
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you know, podcasting doesn't doesn't really generate much. It barely pays for its
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own hosting. So it really is the book sales that I count on.
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So anyway, father Spirago says, holy Scripture or the Bible, consists of
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seventy two books which were written by men inspired by God and under the guidance
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and influence of the Hoist spirit. Well, they actually said holy ghost.
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I'll try to say it in his language of eighteen ninety when that was far
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more common. These seventy two books are recognized by the Church as the Word
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of God. Now ask your Protestant friend how many books they have in their
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Bible and why those books were removed. Yeah, all Christians believe those were
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books inspired by the Holy Spirit, the word of God for almost fifteen hundred
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years. And then you know, Martin Luther started pulling books out. He
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didn't like that. He disagreed with asked them, if the Bible's the sole
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authority, what authority did Martin Luther have to remove those books? What was
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he trying to hide from them? Now put that idea in their mind,
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and you're going to make some converts. Actually, they're going to go and
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they're going to study, and they're going to learn that Martin Luther was really
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the Antichrist and Antichrist not a good man at all, and that their denomination
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is based on lies and half truth. I mean, he chained the words
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of Jesus in the Bible to fit his teaching, not the teaching of Jesus,
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and admitted to it and bragged about it seriously, and he said,
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by what authority do I do it? I do it by the authority of
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doctor Luther. He made himself his own God. And for people who say
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the Bible a welliteness is so authority, that's kind of funny, isn't it,
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Because that he held himself a higher authority than the Bible. Well.
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Anyway, the Council of Trent and the Vatican Council have expressly declared that God
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is the author of Holy scripture. Saint Augustine says, it is as if
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the Gospels were written down with Christ's own hand. The writers of holy scriptures,
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say says Saint Lawrence Justinian, were like a musical instrument on which the
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Holy Spirit played. That's a beautiful way of saying it. Yet they were
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not merely passive instruments. Each writer brings his own personal character with him into
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what he writes. They are like a number of painters who all paint a
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building which they see in clear daylight, quite correctly, but yet with a
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great many points of difference according to their respective talent and skill. Hence,
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it follows that there are no errors in scripture. We must not look to
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the individual words, but the general sense. We must take offense at popular
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expressions which are not scientifically correct, as when the motion of the sun or
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sunrise and sunset are alluded to. Moreover, since the Bible contains the Word
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of God, we must treat it with great reverence. Thus people always stand
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up when the Gospel was being read At mass. Oaths are taken on the
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Book of the Gospels. In mass, the deacon approaches the Book of the
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Gospels with incense and lights the Council of Trent imposes special penalties on those who
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mock at Holy scripture. The Jews have the greatest reverence for the scriptures and
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the precepts therein contained. The seventy two Books of Holy Scripture are divided into
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forty five books of the Old Testament and twenty seven of the New. They
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are moreover divided into doctrinal, historical, and prophetical books of the Old Testament.
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The historical books can comprise one the Five Books of Moses, which contained
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the early history of Man, the lives of the patriarchs, and the history
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of the Jewish people up to the time of their entrance into the Holy Land.
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Two the Books of Joshua and Judges. Again he uses an old spelling
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for Joshua at Josue, just like Moses, he spells mosc know Mose.
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I kind of stumble over these so just to understand that when I pause,
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I'm trying to realize who he means. Sometimes which relate their conquest of Palestine
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and their struggles with the surrounding nations. Three the four Books of Kings,
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which recount the history under their kings. Four the Books of Tobias, with
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the Book of Tobias, I should say, which gives an account of the
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life of Tobias and his son during the captivity Five the Books of Maccabees.
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Now you just confuse your Protestant friends. They don't know what the Book of
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Tobat or Maccabees is. They don't know what the Book of Wisdom or Sirac
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are. Those are books that were stripped from their Bible for no apparent reason.
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In fact, Tobit seems to have been taken out because of two reasons.
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One the archangel Raphael said he heard Tobat's prayers and took them to God,
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and God sent him to help Tobit. That's orthodox Christian, Catholic,
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and Jewish belief. But you know, Martin Luther sided that was superstition and
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there was no role of angels in people with lives, apparently, other than
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when the archangel Gabriel spoke to the blessed Virgin Mary saying that Jesus was going
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to be born. He left that in, but he stripped that book out.
