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QUESTION OF THE WEEK PUBLISHED IN ST. JOHN’S SUNDAY BULLETINS(1-180)
1) Why do we believe that the Bible is an inspired book?
2) Why the Catholic Bible has seven books more than the Protestant Bible?
3) Why Catholics give importance to Sacred Tradition?
4) Why de we believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?
5) Why do we pray for our dead relatives?
6) Why doesn’t the Catholic Church ordain women?
7) Why confess sins to a priest?
8) Why can’t I "I just follow my conscience?
9) Why fasting, penance and prayer are recommended during Lent?
10) Why should we tithe?
11) Why the Holy Mass is a sacrifice and a sacrament?
12) What is Pauline & Petrine previlges?
13) Why there should be singing by the choir and the people on Sundays?
14) Why do we celebrate Fathers Day?
15) Why do we celebrate the Independence Day?
16) Why Jesus suffered and died on the cross?
17) What Christians should know about Islam and Muslims?
18) What are the beliefs of the Assemblies of God?
19) Who areJehovah’s Witnesses?
20) Who are the Baptists?
21) Who are Mormons?
22) Who are the Pentecostals?
23) Who are Methodists?
24) Why do we have a New Missal with newly worded prayers?
25) What is the Holy Mass?
26) Are we saved by “faith alone” or also through good works?
27) Why do Catholics honor and venerate saints?
28) Should Catholics believe in private revelations?
29) Do we have to believe in hell?
30) Why don’t Catholic priests get married?
31) What is the biblical basis of Pope’s authority?
32) Did Jesus Have Brothers and sisters?
33) Was Jesus born on Dec 25th, AD 1 or Jan 6th, 4th BC?
34)Who Were the Magi?
35) Why and how we should take New Year resolutions?
36)Why pornography is evil and sinful?
37) What is the Catholic view on cremation?
38) What are the common doctrines of the Protestants?
39) Who are the angels?
40) Who are the devils?
41) Do Catholics worship statues and images?
42) Why do we observe Lent?
43) What are the Catholic observances during Lent?
44)Do Christians believe in reincarnation?
45) Why there is pain and suffering in the world?
46) Did Catholic Church discourage Bible reading?
47) Why should we participate in the Holy Week liturgy?
48) Why do we believe in the resurrection of Jesus?
49) Why do Catholics make the sign of the cross?
50) Why do we have Eucharistic devotions like “Benediction of the Holy
Eucharist?
51) What are New Age Religions and why they are wrong?
52) Do we have assurance of our Salvation?
53) What is canonizationof a saint?
54) What is biblical fundamentalism?
55) Why should we dress properly in the church?
56) Can Christians practice yoga?
57) What is the Catholic position on homosexuality?
58) How Catholic Bible differs from Protestant Bibles and which is the Bible used
in the Catholic liturgy in the United States?
59) Why do we observe Respect Life or Sanctity of Life Sunday?
60) Why contraception is sinful?
61) Is not keeping statues in churches idolatry?
62) What are the sacramentals?
63) What is “Sola Scriptura” doctrine and why it is wrong?
64) Why do Catholics believe in the Assumption of Mary,the mother of Jesus?
65) Are we saved by faith alone or also by works of charity?
66) How to protect your child from pornography?
67) Why cohabitation is sinful and dangerous?
68) What is the Catholic teaching on divorce?
69) What is marriage annulment in the Catholic Church?
70) What is the Catholic teaching on abortion?
71) What is the Catholic teaching on contraception?
72) What are the objectives or goals of Sunday Mass?
73) What are the main parts of the Holy Mass?
74)What is active participation in the Holy Mass?
75) What are the Eastern Rite Catholic churches?
76) What are the sacraments?
77) What is the sacrament of baptism?
78) What is the sacrament of confirmation?
79) What is the sacrament of reconciliation?
80) What is the sacrament of the anointing of the sick?
81) What is the sacrament of matrimony?
82) What is the sacrament of the Holy Orders?
83) If God is in control, why should we pray?
84) Why God always does not answer our prayers?
85 - Why do Catholics keep crucifixes in the churches, schools and homes?
86- What is the morality of new gun control laws?
