Can You Give Candy to the Baby Jesus? (And More!)

CatholicAnswersLogoIn this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Jimmy takes on the following questions:

  • Can we “interpret Scripture with Scripture”?
  • What does the word “desuetude” mean and how does it relate to women’s head coverings?
  • Can we wear pictures of people other than saints?
  • Is leaving candy before a statue of Baby Jesus okay or is that idolatry?
  • Is the Church contradicting Scripture with its teaching that the use of force in legitimate defense is okay?
  • Do we grow in our relationship with God in heaven?
  • Can Latin Catholics attend the Melkite rite?
  • Is the ice bucket challenge a Satanic ritual? Do you have to mean for a ritual to be Satanic for it to actually be Satanic?
  • What does a former Catholic who has been attending a non-Catholic church need to do to return to the Faith?
  • Thomas Aquinas’s arguments may prove the existence of God, but how do you prove the existence of the God of the Bible?
  • How does it work when a person has enough evidence for the existence of God but they choose not to convert?
  • How to deal with religious compulsions? Are they sinful?

Is the Church the New Israel & more!

microphoneJimmy appears on Catholic Answers Live in this episode of the podcast and answers these questions:

  • Why does the book of Baruch not appear in some early lists of the Old Testament canon?
  • Are we sinning if we don’t have a different disposition when praying to Mary and the saints than when praying to God?
  • Did St. Jerome write anything concerning Tobit being inspired, given the question of the Sadducees in Matthew?
  • Would it be appropriate or even mandatory for the Blessed Sacrament to be removed from the Tabernacle if someone is going to speak in a church?
  • How has the Church changed its evaluation of the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska?
  • Is it better to serve the poor by giving them money or making sandwiches and passing them out?
  • How to explain to an ex-Catholic (now Protestant) why they shouldn’t receive Communion in the Catholic Church? Also, how to explain why Transubstantiation does not occur in Protestant services?
  • What is the official Church teaching regarding the idea that Mark was the first Gospel written and that Matthew and Luke used Mark and a lost source known as Q?
  • Is the Church the New Israel?

(Original Airdate: December 9, 2013)

YOU CAN CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE.

Or use the player below at JimmyAkin.com . . .

What Now?

If you like the information I’ve presented here, you should join my Secret Information Club.

If you’re not familiar with it, the Secret Information Club is a free service that I operate by email.

I send out information on a variety of fascinating topics connected with the Catholic faith.

In fact, the very first thing you’ll get if you sign up is information about what Pope Benedict said about the book of Revelation.

He had a lot of interesting things to say!

If you’d like to find out what they are, just sign up at www.SecretInfoClub.com or use this handy sign-up form:

Just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com if you have any difficulty.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Pope Francis on Evangelization

microphonePope Francis recently released a major new document on evangelization—how to share the gospel of Jesus with others.

In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Jimmy discusses the document and the implications it has.

In this episode, Jimmy discusses the issues:

  • Is Pope Francis the most misunderstood pope in recent history?
  • Is the press malicious or just incompetent?
  • Does the Pope hate capitalism?
  • How should we understand Pope Francis’s treatment of Islam?
  • What level of authority does an apostolic exhortation have?
  • How did Pope Francis write this document?
  • Are there translation problems in this document?
  • What is the major thrust of the document? Should we evangelize “without words”?
  • Does Pope Francis understand his pontificate as being “to the world” in addition to “to Catholics”?
  • What are the priorities of Pope Francis’s pontificate?
  • What to make of the interview with an atheist journalist that was taken down from the Vatican web site?
  • What level of authority do press interviews with the pope have?
  • Should the Vatican web site publish papal press interviews?
  • What is the Acta Apostolicae Sedis?
  • Will Pope Francis do major specific things in his pontificate? Is he an innovator or an implementer?
  • What to make of Pope Francis washing the feet of a Muslim girl on Holy Thursday?
  • Does Pope Francis hate the Traditional Latin Mass?
  • Why shouldn’t we read our own preferences into what the pope says and does?
  • Will the rule on women’s foot washing be changed? Should we be upset about this?
  • What gravity should we attribute to rubrics in the liturgy, and how does it relate to the doctrines in the hierarchy of truths?
  • How to understand John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis in relation to each other?

(Original Airdate: December 9, 2013)

YOU CAN CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE.

Or use the player below at JimmyAkin.com . . .

Pope Francis Washing Women’s Feet & The Popes Who Thought About Resigning . . . But Didn’t

 

Recently, Pope Francis washed the feet of several young people, including young women. He did this in the wake of Pope Benedict's resignation. Here are two interesting discussions of Pope Francis's actions and a look at recent popes who thought about resigning but didn't do so in the end.

It has been widely reported that, when he was still the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires, the future Pope Francis washed the feet of women during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Now he has done so as pope.

Did he break the Church’s law?

What does this event mean, and how can we understand what he was trying to do?

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT.

 

Popes Who Thought About Resigning . . . But Didn’t

Benedict XVI’s resignation may have been the first papal resignation in hundreds of years, but it didn’t come completely out of the blue.

He’d already indicated that he had been thinking about the subject of resignation.

What is less well known is that other recent popes had been thinking about it, too.

lot of recent popes.

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT.