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Also to Bias, the angel said he was blessed because he had done
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charitable works, especially burying the dead that didn't have anyone to bury them.
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And remember Martin Luther changed the words of Jesus that were saved by faith and
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works to by faith alone. So he stripped that out. He didn't like
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it. Apparently, he thought you could if you believe in Jesus, you
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could just be as cruel and mean and not help the poor as you wanted
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to, and you'd still be saved, even though Jesus said otherwise. He
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said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments that include charity
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and mercy. Yeah, Martin Luther wasn't big on charity and mercy at all.
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In the Books of Maccabees, which tell the incredible story of the Jews
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under Greek rule, fighting and the sacrifices they made, and it talks about
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purgatory and prayers for the dead. So of course he removed that because he
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did not want the ignorant people who could not read his Bible, who had
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had the Bible read to them and did not know that these, you know,
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books belonged in the Bible and these teachings were validly Christian. He wanted
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them to remain in ignorance with half truth. That's what Protestants. Protestantism is
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founded on, ignorance. And half truth, the Books of Maccabees, which
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relate the oppression of the Jews and are Antiochus. The doctrinal books comprised the
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Story of Job, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, the
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Book of Ecclesiastes Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, which we know as syrac beautiful books
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in spiritually enriching books, books that every Christian would here read aloud at Mass
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until about five hundred years ago. The prophetic Books of Ecclesiastes wit you know
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the prophetic books. Prophetical books comprise the four great prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah,
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Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the twelve lesser prophets Jonas, Habocok, etc.
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The New Testament. The historical books are the Four Gospels and the Acts
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of the Apostles. The doctrinal books are the twenty one Epistles, including fourteen
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of Saint Paul's epistles. Prophetical books of the Apocalypse of Saint John, which
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tells an obscure language the future destinies of the Church. Most of the books
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of the Old Testament were originally written in Hebrew, most of the New and
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Greek. The Latin translation of the Bible was called the Vulgate and is an
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amended version of the translation made by Saint Jerome in about four hundred a d.
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So, for the first four hundred years, it's twice as long as
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America has been a nation, Christians didn't have a Bible to read. Saint
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Jerome translated, put it together, then it went through the Council trimmed to
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be authenticated, rendering the version of the original. So if the Bible alone
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is the so authority. Were there no Christians for the first four hundred years
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after Jesus's resurrection? You know, that's another stumper for your Protestant friends and
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family, which you really shouldn't discuss suring Thanksgiving, okay, unless you can
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actually have a civil debate without arguing, which is very more rarest to these
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days than it's ever been before. The most important books of Holy scripture are
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the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Before Evangelists relate the lice
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and teachings of our Lord. The Acts of the Apostles recount the labors of
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Saint Peter and Paul. The writers of the Four Gospels are called the Four
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Evangelists. Two of them. Saint Matthew and Saint John were apostles. Saint
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Mark was a companion of Saint Peter and Saint Luke of Saint Paul on his
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apostolic journey. Saint Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Hebrew for the benefit of
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the Jews of Palestine. He shows how Jesus of nazareuth fulfilled the prophecies of
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the Old Testament and proved himself to be the true Messiah. Saint Mark wrote
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for the Christians of Rome and shows Christ to be the son of God.
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Saint Luke wrote for a distinguished citizen of Rome named Theophilus means lover of knowledge,
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actually in order to instruct him about the life and doctrine of Christ.
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So could have been an individual, could have been a symbol of people who
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wanted to learn. We owe to Saint Luke many details about our Lady and
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many parables not given by the other evangelists. Saint John wrote his Gospel in
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his old age to prove against the heretics of the time that Jesus is truly
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God. He quotes chiefly those sayings of Christ which his divinity is most clearly
30:55
proved. The Gospels were probably written in the order in which they say,
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Saint Matthew about forty a d. Saint Mark and Saint Luke some twenty five
31:04
years later, and Saint John around ninety a d. The Apostle John,
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Saint John, the evangelists lived to be very old, the four Gospels.
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And I think he was the only one that didn't die of martyr. You
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know, he was in captivity, he was in exile. Actually, the
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four Gospels were collected into one volume in the second century. It can be
31:26
proved from internal evidence that the Gospels were written by the disciples of Christ and
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narrate what is true. We can also prove from the oldest copies, from
31:34
translations and quotations that no change has been made in them since they were first
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written. The Gospels are therefore genuine, worthy of belief and incorrupt. On
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reading the Gospels, we realized at once that they were the work of Jews.
