Ordained Before the World: A Catholic Apologetic

Foreword:

I was asked to write a book propounding arguments regarding religion and religious traditions. 

First, a very abridged summary of my background:

I have been fascinated with the study of religion since my late uncle Matthew, an avowed Theosophist, introduced me to his beliefs when I was eleven years old.  I grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, one town over from Wheaton, Illinois, where Olcott, the national headquarters of the Theosophical Society in the United States is located.[i]  Olcott has one of the largest, privately-owned eclectic libraries of religious books of all persuasions.  It sits on a beautiful multi-acre campus.  Much to my parents’ chagrin, I spent hours in Olcott’s vast library redolent with constantly burning sandalwood incense, reading about the Society’s three objectives:

forming a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, cast or color,

studying comparative religion, philosophy and science; and,

studying the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity.

I was briefly made an honorary member of the Theosophical inner circle – the Esoteric Society of the Theosophists, headquartered at Kratona Hill in Ventura, California.  I was honored, during my visit to Ventura, to stay in the former U.S. residence of Annie Besant (1847 – 1933), one of Theosophy’s biggest proponents. 

Into my mid-teens, my interest waned as my hormones began to rage, and I gradually lost contact with the Society.

My parents were Presbyterian, but only nominally so.  They would send my older brother and I walking to church while they sat at home drinking coffee.  When my brother became old enough to drive, they let us drive Mother’s car to church.  For that hour, we usually would slouch down in the seat of the car and smoke cigarettes stolen from my grandfather.[ii]

I joined the United States Navy at age sixteen-and-a-half, graduated from high school, and set out to become a reactor operator aboard a nuclear submarine.  There I spent the next ten years.

After the Navy, I graduated from college at Evangel University of Arts and Sciences, an Assembly of God College of Arts and Sciences in Springfield, Missouri, with two majors – one in Biblical Studies and philosophy and a second in math, with a minor in psychology.  Now married with two boys, I became pastor of a small Assembly of God Church in Holdrege, Nebraska.  I left Holdrege and the ministry after less than a year.[iii]  I have a great respect for both Protestant pastors and Catholic priests flowing out of that experience.

My wife Elly and I (now of 46 years[iv]) traveled the country with boys in tow while I built and started up commercial power plants as an assistant (read: lackey) to an assistant vice president of the Bechtel Power Corporation.  I gained a Senior Reactor Operator’s License at the Zion, Illinois nuclear plants. 

We moved to Joliet, Illinois, starting up the two Braidwood, Illinois, nuclear plants.  In Joliet, I found interest in the American legal system and applied for Law School.  I was accepted to John Marshall Law School in Chicago where I started learning to think like an attorney. We subsequently moved to Michigan, where I worked both at the D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant and the Palisades Nuclear Plant as an operator training instructor while finishing my doctorate in law (JD).

I somehow miraculously passed the Michigan Bar exam on my first try and was licensed as a Michigan attorney.  My wife said burn the moving boxes, we will move no more!  And there, in Saint Joseph Michigan, I practiced law until we both retired.

As a retired trial attorney, I am quite familiar with the art of argument.  In my practice, some of my legal arguments were successful and some were not. Sometimes my client was declared not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and at other times my client was found to be guilty as charged.  After a trial, especially if I lost, I spent days going over and over what I said that was wrong and what I could have said that would have swayed the judge or jury to rule in my client’s favor.

I also exercised my knowledge of argument in divorce work – a dirty business that finally drove me out of the practice altogether.  In divorce work, one learns quickly that either his client is going to be happy with the outcome and the other party is going to be very unhappy or vice versa, especially where the custody of children is concerned.  I’m sure there are many out there who still resent me even after years since the trial’s outcome was decided.  It goes with the trade.

While in Saint Joseph, I became friends with a huge (6’5, 240 lbs.) man with a very similar Navy and nuclear background.  By this time, my family and I were not attending church, and were too busy to make any commitments.  My friend, Mike Gallagher, it turned out, was an ordained Roman Catholic Deacon.  I was fascinated – a regular guy with a deeply spiritual nature.  One day he asked if I would like him to sponsor me (and his wife sponsor Elly) in an upcoming RCIA class.  I talked to Elly who wasn’t excited about it at all.  She finally agreed to attend one session and listen, just to shut me up.  Seven months later, we both were confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church.  In fact, since retirement, I have devoted the remainder of my life to learning, writing and teaching about Catholicism. 

I tell you these things to let you know that in this course – Apologetics – I will discuss various religions, even those in which I have been involved, zeroing in on Christian belief systems, to give you reasons to believe that the Roman Catholic Church is the One, True, Catholic, and Apostolic Church – the Roman Church and none other.  And this discussion will be, as President Richard Nixon used to say, very frank and earnest.  I intend in no way to anger anyone; however, I know that there will be those who will throw the book down, spit on it, burn it and never speak of it again.  Like trial lawyering, such comes with the Catholic Apologist’s territory.

