Sunday, May 22, 2016

The hypocrisy of Catholics is a very strong argument for the infallibility of the Church - Peter Kreeft



This was the conclusion of a Calvinist thinker who turned Catholic after a wide search for one mistake that would prove the Catholic Church false.
Peter Kreeft knew about G.K. Chesterton's witty reply when asked about the strongest argument against Christianity: Christians.

A Jew who visited the corrupt Vatican

So when Kreeft's Calvinist friends found out that he was reading about Catholics, they recommended that he read the books of anti-clericals. The book he read contained a story that led him to the Catholic faith. There was a Jewish businessman who was thinking of becoming Catholic, but had to go to Rome to do business with the Vatican during the time of some of the most corrupt Popes in history, the Borgias. The bishop that the Jew was talking with tried to dissuade him to go, for fear he would change his mind. But the businessman, a practical Jew, said that for him business was first, and the pleasure of converting was second.

Six months later, the Jew returns asking for baptism into the Church, even after seeing the hypocrisy of the Pope and the cardinals. "I am a practical Jewish businessman. One thing I know for sure: no earthly business that stupid and corrupt could possibly survive 14 weeks. Yours has lasted 14 centuries. It is a miracle.”

Kreeft explains: "The hypocrisy of Catholics is a very strong argument for the infallibility of the Church. When Popes were assassinating each other, they never added a doctrine that said now you can assassinate the Pope. When they had 13 mistresses they never said that it is okay for Popes to have mistresses. The doctrine remained absolutely pure even though the practice was never very good and sometimes was horrible. That was very impressive."  

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told the same story and he quotes the Jewish businessman as saying: "It is because of all these that I have become a Catholic. For if the Church continues to exist in spite of it all, then truly there must be someone upholding her."

Napoleon wanted to destroy the Church

Ratzinger continues: "And there is another story, to the effect that Napoleon once declared that he would destroy the Church. Immediately, one of the cardinals replied, 'Not even we have managed that!'

"I believe that we see something important in these paradoxical tales. There have in fact always been plenty of human monstrosities in the Catholic Church. That she still holds together, even if she groans and creaks, that she is still in existence, that she produces great martyrs and great believers, people who put their whole lives at her service, as missionaries, as nurses, as teachers, that really does show that there is someone there upholding her."

Napoleon died in prison, while the Pope he persecuted and imprisoned, returned to Rome and took care of Napoleon's family. While Napoleon was in prison, this same Pope requested the jailers of the exiled emperor to be kind to him.  

Despite many attempts of powerful rulers and influential theological rebels to destroy it, the Catholic Church is presently acknowledged even by secular scholars as the largest non-governmental provider of education and medical care in the world. And leading secular historians have discovered that Catholic priests and laity have been at the foundation of humanly beneficial things such as modern science, university education, economics, hospitals, international law, human rights and Western art. These works reflect, in the eyes of theologians, the identity of the one true God: Reason, Truth, Love, Justice, and Beauty.

Misplacing the blame

When people say they don't believe the Church because of the hypocrisy of pedophile priests and bad Popes, they are "misplacing the blame," says Catholic Answers. "If a preacher, religious, or layman fails to live up to the standards he is preaching, the blame lies with him and not with the message he preaches. His actions say much about himself but not about the teachings of Christ. ... By way of analogy, if it were proven tomorrow that Albert Einstein was a child molester, that would not disprove the theory of relativity." In fact, the Catholic Church does not have more child abuse cases than other institution, such as the family, Boy Scouts, Protestant groups, public school teachers. And the Church has done more than any other institution to address this problem of today's society.

Despite the sins of its children, the Church is called holy because Jesus has decided to forever unite himself to it as his body, giving it his powers of sanctifying. Jesus gave his Church the power to forgive sins in Confession (Jn 20:23) and to celebrate his saving sacrifice (Mk 14; 1 Cor 5). "The Church is holy, because she herself has no other life than the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified," (CCC 827)  as shown in the lives of thousands of Catholic saints. 

It is individual Christians who back away from Christ's sanctifying power and cause scandal that make it difficult for people to see Christ in the Church. But Christ is there, because when he was on earth he loved to be with sinners, and he continues to be with us precisely because we need him.