31:48
The writers introduced Hebrew expressions. They wrote before the destruction of Jerusalem,
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as we gather from their intimate acquaintance with the city. If they had written
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in the second century, they could not possess this knowledge. Their styles show
32:02
you remember Jerusalem was destroyed about seventy years after the crucifixion of Christ. Their
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style shows that they were unlettered men. The vividness of their descriptions proves that
32:15
they have witnessed the scenes and events they describe. The testimony of the most
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ancient Christian writers and the consent of the churches also proves the genuineness of the
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Gospels. The truthfulness of the evangelists appears in their quiet and passionless manner of
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writing. They do not conceal their own faults, and they narrate what they
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knew would expose them to persecution and danger of death. They all draw the
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self same picture of Christ through writing, though writing in different places to various
32:45
readers. The apparent discrepancies disprove any sort of conspiracy among them or the copying
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from one another. Lastly, it would be impossible to invent such lofty type
32:59
of care character as that of Jesus Christ. The Gospels have not been in
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any way altered in the course of time. The earliest copies and translations agree
33:07
with our present bibles, e g. The Syrian translation called the I think
33:13
peshita I don't know how to pronounce that word, which dates from the second
33:16
century and the Latin called the Italia, which dates from eighty three seventy,
33:22
besides numerous copies of the original text from the fourth century onward. During the
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first two century, Scriptures were read aloud every Sunday in various Christian churches.
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Remember, Christians go to church on Sunday, and that's been documented since the
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d da Ka, which was written before the Bible was even completed, before
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Saint John the Evangelists even wrote the Book of Revelation. The d do Ka,
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or the Teaching of the Twelve makes clear Christians go to church on the
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day when Jesus rose from the dead, and no longer ever acknowledge or honor
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the Jewish Sabbath. I got a whole chapter on that in my book too.
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If you have a so called Torah observant or Seven day Adventist friend or
34:07
family member, get my book. You can verbally beat their argument down to
34:15
shreds with just a few pages out of my book. The Scriptures were read
34:22
every Sunday in the various Christian churches and were most carefully guarded. Don't please,
34:27
don't beat somebody with one of my books. By the way, I
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don't know if I have to mention that, but in this day in time,
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maybe I do need to make that clear. We also find a massive
34:37
quotations in the early Christian writers which would prove their texts to have been identical
34:43
with the Old Testament. Has always been most jealously guarded by the Jews.
34:47
Very true. Right now with the war in Israel Palestine, they have made
34:54
great efforts to secure the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other of their oldest documents.
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They said, they're protecting them as they would their own people, you
35:06
know, very true, who, in their reverence for it, counted the
35:09
very letters absolutely true as well. There is moreover no doubt that God watched
35:15
over the integrity of the Holy Scriptures and would no more have allowed the early
35:20
centuries alone to profit by it than he would have created the sun for the
35:23
first generation of man, only the sun, the big fiery ball in the
35:29
sky. The reading of Holy Scriptures is permitted to Catholics and is very profitable
35:34
to them, but the text used by them must have been authorized by the
35:37
Pope, and it must be provided with explanatory notes. There have been many
35:42
counterfeit and bad Bibles, like the King James, for instance, Catholics need
35:46
to read a Catholic Bible that is complete and accurate. Protestants should read a
35:51
Catholic Bible that is complete and accurate. But Protestants will claim that Catholics aren't
35:54
allowed to read the Bible. That's absolutely false. The Bible has been read
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aloud at Mass since the very first scriptures were written, and even before that,
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I mean of the New Testament, the Gospels, but even before that,
36:08
the early Christians read from the prophets of the Old Testament and every Mass,
36:13
on every Sunday. Most people were not literate. The reason we have
36:16
stained glass windows is so you could see a visible representation of the Bible stories.
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It is a Protestant why that Catholics are not that Catholics are not allowed
36:30
to read the Bible, but they believe it. So take your Bible with
36:34
you to Thanksgiving. And when you're a Protestant relative says Catholics aren't allowed to
36:38
read the Bible, take out your Bible, open it up and show them
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the books that are in the original Bible, and express to them your knowledge,
36:46
being familiar and intimately familiar with this Bible. One of the popes,
36:52
I can't remember which one, said, ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of
36:54
God. All we are asked is to use a act and complete Bible,
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as guaranteed by the one institution on earth to which God gave his fiat.
