Catholic Answers Live

Open Forum – Questions Covered:

04:22 – I’ve heard of numerous protestant eucharistic miracles. Is this a possibility? 

11:30 – How do I refute the claim that Rev 3:10 supports the rapture theory? 

19:58 – How do we know that the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch are reliable? 

28:35 – Is there anyone I can work with to start getting Catholic content in audio format since I’m visually impaired? 

37:23 – Is it immoral to check the box to say that you’ve read the terms and service of an agreement? 

43:08 – You mentioned at the conference something about animals having souls. If they do, would it be wrong to euthanize my horse? 

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Questions Covered:

Joe – 06:03 – You were a huge impact on me and my journey from Calvinism to Catholicism. So thank you and never stop! Since converting, I’ve noticed when “Protestants argue like Atheists”, but I’ve also recently come to notice when “Protestants argue like Agnostics”. This usually happens when I bring up something in Scripture that denominations disagree on. The result is something like “Well, we can’t know for sure, so it’s best not to take a stance on it”, or “That’s not a main issue so I’m not going to judge anyone else for taking that stance, what’s important is that they have faith in Jesus.” Have you come across this, and how do you suggest furthing a conversation once it reaches that point? 

16:28 – Trent, I hope you are doing well today! I had a question. I was going over your “Arguing Against Abortion” course at the School of Apologetics, and I was kind of confused about something and wanted to get some clarity! In Section VI. of the course: Answering Arguments from “Hard Cases”, when rape is mentioned here there is a part where the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services speaks of being able to “Defend herself against potential conception from the sexual assault.” Is this saying that a sort of “contraception” can be used to help prevent conception or the fertilization of the egg, and if so, is this an exception and not a rule? Also, Have you found it harder to defend the Catholic church’s view on contraception after arguing this point? 

23:08 – What is a good, well rounded “elevator speech” for why be Catholic vs other Christian denominations? I’ve been trying to convert my non denominational brother and sister in law and every time I give them biblical proof or historical proof of their position being different than the early Christian’s – they don’t seem to care. 

28:18 – Hello Trent, please strictly consider the text of Mark’s Gospel Chapter 9, verse 1. If Jesus really said the words attributed to him, does that mean Jesus’ second coming is a failed prophesy? In other words, that it’s safe to say the second coming is a prediction that never came true. Thank you! 

32:08 – Hello Trent! Do you have any advice for a beginner apologist? Any advice on how to bring people to Christ through the intellectual side of Christianity, and do so with gentleness and respect? I know you do this very well, so I thought it would be worth asking. Thank you for all you do. 

35:47 – How can we get a secular person to agree that using sex for something other than “babies and bonding” is a bad thing without appealing to religion? Most secular people I talk to about sexually disordered acts believe that using sex for something other than it’s natural purposes is morally irrelevant, and I’m not sure how to convince them otherwise without bringing in theology. 

40:57 – Are nuclear weapons inherently evil? Do we as Catholics have a moral obligation to avoid working with or in companies that produce or manufacture nuclear weapons, or nuclear weapon support systems? Would you consider the proliferation of nuclear weapons a pro life topic like abortion? 

45:47 – In a psychology course, we had an online discussion board assignment where we were given this dilemma: A man’s wife is terminally ill, but there is one drug that will cure her. However, this drug is extremely expensive and they can’t afford it. Would it be morally wrong for the man to steal the drug? How would you apply Catholic moral teaching to this situation? Personally, I would not want to risk the state of my soul by doing something even potentially wrong – stealing the drug – to cure a loved one. I was surprised that almost all the students said that it would NOT be wro…

Questions Covered:

04:25 – What is the first thing you look for when you hear an argument for the opposing side?

07:20 – What’s the best way to explain why we need the Marian dogmas, and why Mary plays an important role for Catholics?

13:41 – What is the catholic stance on ghost apparitions? Can you be a faithful catholic and believe in ghosts?

David – 20:55 – Why is the term ‘Christ’ frequently used in place of the name ‘Jesus’? Is not ‘Christ’ a title or a role (i.e., Messiah) rather than a name? Using the term ‘Christ’ seems to diminish Jesus’s full identity as fully man and fully God.

33:39 – Can you (Trent) please comment on what I think is a very underutilized apologetic argument against Protestantism: You can have sola scriptura and the perspicuity of scripture, you can have the epistle of James, you can have sola fide, BUT YOU CAN’T HAVE ALL THREE! And when one falls, they all fall. That’s the protestant three-legged stool.

41:58 – Could you answer why you believe reasonable people disagree? It’s hard to imagine why so many smart people debate topics like the ones you address and seemingly few of them budge. This question can easily be asked in other areas like politics, and science.

48:19 – Can you respond to the atheist “unintelligent design” argument?

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Open Forum – Questions Covered:

06:55 – What are your thoughts on the apparent contradiction in the policy of the Vatican that says women have to be dressed modestly but it’s filled with naked statues?

14:20 – How should I love someone who has a different viewpoint than I do?

17:59 – How does suffering of living family members affect family members that have passed?

22:50 – Why did Jesus stay at the temple when Mary and Joseph lost him?