87) What is the biblical basis for the Pope to become the head of the Catholic
Church?
88) Why do we observe Ash Wednesday?
89) Why do Catholics obey the Ten Commandments given to the Jews?
90) What is a parish and its role in Christian life?
91) Where in the Bible does the Catholic Church get the idea of a Pope?
92) Why do we believe in the resurrection of Jesus?
93)Why we do observe Easter II Sunday as “Divine Mercy Sunday”?
94) Why moral relativism is wrong and dangerous?
95) Why should we follow a well-formed conscience?
96) Can devil possess man? What is exorcism?
97) What is canon law and who is a canon lawyer?
98)Why do we observe Mother’s Day?
99) Do Catholics believe in rapture?
100) Are Catholics born-again Christians?
101)What is the Catholic teaching on “Creation Science” and evolution?
102) What is the Catholic teaching on one’s eternal salvation. (L)"
103) Who wrote the gospels, when?
104) Are the New Testament Books historical and reliable?
105) What is the Catholic teaching on devil and devil worship?
106)What is the Catholic teaching on the Parousia or Christ’s “Second Coming?”
107) what is the Catholic teaching on heaven and hell?
108) Are We Re-Crucifying Jesus in every Mass?
109) How would you introduce Matthew’s gospel?
110) How would you introduce Mark’s gospel?
111) How would you introduce Luke’s gospel?
112) how would you introduce John’s gospel?
113) Give an introduction to the Acts of the Apostles
114)How would you introduce Paul’s epistle to the Romans?
115)How would you introduce Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians?
116) How would you introduce Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians?
117)What is Stewardship Awareness Sunday?
118) What is rosary devotion?
119)Why do we observe World Mission Sunday in October?
120) Why do Catholics observe “All Souls Day” and pray for their dead relatives?
121) Why do Catholics honor saints and seek their intercession?
122) What is the Catholic doctrine on heaven?
123) How would you introduce Paul’s letter to the Galatians?
124) Why do we observe Thanksgiving Day?
125) What is Advent? Why do we observe it?
126) What is an Advent Wreath and its meaning?
127) What is the Church Year or Liturgical Year?
128)What are the names of Jesus in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek & Latin?
129) What is the Church Year or Liturgical Year?
130)Why cruelty to animals is sinful?
131) Why do we observe the blessing of throats on the feast of St. Blasé?
132) What is the source of the Church's authority?
133)What is the basis of Christian doctrines and beliefs?
134)Are we saved by faith alone as the Protestants teach?
135) How is the Lectionary arranged?
136) Why did the church cover the crucifixes and statues during Lent in the past?
137) Why should we pray for vocations?
138)Is there "no salvation outside the Church?"
139) Is suicide always sinful?
140) What is the meaning of Pentecost for the Jews and Christians?
141) "What is Trinity Sunday?"
142) What is the biblical basis of St. Paul’s authority as an Apostle?
143)Why should all Catholics participate in the Sunday Mass?
144)Did the Church change the Mass to make it more acceptable to Protestants?
145)Is God's name Yahweh or Jehovah in the Hebrew Scriptures?
146)Why the Catholic Church opposes “same sex marriage.”
147) Catholic teaching on “Millennialism” doctrine of evangelical Christian
148) Why should Christians deny themselves and take up their crosses to become Christ’s disciples?
149) Why and how should Christians correct others without judging them?
150) What is the enthroning of Christ the King in our families?
151) What is Advent and why do we observe it?
152) Was Jesus really born on December 25th?
153: What is the origin of the word “Christmas”?
154) Why do we honor Mary as the “Mother of God?”
155) Why do we baptize children?
156) What is the catholic teaching on infant baptism?
157) What is wrong about embryonic stem cell research?
158) Why do Catholics keep Jesus on the cross when He is risen?
159) What is Original Sin?
160) Why do we have a parish mission in Lent?
161) What are the charismatic gifts?
162) Is there vacation from Sunday Mass & tithing?
163) What Biblical Prophecy is not, and What It Really is?
164) Why Catholics don’t have altar invitations as the Protestants have?
165) Are eulogies proper for funerals?
166) What are Eastern Rite Catholic Churches?