37:07
What you bind on earth will be bound on Heaven. Which you loose on
37:10
earth will be loosed in Heaven. If the Catholic Church says this is the
37:14
right Bible, and historical evidence shows it's the exact same as the Bible as
37:22
translated by Saint Jerome around four hundred a d. They have no argument,
37:30
They have no art. They have a fauled and incomplete Bible and an inaccurate
37:37
idea of the Bible as the soul authority. In the Holy Scriptures, we
37:44
learn to know God aright. We see his omnipotence in creation and all the
37:47
wonders narrated in the Bible, His wisdom and guidance of individual and of the
37:52
whole human race, individuals and the whole human race. His goodness in the
37:55
incarnation and sufferings of our Lord. We have in the saints, and above
38:00
all in Jesus Christ, glorious examples of virtue to incite us to the like
38:07
the Bible, says Saint Ephraim, is like a trumpet that inspires courage and
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the soldiers. It is like a lighthouse which guides us to safe haven as
38:15
we sail over the perilous sea of life. It also warns us against sin,
38:20
shows its awful consequences, as in the story of the Fall and the
38:23
flood, and the cities of the Plain, as in the story of Saul,
38:29
Absalom, Judas, Herod, etc. It contains all that is profitable
38:35
a man, a great deal more than it can be found elsewhere. It
38:38
is like an overflowing well that can never be exhausted. There is always something
38:44
new to be found in it. But he who desires to understand and profit
38:47
by it must have something of the spirit with which the minds of the writers
38:52
were full, else he will never penetrate beneath the surface or arrive at its
38:58
true meeting. Now, that is incredibly what put we have to have something
39:02
in common with its writers? What do we have in common with its writers?
39:06
We're members of the same church, the same Catholic Church that was founded
39:08
by Jesus Christ. We have the same holy Spirit within us that we receive
39:15
in part at baptism in full when we're confirmed into the Catholic Church, and
39:20
is nourished every time we receive the Eucharist. Our Protestant brothers and sisters do
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not have that same spirit, not in full. Only if they've been baptized
39:30
do they have a fraction of it. Remember in the Bible, when those
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who were baptized had not received the Holy Spirit and the Apostles laid their hands
39:40
on them, that is what a Protestant cannot have, not understanding and not
39:50
the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit. The reason we are not,
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why we are not permitted to read any version of the Bible that we choose,
39:58
is one because the unaltered ten and true explanation of it are only to
40:01
be found in the Catholic Church. Two because the greater part of it is
40:05
very difficult to understand. And if you don't believe that, have a conversation
40:08
with a Jehovah's Witness or a Seven day Adventists. They have some really crazy
40:14
notions, especially about the Book of Revelations, for the Book of Daniel Good
40:22
preluning. Honestly, anyway, it is only to the Catholic Church, i
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e. To the Apostles and their successors the bishops that our Lord has promised
40:32
the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that the gates of Hell shall not
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prevail against it. Hence, the Holy the Holy Scriptures out of which the
40:40
Catholic Church draws her teaching, cannot possibly be altered or corrupted. Heretics,
40:45
on the other hand, sometimes change the meaning of particular passages in their own
40:52
favor, or have committed whole portions if they did not please them. Thus,
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Luther rejected the Epistle of Saint James, because the apostle says that faith
41:00
without works is dead. The difficulty of understanding Holy Scripture is a further reason
41:07
for the church's rescrip restrictions. How few there are who can honestly say that
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they thoroughly understand the epistles that are read at Mass, and those that are
41:15
chosen for their simple and practical and those are chosen for their simple and practical
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character. Saint Peter himself says that the epistles of Saint Paul, there are
41:25
some things hard to be understood, and that the unstable would pervert these to
41:30
their own destruction. Now that is a quote from the Bible. Second Peter
41:37
three sixteen find that one you know, depending if you're using the old Dewey
41:43
Raims or a modern translation like Ignacious, the numbering of the chapters may be
41:47
a little different, but you'll find it in Second Peter. And next time
41:52
you know your Protestant relative of friends says that they fully understand the Bible guided
41:58
by the Holy Spirit, open up Second Peter and remind them that even Saint
42:05
Peter said that some of the works of Saint Paul were hard to understand and
42:09
that the unstable would pervert these to their own destruction. Then you might want
42:15
to talk about how Martin Luther had a devastating fear of thunder and only innered
42:21
religious life because of his fear of thunder, and apparently encouraged one of his
42:28
followers at least to have an extramarital affair, entered a sham marriage with a
42:32
nun just to just to make scandal, and ad meant in his own writings
42:39
to be both madic and depressive and a severe alcoholic, delusional alcoholic, and
42:46
asked them if he was a stable person. Saint Augustine is honored by Catholics,
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Protestants, the non religious people, other religions universally as being one of
43:00
the greatest minds, one of the most intelligent writers of all time, one
43:07
of the greatest thinkers of all time, one of the greatest Biblical scholars,
43:12
and perhaps the greatest of all theologians that the human race has ever produced.