31:14 – My daughter in college took a history course that said Hitler was Catholic in order to associate Catholicism with evil. Was he Catholic?

37:11 – What is the role of new miracles if public revelation is closed?

42:42 – How can I counter protestants who say that you need to believe in order to be baptized?

50:30 – If I get my child baptized through the Baptist church, would the Catholic Church be required to accept it?

53:01 – I’m a new Christian. Luke 9:50 and Luke 11:23 seem to contradict on those who are not with us. Can you clarify this for me?

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Open Forum – Questions Covered:

06:20 – What is the Catholic understanding of imputed righteousness vs infused righteousness?

17:06 – Is it wrong to say praying with the saints instead of praying to the saints?

23:40 – How can I support my nephew who is changing genders from a Catholic perspective?

37:23 – Why do Catholics keep making idols/statues/icons/graven images, when God specifically asked you not to make graven images?

42:37 – How do we know that God hasn’t moved on from the Catholic Church like he did with the Jewish faith?

48:10 – How do we have faith in the current situation in the Holy Land?

52:26 – How come Jesus is from the tribe of Judah and his cousin John was from the tribe of Levi?

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Karlo takes questions from our dropped calls list

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Karlo takes questions from our dropped calls list

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Questions Covered:

02:28 – Does the Holy Spirit have chromosomes since the Holy Spirit came over Mary and she became pregnant with Jesus? 

03:26 – Did Zoroaster Fulfill all of the prophecies for a savior hundreds of years before Jesus did? 

10:55 – Does time always move forward, and is there time in heaven? 

18:44 – I’ve been listening to a lot of stories on Bigfoot and aliens lately. What are The Church’s teachings in regard to these types of creatures/sightings? 

21:56 – We are not supposed to spread ashes of the deceased, but relics of saints are spread far and wide. Is there a reason for these seemingly illogical practices? 

28:17 – What sacraments can Angels administer? And can they confect the sacraments? We know the Angel at Fatima gave the children communion. I’ve also heard of an angel that had heard confession for someone and was disguised as a priest. (Not sure how true that one is though.) 

35:57 – Why do Muslim woman cover their heads, and Mary and Elizabeth covered their heads, but CHRISTIAN women these days do not. (I’m certainly not campaigning for Christian women to wear hijabs. I was just wondering.) 

51:53 – What are we to make of the “sword of St. Michael” — the straight line of seven monasteries, all of them built on a mountain or tall hill, and stretching from Ireland to Israel? Each monastery was built in a different time by different people, and yet they all appear to line up perfectly, as if by design. *Was* it by design? And if so, whose, and to what end? 

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Questions Covered:

02:47 – In John 10:16, is it possible that Jesus was referring to extraterrestrial life when He said “And I have sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”? 

07:37 – Hypothetically, if there was a global religious catastrophe and all clergy members were killed except one priest, would that priest automatically become the pope? And follow up: if all the clergy were killed, how would the faithful go about rebuilding the church given that there are no priests/bishops left to ordain new members? 

16:00 – Is it possible that my dog is actually my guardian angel who is temporarily in the form of a dog? 

17:51 – I think about the doctrine of Divine simplicity and the afterlife. If God is not made of any parts, what are we going to see when in heaven? Or what is he going to reveal to us if he is so simple. 

19:37 – I heard that Lucifer’s rebellion was that God revealed the Incarnation of the Son, for which he refused to serve a man. Does that mean it wasn’t revealed that God is Trinitarian? I’m assuming that because God is omnipresent, the Son is God and is man. 

21:33 – What are your thoughts on spontaneous human combustion? Is there evidence it’s happened, and what would be a possible explanation for it? 

28:35 – What evidence is there that humans matured earlier in life in Christ’s time? 

33:48 – What would the moral implications be of joining an expedition to colonize Mars or other planet, knowing that there would not be access to any sacraments indefinitely? 

38:44 – If Christ made a visit to all continents together with Joseph, Mary, and the apostles (just like a Papal visit) before He was crucified, would the world have become Christians? 

42:52 – Did Jesus have opinions? Such as having a favorite food or favorite color? Would these be the results of random biology and environment as He grew up? 

48:00 – If an animal (let’s say a dolphin) were artificially made more intelligent, like to a human level, would that dolphin be able to be baptized? Would it be basically a human with regards to the afterlife? If not, what change would be required to make an animal into a person? How would this be the same or different from a scenario where we discover intelligent space aliens? 

52:50 – What happened to the Holy prepuce? 

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Questions Covered:

14:23 – How am I supposed to get answers from God or my guardian angel?

20:37 – When I pray sometimes I feel like I’m talking to myself. How do I approach prayer while feeling like God is listening?

33:21 – How do we do mental prayer correctly?

38:06 – Why does the Our Father say “lead us not into temptation?” It makes it sound like God is the cause of our temptation. The Spanish version doesn’t translate the same?

48:17 – Could you elaborate more on Pope Benedict’s prayer that you just quoted? Where can we find it?

49:46 – Could you talk about how important it is to just “show up” when it comes to prayer life?

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