So, forgive me if I offend and know that I am not the judge of anyone – that job, thankfully, belongs to the One True God.  I will write what I know and what I believe I know and that to which I have consecrated the remainder of my life – the learning, writing and teaching about the Roman Catholic Church.  I know a little about a lot, and I know a lot about very little!

I truly hope you will read with an open mind, and upon completion of this course, you will find the arguments presented convincing.

May God bless you as you continue on your soul journey.  Mine has been amazing!

––––––––

Jim Boardman

December 15, 2016

i Wheaton, Illinois is also the home of Protestant Bible college – Wheaton College.

ii I have jettisoned that really bad habit more than thirty years ago (both smoking and stealing).

iii The reason for my departure is a story for another time.

iv Elly is a saint!

Lesson 1: Getting Started with Apologetics

Introduction:

If you have ever been a member of a jury in a criminal case, or if you have ever watched a real or fictional trial in movies or on TV you have witnessed apologetics in action. Attorneys make use of apologetics to convince the jury that the person accused of a crime (the defendant) is either guilty or not guilty. If the jury believes the proofs and the arguments proposed by the prosecutor, the defendant is found guilty, and the Judge will impose a sentence commensurate to the crime for which the person is found guilty. If, on the other hand, the jury believes the evidence and the arguments given by the defense attorney, the defendant is found not guilty, and is free to walk out of the courtroom a free man. The closing remarks by the prosecutor and by the defense counsel in fact are called closing arguments.

Young Lawyer Abraham Lincoln

arguing his case to a jury

These arguments and evidences prominent in the courtroom are, in fact, actually present in all disciplines.

The politician sets forth arguments and reasons to convince voters to vote for him or her.

The scientist makes a scientific statement he posits as true only after he has evidence — proofs — to back the statement.

A construction contractor, making a bid to build a bridge, includes in that bid the reasons why his bid is better than others. He might cite better building materials or a better, safer design. Those seeking the bid will certainly consider the cost of using one particular contractor over all others, but the lowest bid is certainly not the only consideration those seeking the bids will consider — or at least shouldn't be!

To have your grass cut and your shrubs trimmed, you might ask several lawn-care companies to give you a price. Again, you might consider cost as the overriding factor, but, on the other hand, a higher priced company may have better equipment and a greater reputation in your community. As a result, you may opt for the higher priced company to manicure your greenery.

These proofs and evidences — forms of argument — are, to use a fancy word, apologies. Not the I'm sorry type of apology; rather a defense for a statement or position in a matter. In Catholic Christianity, the term apologetics refers to the discipline of putting forth arguments as to why Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Christian Faith, is the only true faith. These arguments set forth by the apologist lead the listener (the jury, in this situation) to become Catholic.

Opening Prayer:

The Angelus

by Jean-François Millet (1859)

Prayer for the Discernment of the Mind of God:

Father in heaven, you have given us a mind to know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Be with us today in all that we do, so that your light may shine out in our lives. We pray that we may be today what you created us to be, and may praise your name in all that we do and say.

We pray for your Church: may it be a true light to all nations; May the Spirit of your Son Jesus guide the words and actions of all Christians today. We pray for all who are searching for truth: bring them your light and your love.

Give us, Lord, a humble, quiet, peaceable, patient, tender and charitable mind, and in all our thoughts, words and deeds a taste of the Holy Ghost. Give us Lord, a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity — a love of you. Take from us all luke-warmness in delight in thinking of you and your grace and your tender compassion towards me. These things that we pray for, Lord, give us grace to labor for: through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Knowledge:

Absolute and all-knowing God, nothing is hidden from Your sight. In the prescience since the beginning, all knowledge existed within You. Kindly share Your knowledge with me, making me aware of what is meant to be, Permitting my soul to understand it, and wisdom to agree with its outcome. Provide me with the gift of discretion, to prudently apply received knowledge, to ensure the fulfillment of Your Will. Your knowledge shines forth forever. Amen.

Scripture:

4th Century Coptic copy of the Latin Vulgate

From Saint Peter’s first epistle: But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy everyone that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you. 1 Peter 3:15

Catechism References:

28   In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being:

From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica is a huge body of philosophical and theological work from which much of modern philosophy flows, with contemporary philosophers either attempting either to refute or to bolster Saint Thomas's arguments. Beginning in lesson two, we will begin to consider certain paragraphs from the Summa.

Lesson:

All Catholics are called to spread the Gospel:

And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.[1] Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."

Matthew 28:18-20

For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and to the Greek. For the justice of God is revealed therein, from faith unto faith, as it is written: The just man liveth by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice:[2] Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.

Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans 1:16-20

This course is designed for those who want to spread the truth but hesitate because they feel unequipped to do so.

Consider two words: proselytize and evangelize.

Proselytize (pronounced prŏs′ə-lĭ-tīz′) according to the Oxford Dictionary means:

To attempt to convert someone to one's own religious faith.

To attempt to persuade someone to join one's own political party or to espouse one's doctrine.

To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another.

To be politically correct in today's American society, one must never proselytize.

Evangelize (pronounced ĭ-văn′jə-līz′) means to try to convert (a group or area) to a different way of thinking. Although evangelize has taken on a Christian connotation in American English, the words proselytize and evangelize are actually synonyms!

Proselyting and evangelizing are both forms of arguments in the field of apologetics. Apologetics, then, is an ancient philosophical art dating back well before the B.C. and A.D. system of dating came into being. Apologetics is the philosopher's quest for truth. Let's begin with an extremely short overview of philosophy starting well before the time of Christ.

To be an effective advocative for the Catholic faith, one must be prepared to defend the Faith with specific proofs. Without this knowledge, one only adds to the noise of those who have no idea of why they are Catholic except I've always been a Catholic. And any attempt to share your faith without being armed with specific proofs degenerates quickly into a simple standoff argument with no change in anyone's mind.

A (very) brief history of ancient Eastern philosophy:

The Eastern discipline of philosophy goes back to at least 700 B, C. and began as a formal study in the Far East. While the West consisted mostly of city states, small clusters of civilization, many of them monarchies who spent years warring back and forth against each other, the Eastern cultural climate was very different. China controlled great areas of the Far East under the imperial dynasties. Because of this cultural unification, Eastern philosophy was able to grow and spread early.

Among notable early Eastern schools of thought were the following:

Confucianism — emphasizing personal virtue and personal striving for moral perfection.

Taoism (also called Daoism) — generally a nature-focused school of thought, emphasizing compassion, moderation and humility

Agrarianism — a very early school of thought teaching that every citizen in society should do his/her share of the work (mainly agricultural) and share alike in the fruit of that work

Buddhism — a latecomer to Eastern thought (500 B.C.), its followers concentrating on living in the present moment

A (very) brief history of ancient Western philosophy:

To begin at the beginning of Western philosophy, we, too, must we go back at least three centuries before the birth of Christ, to the greatest classic Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

SOCRATES (437-347 B.C.):

Bust of Socrates

Socrates is credited with the words, The unexamined life is not worth living. His attempts to improve the Athenians' sense of justice may have offended those in power and been the cause of his execution by drinking a potion of hemlock.

If one tries to sum up Socrates's philosophical quest in a single phrase (a very dangerous attempt, indeed), that phrase might be a quest for virtue.

Today the Socratic Method is used in many disciplines. The method seems quite simple: ask ever deepening questions to come to an accurate conclusion concerning a single issue.

The basic question asked by politicians today seems to be, Are you better off today than you were x years ago? The politician then posits various other questions or states other facts to make the listener think more deeply and to come to reasonable conclusions why he or she feels the original proposition is true: Has your income kept pace with the cost of necessary goods, such as food and fuel? or, Are we, as a nation, militarily as strong as in times past? Each question, if properly asked and honestly answered, begs a response that answers in the listeners’ minds the original question, Are you better off today...?

Pharmaceutical manufacturers, preparing to roll out a new medication, are asked, What effect does this drug have on the user? Has it been proven in various carefully controlled tests to have this effect? What population or demographic should not use the medicine? Does it have serious side effects as well as the benefits purported?

Law school professors have their students read a case or a number of cases to prepare for their following class. The professor then singles out a student and asks him a question such as, What is the basic issue in the case? or, How do the cases differ one from another? or, maybe, What questions might the Judge ask to make the issues in the cases more understandable? or, How do the cases differ? The successful law school student quickly realizes that he must read the cases or incur the wrath of the professor and embarrassment before the entire class!

PLATO (437-347 B.C.):

Bust of Plato

Young Plato was Socrates's finest pupil. Plato saw himself as carrying forward the torch of the quest for truth. According to Plato, man, through his sensible world (what he sees, hears, smells, tastes and touches) strives to make his absolute world ideal and perfect. However, because man's senses are imperfect and can only perceive the forms of absolute perfection, Plato's quest for ideals always and admittedly falls short of the Ideal. But, according to Plato, this quest should be an honest man's overriding, motivating force in life.

In fact, Plato sees this perfect ideal as a disembodied god of sorts. If the world is not perfect, it is not because these authentic and absolute ideals don't exist; rather it is because man is not perfect and is therefore unable to completely embrace them. Many of the Early Church Fathers recognized by the Catholic Church thought Plato to be a proto Christian — an honorary Christian, even though he died three and a half centuries before Christ.[3] One theology professor (in a Protestant college) maintains that if Plato is not in heaven, something is wrong with God's reasoning — a pretty strong endorsement for Plato!