43:22
And what does Saint Augustine say? Quoting again from fellow Sparrago, Well,
43:28
reading again from fathers Sparago, he quotes Santa Augustine saying, there are more
43:31
things in the Bible which I cannot understand than those I can understand. Now,
43:38
Uh, maybe you want to get a you know, a couple of
43:43
quotes from Saint Augustine and ask your Protestant friend or relative read it to them,
43:50
and ask them if they understand it, and can they understand Sant Augustine?
43:54
And if their intellect is not as great as the greatest of all the
44:00
Elotians arguably, and he says he doesn't understand everything in the Bible, ask
44:07
them, are you really sure you understand everything in the Bible? Well,
44:12
they say, well, my preacher says this, Well, who is your
44:15
preacher. He's not in the Apostolic succession, he's not given any special carorism,
44:20
you know, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit to understand things. You know
44:25
what school did he go to again? Oh, it's whatever Bible college he
44:30
went to, that Protestant seminary. Let's see, do all the people that
44:35
he went to school with have the same interpretation of these hard passages of the
44:40
Bible? Look them up. I guarantee you'll find, you know, fifty
44:45
seven preachers from the same class, from that Bible college or seminary that will
44:50
preach different or write different things about the same passage of scripture because they have
44:57
no authority. Well, then you ask your friend which of them is right?
45:00
Now, they won't know, and then you've just proven Saint Augustine's point.
45:09
The prophetical books are specifically obscure, are specially obscure, that is true,
45:16
hence the necessity of an authentic exposition of the Bible. Heretics also give
45:22
half a dozen different meanings to the same passage. Fathers Baragus says things so
45:27
much better than me. I really just ought to read it and not comment.
45:30
But okay, I'm not going to do that. You know, I
45:31
can't keep my mouth shut. The Catholic Church is the authority that God has
45:37
appointed to explain holy scripture for to her. The Holy Spirit has been given.
45:42
The child brings the nut that it has been given to its mother to
45:45
be cracked. So the Catholic comes to the church for the explanation of the
45:50
Bible. This is why only Bibles with explanatory notes are allowed to Catholics.
45:57
Did you know that? That's another thing to our Protestant and her family member
46:00
will not know or understand. Not only do we have, you know,
46:07
the full, complete, accurate translation of the Bible. Not only are we
46:12
both allowed to read the Bible, but instructed to read the Bible by our
46:15
church. Our bibles have explanatory notes in them. Really worth getting an old
46:23
Dewey Rings Bible. It was published approximately the same time as the King James.
46:30
That will blow your Protestant friend's mind that they're you know, they worship
46:35
the King to James Bible, I mean almost like an idol mini Baptists do.
46:38
At least it's incomplete, it's inaccurate, it's been revised. I already
46:45
knows. It's on seventy thirty seventh or seventy third edition. I can't even
46:50
remember because of the errors they keep finding in it. And the Dewey Rams
46:54
is not only completely accurate to Saint Joram's Bible. I mean I literally have
47:00
a copy with the English and the Latin side by side, and I can
47:02
read Latin enough. I mean, I've studied Latin for a few years now
47:07
to know it's perfectly accurate. It's an exact translation, and we have explanatory
47:13
notes that actually tell us what things mean, so we don't have to wander
47:17
around in error and darkness. And you know, as I always say,
47:22
the Bible is what led me to convert to Catholicism, not anything somebody said,
47:29
yes, God had was influential. I read his conversion story, I
47:31
thought, wow, he makes some really good points that I need to explore.