167) Isit be appropriate for a Catholic to pledge allegiance to the Bible?
168) Are any apparitions ever considered dogma?
169)Why do we celebrate Labor Day?
170) If Jesus was a Jew, why are we Catholic?
171)What does Bible teach on normal marriage and homosexual union?
172)What are the Aramaic words used in the New Testament?
173) Why the Aramaic- speaking writers wrote the New testament in Greek?
174) What is the catholic doctrine on “apostolic succession”
175) What does the Bible say about the 7 Sacraments?
176) Why isn’t the Sabbath on Saturday?
177) Am I using Confession as an excuse to sin?
178) How should I go about Teaching my children the Bible?
179)Why do we give up something for Lent?
180) What is the Catholic teaching on grace?
1) Why do we believe that the Bible is an inspired book?
It is not because a) It inspires me. b) Bible itself says that it is inspired. (Sacred Scriptures of Hindus and Muslims too make similar claims and most of the Bible books don’t make such a claim). c) "The Holy Spirit tells me the Bible is inspired." (It is a subjective argument).d) “We are "convicted" that it is the word of God, and we get a positive "feeling" that it is inspired, and that’s that.” (It is also a subjective argument). The Catholic position. As the first step we prove the reliability of the Bible insofar as it is history. From that we conclude that a Church with infallible teaching authority was founded by Christ. And then we take the word of that infallible Church that the Bible is inspired. Without the existence of the Church, we could never know whether the Bible is inspired.The Church infallibly teaches that the Old Testament books are also inspired because Jesus and his apostles believed in them as inspired books and taught that truth. The New Testament books are recorded and inspired history of Jesus and his Church. Inspiration of the Bible means that the Holy Spirit as principal author of Sacred Scripture influenced the sacred writers in three ways: 1) He illuminated the mind of the sacred writer. 2) Holy Spirit moved the will of the sacred writers to write freely, though infallibly, what God wished.3. The Holy Spirit aided the sacred writers in the work of composition.Additional sources:1)2)
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2) Why the Catholic Bible has seven books more than the Protestant Bible?The Bible at the time of Jesus was called the Hebrew Bible. It consisted of only Old Testament books. The original was in Hebrew language. When the majority of the Jews living outside Palestine started speaking Greek, a group of seventy experts were sent to Alexandria to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek, as requested by the emperor. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible was called the Septuagint Bible. But it contained 46 books. The seven additional books were 1) Judith, 2) Baruch, 3) Sirach (Ecclesiastes), 4) Wisdom, 5) Tobit, and 6) Maccabees I & 7) Maccabees II. Besides, there were some additions to Esther (VulgateEsther 10:4-16:24) and additions to Daniel: (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children, Bel and the Dragon). Since Jesus and the apostles used the Septuagint Bible, the Pharisees who finalized the official list (canon) of the Hebrew Bible books in AD 90, called the additional books in the Septuagint Bible “apocrypha” meaning not-inspired or Deuterocanonical books. But the recent discovery of fragments of three Deuterocanonical books among the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran proves that they were part of the ancient Hebrew Bible. Since the early Church spread mostly among Greek speaking Jews and gentiles, it accepted Septuagint as its Bible. That is why out of the approximately 340 New Testament references to the Old Testament 300 are from the Septuagint. At the Council of Rome in 382 AD, the Church finalized a canon of 46 Old Testament books (including the Deuterocanonical books) and 27 in the New Testament. This decision was ratified and confirmed by the councils at Hippo (393), Carthage (397, 419), II Nicea (787), Florence (1442), and Trent (1546). All Christians believed the 46 books of the Old Testament as inspired books until Martin Luther in the 16th century discarded the Deuterocanonical books as uninspired because they were not found in the Hebrew Bible finalized in the first century AD by the anti Christian Jews. But they were retained at the end of the protestant bibles (King James Version) until the Edinburgh Committee of the British Foreign Bible Society excised them in 1825. The Catholic Church considers them inspired and integral part of the Bible.
