The art of defending beliefs soley by scriptural reference is not one historically well developed in the Catholic church. Many times growing up, I would ask my mother or a faith formation teacher why Catholics believe something, and the response would be becuse the Church has always said that. The fact is that the Church would not say something that was not supported by scripture, but when thrust into the Bible Belt as a teen, and constantly forced to defend my beliefs which were attacked as "unbiblical," I was not properly prepared for any such dialogue. Only saying "I know it's somewhere in the Bible" does not convince many minds, particularly when the people arguing with you appear to knwo that Bible more thoroughly and insist they never heard of anything to justify your belief. I wish I had this book then. It is a great handbook for explaining the biblical roots of Catholic beliefs that generally come under attack or that seem difficult to explain by scritural references. Topics included (but are not limited to) the papcy, calling priests "father," communion of saints, Mary, relics, statues, purgatory, slavation, sola sciptura, and the sacraments. All faith formation prgrams should give a copy to all candidates for confirmation (if not a bit sooner) and RCIA. Also, every parent should have a copy so tht when the questions come up, they can quickly find the answers, if they do not remmebr the sources off hand. It also is helpful to people thining about leaving or returning to the Catholic Church, as well as those thinking about entering. Patrick Madrid describes this book as the fruit of his study of scrpiture. That it comprises notes he made in the margins of his Bible to defend and explain Catholic beliefs. The format is similar to an encyclopedia and has indexes on the side of the pages about the topics, so that it is easy to find support for topics that are the source of your (or others') questions. Each topics has a brief explanation on the doctrine of belief, and usually includes the references to where the belief is articulated in the Cathechism, directing the reader to where the teaching is explained in greater deatil. Then a list of biblical references follows, so the reader can see how the cathechism pulled these teachings out of scripture. The book also includes scriptural references to provide defense against attacks by Morman, Jehovak Witnesses, and details about the Inquistion. The book focuses on scriptural references that are shared with the Protestant Bible. Meaning, that the Catholic Bible has more references than the book indicates to support its beliefs, because it includes a more comprehensive collection of Old Testament books, but Madrid wisely does not use these references because they would not have much validity with Prostestants who don't consider those books "biblical." It is difficult for me to decide whether this is a four star rating or five stars. I wish the book was longer and had more explanations,
I Love This Book!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
Anything Patrick Madrid has written should be owned by any searching Christian, but this book is a must. You will want several copies. It is worth owning just for the first chapter where Patrick introduces one six (6) word sentence and shows how, with the emphasis on a different word each time you read that sentence, without knowing the context and history, you cannot truly understand what is being said. WOW! Now that was amazing, Mr. Madrid! Now we know why the 30,000 different denominations in the world cannot get along with others in their own denomination-not to mention cannot even have lunch with some of the other denominations. Then the book is great for any Catholic or any other Christian who truly wants to understand the TRUTH about "where is that in the Bible?" We are new converts and we are amazed (after years in the scripture) at the ignorance we had about the beliefs of the Church until we started studying Church History and books written by Madrid, Hahn, Keating and many more. This book, Where is That in the Bible, is simple and filled with verses. Truth is a wonderful thing. Buy it now. You will love it.
A helpful book for explaining the whys of the Catholic faith
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
This little book has been a lot of help to me. As a convert to Catholicism, I needed a way to explain the Catholic faith to my parents (I want them to convert, too) and I found it in this book. It provides scriptural support for questions like "Why do Catholics have a priesthood if the Bible says that we are all priests?" and "Do Catholics worship the saints?" I think it is very well done and provides lots of Bible references, in addition to the initial explanation of each topic. This is all done, by the way, in a manner that does NOT suggest that Protestants are stupid and deluded for not believing as Catholics do, which I appreciated. It is simple and matter-of-fact, very readable and easy to use.
A wonderful book!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Where has this book been all my life? I am so happy to have found it! It's given me hundreds of Bible verses (in context) that my husband and I can use in our discussions with our non-Catholic family and friends. So many of them are used to putting Catholics on the defensive with the magic question: "Where is that in the Bible? Hmmmm?" This book has the answers! I bought a copy at a parish conference the author spoke at, and since then I have bought several other copies to give out to friends. This book isn't an exhaustive or comprehensive explanation of all the Bible verses for all Catholic doctrines, and it doesn't pretend to be. Instead, I personally have found it to be a handy, clear, and extremely "user-friendly" quick reference book. And that's exactly what I and many, many Catholics have needed for so long. Now we have it with this wonderful new book.
Perfect for the pocket
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
This pocket-size book by veteran apologist Patrick Madrid is a powerful resource for Catholics that need a quick Bible verse to justify Catholic teachings.Not only does each chapter handle the most common objections about the faith (the papacy, sola scriptura, the saints, Mary, and the sacraments), but each also provides a plethora of Biblical verses to support the Catholic teachings in each case.The nice thing about this book, aside from its size (which makes it easy to carry with you), is that it provides Scripture for issues beyond the typical objections raised. Interested readers will discover Biblical citations on issues such as abortion, tithing, non-Catholic beliefs, drinking and other issues - giving it some merit even outside of Catholic circles.While there are several books like this in existence, few have gathered so much good information all into one place.
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