If one tries to sum up Plato's philosophical quest in a single phrase (another very dangerous attempt), that phrase could be a quest for truth.

ARISTOTLE (384-322):

Bust of Aristotle

Aristotle was Plato's most prized student. Although he disagreed with Plato on many Platonic ideas, under Plato's tutelage he learned well the art of philosophy. For four years as an adult, Aristotle tutored a thirteen-year-old Greek named Alexander — the same Alexander who would become known ever after as Alexander the Great. Without the great conquests of Alexander and the spread of the Greek culture, Christianity may not have survived. The melding of Greek philosophical thinking and the later introduced Roman form of government and laws made Christian evangelization possible.[4]

First and foremost, Aristotle was both scientist and philosopher. He was fascinated with the natural world, and was responsible for the beginnings of the natural hierarchy, classifying the plants and animals of Greece. He was equally interested in studying the anatomies of animals and their behavior in the wild.

Aristotle is generally known as the father of Western Civilization's logical thinking. While Plato separated the ever-changing phenomenal world (discovered from man's imperfect senses) from the unchangeable ideal reality, Aristotle suggests that the ideal can be found within the realm of man's senses, if only interpreted rightly.

Aristotle believed that if studied correctly, the reality of nature — its very essence — could be discovered. Today, the Aristotelian method is used in scientific investigation and has led to the universally recognized five point scientific method.

If one tries to sum up Aristotle's philosophical quest in a single phrase, that phrase could be a quest for reality.

Conclusion:

All of these ancient Greek philosophers laid the groundwork for the work of Saint Augustine and especially that of Saint Thomas Aquinas's great Summa Theologica. We will dig into the first premise considered by Saint Thomas — the existence of God, in the next lesson.

[1] All power: See here the warrant and commission of the apostles and their successors, the bishops and pastors of Christ's church. He received from his Father all power in heaven and in earth: and in virtue of this power, he sends them (even as his Father sent him, St. John 20. 21) to teach and disciple, not one, but all nations; and instruct them in all truths: and that he may assist them effectually in the execution of this commission, he promises to be with them, not for three or four hundred years only, but all days, even to the consummation of the world. How then could the Catholic Church ever go astray; having always with her pastors, as is here promised, Christ himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life. St. John 14.

[2] Oft quoted by Catholics reluctant to proclaim the Gospel is the quote attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: Preach the Gospel always, and sometimes use words. These words are generally considered NOT those of Saint Francis, who was known to be one of the foremost homilists of his age.

[3] Greeks The Ancient, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Dr. C. George Boeree

[4] The great Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, used Greek philosophical methodology to convert much of the Roman empire to Christianity.

Activity:

In this activity, we will read the prophetic writing of Archbishop Sheen. Many readers may not know of Bishop Sheen. He was a great Catholic apologist using first the medium of radio, his program called The Catholic Hour, then television, his show called Life is Worth Living. Millions each week listened and watched because Bishop Sheen knew how to talk to the average person on the street about life — not just about Catholicism, but about life in general. He was the original Great Communicator! It is reported that his broadcasts elicited five to six thousand letters to him per week!

From Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:

The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as I am Who am, and the Devil as I am who am not.

Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first red. Rather is he described as an angel fallen from heaven, as the Prince of this world, whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no heaven there is no hell; if there is no hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect — and certainly no devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?

The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves....

... The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.

In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counterchurch which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ....

... But the twentieth century will join the counterchurch because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world communism.

Source: Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West (Bobbs-Merril Company, Indianapolis, 1948), pp. 22-25.

Closing Prayer:

Creation by Michelangelo

Prayer for the conversion of souls:

Lord, please call all those that are disillusioned, living without faith or those who have fallen away from your Grace, please call to their hearts and call them home to a loving family — Your Catholic Church. Lord, if I have not found faith or if I espouse no belief in You, give me witnesses to engage me. Lord, please call all those that have never had their hearts touched by your Grace, may they find the Truth, Love, and Consolation that only You offer.

Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for all of us sinners, that we may follow your instructions for us faithfully and do whatever Christ tells us. Lord, I offer up all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings in reparation for my sins and for the salvation/conversion of all souls. Amen.

Lesson 2: The Existence of God

Introduction:

Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. (Albert Einstein, 1929)

Newton — the divine geometer

by William Blake (1795)

Early British Renaissance philosopher, theologian and scientist, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was an undisputed genius and innovator. Legend would have Newton's interest in gravity spawned as he watched apples falling from a tree under which he rested — most likely untrue.

Recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time, Newton