Additional sources:1)2)3)
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3) Why Catholics give importance to Sacred Tradition?: Essentially, tradition is a thing handed down from one generation to the next. This is precisely the meaning of the biblical word for tradition: paradosis. Sacred Tradition is the living and growing truth of Christ contained, not only in Scripture, but in the common teaching, common life, and common worship of the Church. The apostles received a lot of unwritten teachings and traditions from Christ himself (John 20:30; 21:35) and they handed them down to their successors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and so have come down to us (Council of Trent). Tradition is expressed in (and grows from) the Church’s creeds, the records of the Church’s liturgy, the writings of the great Fathers of the Church, the decrees of popes and councils, the prayer and faith of the people. Paul, in his writings (1 Corinthians 11:23, for example), states very forcefully that he is “handing on” what was “handed on” to him. Biblical texts prove that the apostolic Church accepted Tradition as a norm for faith and practice (2 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Cor. 11:2, 2 Tim. 1:13-14) and that the Bible explicitly says not everything Jesus did and taught was written down (John 20:30; 21:25). It is true that Jesus criticized the Jewish tradition: (Matt.7:6, 15:3, 15:6-9). But the Christian tradition as explained above is different from the Jewish tradition which consisted of interpretations of Torah given by the Jewish rabbi. That is why St. Paul praises both oral and written Christian traditions: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.”(2 Thessalonians 1:14).
Additional sources:1)
2) 3)
4) Why de we believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? We believe in the corporeal, substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It means that the whole Christ is present in the consecrated host and wine - the resurrected and glorified body and blood of Christ with soul, and divinity. It is not a spiritual or symbolic presence as non-Catholics believe. It is also different from his presence in the Bible and in the praying community. Fathers of the Church starting from the first century believed it, based on John 6:45-59, Mt. 26:26-28, & 1 Cor. 11:27. In John 6:45-59, Jesus says that he is the bread from heaven, and that the bread that he will give is his flesh for the life of the world.In Mt. 26:26-28 we read: “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” Finally, Jesus gave his apostles the commission: "Do this in remembrance of Me." The Church from the first century understood what Jesus said literally. In 1 Cor. 11:27 Saint Paul says that if we partake of the bread unworthily, we are guilty of profaning (literally, murdering)the body and blood of Christ. If the Eucharist is just a symbol, then how can we be guilty of profaning Christ's body and blood?Theologians explain how bread and wine becomes the resurrected body and blood of Jesus by “transubstantiation” – a process where “substance” of bread and wine is changed while retaining the “accidents” like color, taste, shape etc. because “nothing is impossible for God.”
Additional sources:1), 2) 3)
5) Why do we pray for our dead relatives?1) Peopleof all religions have believed in the immortality of the soul, and have prayed for the dead. 2) Prayer for the souls of the departed is retained by Orthodox Jews today, who recite a prayer known as the Mourner’sKaddish for eleven months after the death of a loved one so that he/she may be purified. 3) II Maccabees,12: 46 is the main Biblical text incorporating the Jewish belief in the necessity of prayer and sacrifice for the dead. The passage (II Maccabees 12: 39-46), describes how Judas, the military commander, “took up a collection from all his men, totaling about four pounds of silver and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering” (II Macc. 12: 43). The narrator continues, "If he had not believed that the dead would be raised, it would have been foolish and useless to pray for them.” Other pertinent Bible texts are II Timothy: 1:18, Matthew 12:32, I Corinthians, 3:15, Zechariah 13:19, Sirach 7:33. 4) Jesus and the apostles shared this belief and passed it on to the early Church. “Remember us who have gone before you, in your prayers,” is a petition often found inscribed on the walls of the Roman catacombs. 5) The Church's official teaching is that there is a place or state of purification called Purgatory, where souls undergoing purification can be helped by the prayers of the faithful (Council of Trent). . According to Revelation: 21:27: “nothing unclean shall enter heaven.” Holy Scripture (Proverbs 24: 16) also teaches that even "the just sin seven times a day.” 6) The early Fathers of the Church encouraged this practice (Tertullian (A.D. 160-240) & St. Augustine (354-430 AD) and the synods of Nicaea, Florence and Trent encouraged the offering of prayers for the dead. The fire of Purgatory is an intense, transforming encounter with Jesus Christand his fire of love.God can foresee the prayers we offer for our departed dear ones even years following their death and apply it the holy souls as they undergo purification.