Question From A Subscriber

A young lady who reads my blog asked for some advice.  Here is her question with my response.

I have a question for you (whether as a suggested blog post, or just a response from you). How would you reply to someone who thinks the Catholic Church, and specifically traditional Catholicism, is Pharisaical?

I was speaking to someone (an intellectual, but nominal Catholic) about valid marriages, Confession, and the Catholic Church as the means of salvation, and they responded that such a “formulaic” religion is not what Christ intended, and actually spent a lot of His ministry refuting (in regards to the Pharisees).

I responded, but I don’t think I’ve done as much justice to the Truth as I could have. I’d love to know what your response would be to something like this!

Best,

Mary

Hello Mary,

In every argument I’m engaged in, I like to define terms. How is the Catholic Church Pharisaical? Get him to be specific in his objections. Ask him to back them up with scripture to make sure that he gives a biblical definition of the term Pharisaical. The truth is, words like Pharisee or Pharisaical are clobber words similar to words like homophobic or Islamophobic. They aren’t meant to advance a dialogue but to shut it down. If he’s going to use these words, ask questions so he’s forced to define terms. When he does that, ask for proofs from scripture since scripture is our only source for what the Pharisees were. This will show whether his critique of Catholicism is emotional or Intellectual. I’m willing to bet its emotional dressed up with some pretty language.

Regarding specific objections such valid marriages, confession, and the Catholic Church as the means of salvation and denial of “formulaic” religion, you will again have to get him to define terms. If by formulaic you mean a religion with rules, of course Christ meant that. The whole question about valid marriages is addressed by Christ himself. All of these things are scriptural.

They are specifically found in Matthew 19:9, Mark 10:11-12, John 20:22-23, Matthew 16:18-19 and John 14:6.

If a “formulaic” religion was not in the mind of Christ, ask him why Christ’s earthly disciples engaged in a Council in Acts 15 to specifically determine what to do with new gentile converts.

Lastly, I would ask this person if he believes that there is truth in religion. It’s not a popular thing to claim in the modern western world but it’s something that we all need to ask ourselves. If he says no, he exposes himself as a relativist. If he says yes, you can work from there, keep asking questions and get down to finer details like Church authority or valid marriages.

I hope this points you in the right direction. My argumentation method is to get my opponent to define terms and back them up. It helps to know scripture and Church history to prevent your opponent from sneaking invalid points by you. Also, he might try to make half an argument and draw a full conclusion. Be ready for this.

Either way, I hope that I’ve given you enough information. Good luck with your dialogue.

God bless.