Download the one-page leaflet version of this article here.
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24 hours after posting, this article was viewed 54,274 times. After another 24 hours, it reached around 122K views.


Important for change of life and tranquility of mind: Confession: Simple Reasons, Simple Steps


Note: These free one-page leaflets have started going viral around the world. Leaflets were posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England") and  in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada, in Kenya and in Macau. To get the full collection, please see this:  One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Starting to Go Viral! The leaflets are easily multipliable for mass distribution in schools, communities, etc. They can also be sold with or without profit.

10 comments:

E. B. LOREDO REALTY CORPORATION said...

True. the catholic church has been in this world for a very very long time .. it has been there, will be there forever and always be there forever. reality is reality. truth is truth.. go where it is and see the proof, the living testament that such church existed a long time ago and until now, it is still existing and will continue to exist..

Anonymous said...

After reading this article, I feel enlightened and strongly feel that I have evidence now... thanks to however pass this on.

mercedita s. tabuclin said...

If God is for us who can be against us?

Marcelo said...

Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism are just few example of religions who are older that the Catholic Church. In terms of population Islam is bigger, out numbers the Catholics.

Unknown said...

This phenomenon is a feature of a complex adaptive system. This is also the reason why ecosystems persists for millenia, why modern cities continuously flourish unlike the ghost towns/cities of the past. The degree and type and complexity of a system has a total momentum that is usually preserved and even increased as the system evolves in time. The more complex the system, the more it is resistant to collapse due to instability.

Anonymous said...

Very true, sir. Hope by now we people (especially I, myself... our leaders be it in the church or the state) will try to make our very own lives (what we say and do) are in harmony with the Holy One, with His laws. It is easy to say I believe in God but our actions do otherwise. HE only lives in our minds but not in our hearts. "BE HOLY AS THE FATHER IS HOLY." So, help me God.

Unknown said...

For those who experienced God's presence and received His blessings, He will continue to say: I believe in God and I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. The apostles were simple persons, st.Paul,St.Augustin... Who changed their life completely after they experienced Jesus in their life. We must not look at the sins but we must appreciate their struggles to follow Christ inspite of their weaknesses. Faith is to believe what is unbelievable. With God nothing is impossible. I have no doubt not because I am a nun but because God is love!

Unknown said...

We must beleive in the CHURCH that JESUS build, not the church that build by a human being. In the Bible Jesus build His Church thru Peter non other. Mat. 16:13-20
We cannot find the name of Felix Manalo, Apollo Quiboloy, Ely Soriano Eddie Villanueva and some others, that Jesus told them to build His Church. We must remember that has already more followers in Chapter 6 of John, but when Jesus introduce His flesh to eat and His blood to drink, manny of His followers left Him.
John 6:66
The symbol of 666 is still there, Even in the time of Jesus many are didn't beleive in Him. That is why up to this present time many are againts the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church that Jesus build.
To us that believe in the Holy Catholic Church that build by Jesus, keep strong and continue to use your TALENT, TIME and TREASURE to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and depend His Church.
God Bless to All the true believers of Jesus Christ. God Bless...
Bro. Jose Sicuana, Jr.

Unknown said...

When Jesus pass on the church mission to a fisherman, his infallibility was nonetheless given knowing that he was a flawed human being. . . . note we are not the first to complain, 1/3 or so among God's angels could not understand it either. Sorry, but anyone who argues outside of that faith will see it the same way as the fallen angels.

Anonymous said...

Something to think about ...
Two things we face and wrestle with that no New Testament believer ever faced:

1. It is impossible to conceive that a person in the apostolic age could be a true believer in Christ and not also be a living part of the 'ekklesia' of Christ in his area. The believers themselves were the church itself and there was only one church—and you did not join it, but rather, you were 'joined to it' by the Holy Spirit.

2. It is also impossible to conceive that any believer in the apostolic age had either the option or the problem of choosing between two or more kinds of churches that he could join. Denominationalism in any form is totally inconceivable in the New Testament Scriptures. No Apostle of Christ would have ever tolerated for a moment the idea of even two kinds of Christians let alone a hundred different kinds!