 

Two Conversations

This special, extra episode of the Jimmy Akin Podcast contains two conversations I recently had on these subjects on Al Kresta’s and Drew Mariani’s radio shows.

I thought they were very interesting, productive discussions, and so I thought I’d share them with you.

Use the player or links below to listen!

(Or, if you’re reading by email CLICK HERE to go to the original post and listen.)

Chapel Veils, Understanding Scripture, Tithing and Debt, and More!

In this episode of Catholic Answers Live (July 12, 2012), I take on the following questions:

  • What is the history of chapel veils? Why did women stop wearing them?
  • What is the best resource for helping Catholics understand Scripture?
  • If I have a lot of debt, should I still tithe 10%? How do we know when to stop tithing and start paying our debts?
  • Do you think the laity’s attitude toward the priest is still that he is a member of the community, or do people just go to him for the sacraments and then ignore him?
  • What must I do to be saved?
  • In The Passion of the Christ, Satan asks, “How can one man bear the full burden of sin?” — how do Catholics address this question?
  • Where can I find proof that the Bible comes from the Catholic Church?
  • What can I do to help my daughter who is dating a Muslim stay strong in her faith?
  • How long does the sacrament of the anointing of the sick last? Can you receive it more than once?
  • What resource do you recommend for information about the permanent diaconate?
  • Is it disrespectful to refrain from bowing during the Nicene Creed and from striking your breast during the Penitential Rite?
  • My 24-year-old son always talks about the Vatican’s “corrupt” police force — can you tell me anything about this?
  • If I enter into the Catholic Church with a lot of spiritual “baggage,” will that be taken care of before I join, or do I bring it to confession after I become Catholic?

Click the “Play” icon to listen!

Why Don’t Bishops Excommunicate Bad Politicians? Autistic Children at Mass, Female Pope, Planned Parenthood, and More!

On Catholic Answers Live (2/16/12), Jimmy Akin answers:

  • Have you heard about a female pope?
  • In regard to the HHS mandate, why don’t the bishops resort to excommunication of politicians?
  • I’m thinking about becoming a Catholic, but I’ve been divorced and remarried – what steps should I take?
  • What do the Masons believe?
  • Where do Protestants get the notion that they can attend or belong to any type church, whereas we believe that Jesus founded the one true Catholic Church?
  • Is it a sin to not take my autistic child to Mass on Sunday because she may misbehave?
  • Are those who commit mortal sins without knowing it at risk of not being saved?
  • Is there a difference between how Protestants and Catholics view missionary work?
  • How powerful is Planned Parenthood within the government given the danger of contraception and the fight that is currently going on for our religious liberty?

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Why is the Obama Abortion/Contraception Mandate a Big Deal? How to Deal w/Anti-Catholics? And More!

On Catholic Answers Live (2/9/12), Jimmy Akin answers:

  • Why is this health insurance mandate such a big issue? — If I’m Catholic and don’t want to use it to buy contraception or abortions I don’t have to.
  • I’m being attacked on Facebook by anti-Catholic Protestants — what is the best way to deal with this?
  • Am I committing a mortal sin by using the pull-out method for birth control, since my husband is not Catholic?
  • Would two men or two women living together (although they are not a couple) send the same message of impropriety as a co-habitating couple?
  • How do I explain the love and mercy of God to someone who has adopted a New Age philosophy?
  • Is American Sign Language an approved liturgical language?
  • Can you explain the meaning of Hebrews 12:18-24?

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Entering the Catholic Church with Doubts; Why the Filioque Is Important; The God-Man-Loaf?; and More!

On Catholic Answers Live (1/26/12) Jimmy Akin answers:

Why does Jesus talk about righteous people in Luke 15, if Romans 3 says that no one is righteous?

Can I enter the Catholic Church if I’m not sure if I believe in a teaching because I still have a lot to learn? Wouldn’t the Eucharist help me believe?

Why does the genealogy of Mary in the Bible differ from our teaching that Joachim was her father?

What are the earliest writings about the first successor of Peter?

What’s the problem with consubstantiation in the Eucharist?

Why was the filioque a big deal?

If we believe that the Eucharist is transformed into the body and blood of Christ, why doesn’t it taste like flesh and blood?

How do I defend the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin to my Protestant friends?

Can you discuss the document released by the Vatican in the early 2000s about how much leeway priests have in saying the words of the Mass?

Who, besides the priest and deacon, is allowed to add the water to the wine at Mass?

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Jimmy Answers Questions from Non-Catholics (CAL 1/25/12)

Jimmy Akin answers:

I want to believe — how do I pray for belief? (NOTE: Here’s the article I mentioned that I wrote on Pascal’s Wager.)

How long do annulments generally take? Before you go through the process, can you get an idea of whether or not you have a chance of getting one?

How can I go through an RCIA program since I travel a lot for my job?

Why has the Catholic liturgy in America become so watered-down?

How does the Catholic Church justify its collaboration with the states throughout history?

Are the Assumption and Coronation of Mary metaphors of us being crowned in heaven with our full bodies, or are they just special things that happened to Mary?

Why has the Catholic Church been a hindrance to individual liberty since the Magna Carta?

I saw something on the History Channel that said Jesus married Mary Magdalen and had children — is this possible?

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