47:37
I was there before then, though. First person to introduce me to
47:42
Catholic doctrine was William F. Buckley, And what was so striking was when
47:47
I read what he wrote, I thought, well, that actually is what
47:51
the Bible says. You know, still it was the Bible, and when
47:55
I was at said Bibles said Baptist universe. I would ask the professors about
48:02
Baptist doctrine and I said, but the Bible doesn't say that, and they
48:07
would say, we believe it because that's our doctrine. It's true, and
48:10
you know you're not allowed to question me anymore. But the Bible actually,
48:15
Nope, forget it. I don't want to hear the words of the Bible.
48:17
I know what our church teaches and it's true because we believe it's true.
48:22
But I'd say, but the Bible says, and then you know they
48:24
get angry. That doesn't happen with Catholic doctrine. Catholic doctrine agrees fully with
48:32
the Bible. Get a catechism. This we're reading Father Sparagua's exhaustive explanation of
48:38
the Catechism eighteen ninety. I think it's far superior to the modern Catechism.
48:45
But the modern Catechism is still fantastic. It's better than any Protestant book,
48:52
for sure. And pull up a Catholic doctrine. You'll be accused of Catholics
48:57
believe and do all Catholics Orchans. Catholics are idle worshippers. No, no,
49:04
no, Go to your catechism and tell them exactly what Catholics believe about
49:08
the veneration of saints and the images that remind us of those saints, that
49:14
are like pictures of our family members that are dear to us, we don't
49:17
worship them. We venerate as in honor. We reserve worship for God.
49:27
You can read it to that they won't believe you. It won't change their
49:30
mind. But when you take that and say, and we believe this because
49:36
and it also agrees with this passage of the Bible, boy, that throws
49:39
a monkey wrench into their argument. They then have to figure out what the
49:44
Bible means in that passage they never read. Such as I said yesterday when
49:47
the Presbyterian girl that I was engaged to accused, you know, said Catholics,
49:54
you know, there's no reason to go to a priest for confession.
49:59
Only God can forget sins, and it's wrong to give that power to a
50:02
priest. And I opened the Book of John, the Gospel of John,
50:06
and read those who sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Those who sins
50:09
you retain, they retain. And it blew her mind because she had won
50:15
never read that part of the Bible. If she had, she kind of
50:17
skipped over it, didn't pay attention to it. Two had been told the
50:22
exact opposite of what the Bible said by the preachers and Bible scholars and people
50:29
in her church who went to a Presbyterian college and had advanced degrees. It
50:36
blew her mind. It shook her. It shook her to the point that
50:45
she stopped trying to convince me to become Protestant. And that was the end
50:50
of our relationship because even though she told me she would convert to Catholicism if
50:53
we married, she then said I would have to convert to Presbyterianism go to
51:00
the same church as her parents and grandparents. And that was literally the end
51:04
of our relationship. When I explained to her that Protestism was wrong only on
51:13
that one point. I didn't We never got into I mean, we would
51:15
talk about other issues, but that one point, when I could open the
51:19
Bible and say, this is what the Bible actually says. Now, why
51:22
don't you know this? That was it. That was the end of it.
51:29
And what can I say. I'm six foot four, I'm a big
51:35
guy, and for the only time in my life, I had a girlfriend
51:38
who was over six feet tall and an actress and model and absolutely gorgeous,
51:45
and I was totally in love with her. But you know, you got
51:53
to love God more than anything else. That's what it comes down to all
51:59
right, y'all, have a have a great, great holiday. Try not
52:06
to think about past memories that might upset you. It's not a good way
52:09
to enjoy a holiday. This is the Thanksgiving holiday, so be sure to
52:15
give thanks to God for all we are blessed, with which we are blessed,
52:20
and to enjoy these your friends, your loved ones, your family,
52:24
especially because they won't be here for long, or you may not be here
52:30
for long. Imagine what gift you give them of your presence, especially when
52:38
you don't always get along. They'll remember when you're dead and gone, that
52:44
wonderful last Thanksgiving you've spent together, or that Thanksgiving with all those golden memories.
52:51
In the words of Saint Padre Pia, pray, hope and don't worry,
52:53
and I'll talk to you next time.