DAY 47

CHALLENGE

“The kalam argument for God’s existence is flawed: (1) Quantum physics shows that things can begin without a cause; (2) the argument deals with the visible universe, but there may also be other universes; (3) if all things must have a cause, then God would need a cause, too; and (4) God can’t be his own cause because that would be nonsensical.”

DEFENSE

None of these objections overturn the kalam argument.

First, quantum physics does not show things can begin without a cause. It has provided evidence that apparently empty space contains energy that can give rise to br…

DAY 46

CHALLENGE

“What possible reason do you have for thinking that God exists?”

DEFENSE

Here’s one: the universe had a beginning.

This is known as the Kalam cosmological argument. (Kalam is an Arabic word meaning “discourse.”) It can be framed as follows:

1. Everything that has a beginning has a cause.

2. The universe has a beginning.

3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

4. The universe is the realm of space and time.

5. A cause transcends the thing it causes.

6. Therefore, the cause of the universe transcends space and time.

7. God is the spatially and temporally transcenden…

DAY 45

CHALLENGE

“Why should we confess our sins to a priest? We should go to God directly.”

DEFENSE

We can and should ask God directly for forgiveness, but Scripture also reveals that it is his will—in some cases—that we approach his ministers in confession.

Prayer may be sufficient for the forgiveness of daily, venial sins, but Jesus indicated that some sins are more serious by instituting the sacrament of confession to deal with them.

After rising from the dead, he told the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” Then he breathed on them, and said, “Receive the…

DAY 44

CHALLENGE

“How can the Gospels of Mark and Luke be accurate? Neither Mark nor Luke was an eyewitness of Jesus.”

DEFENSE

You don’t have to be an eyewitness to write an accurate biography.

Today biographers don’t have to know the person they are writing about. They don’t even have to be alive at the same time as their subject. Consider all the recent biographies of Abraham Lincoln. No modern authors were eyewitnesses of Lincoln, yet people don’t dis- count their biographies on that basis. What matters is that a biographer has access to reliable sources, and both Mark and Luke did.…

DAY 43

CHALLENGE

“The Catholic use of statues of saints is idolatry.”

DEFENSE

Idolatry involves worshipping a statue as a god. That’s not what Catholics do with statues.

Statues of saints do not represent gods. They represent human beings or angels united with God in heaven.

Even the least learned practicing Catholics are aware that statues of saints are not gods, and neither are the saints they represent. If you point to a statue of the Virgin Mary and ask, “Is this a goddess?” or “Is the Virgin Mary a goddess?” you should receive the answer “no” in both cases. If this is the …

DAY 42

CHALLENGE

The Gospel accounts of what happened at Jesus’ tomb contradict one another.

DEFENSE

They do not contradict. They agree on all the core facts, and the differences in detail are due to the literary choices that ancient authors regularly made.

All four agree that women went to Jesus’ tomb after the Sabbath, around dawn on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1–2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). The stone was rolled away, the body was gone, and they encountered an angel (Matt. 28:2–7; Mark 16:4–7; Luke 24:2–7, 10; John 20:1, 11–13).

The evangelists do mention different de…

DAY 41

CHALLENGE

“Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Therefore, there is no room for purgatory.”

DEFENSE

This challenge is based on a misquotation and several problematic assumptions.

Here is the passage on which the argument is based:

So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we mus…

DAY 40

CHALLENGE

“The deuterocanonicals are not genuine Scripture. There was a period of 400 ‘silent years’ between Malachi and the New Testament when God didn’t give any prophetic word. The deuterocanonicals even refer to ‘the time that prophets ceased to appear’ (1 Macc. 9:27).”

DEFENSE

The lull in prophetic activity is no indicator of whether books from this period are genuine Scripture.

First, the lull that 1 Maccabees refers to was temporary. Even the people living then expected new prophets to appear (1 Macc. 4:46, 14:41). Second, there have been other lulls in prophetic activity…

DAY 39

CHALLENGE

“The concept of the Trinity makes no sense. How can God be one and three at the same time?”

DEFENSE

The doctrine of the Trinity does not say that God is one and three in the same sense. He is one God and three Persons.

“The supreme being must be unique, without equal . . . . If God is not one, he is not God” (CCC 228). Yet God is also Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons” (CCC 253).

It is not surprising that the doctrine of the Trinity is difficult to understand. God is infinite and we are finit…

DAY 38

CHALLENGE

“The Christian God can’t exist. Why would a good God allow innocent people to suffer and die with no clear purpose?”

DEFENSE

God can bring good from evil and he can more than compensate us.

The faculties that allow suffering—such as the pain receptors in our nervous systems—have a purpose, which is to help us avoid danger (see Day 7), but sometimes they are triggered in situations where they don’t help—resulting in apparently purposeless suffering.

Fortunately, God can bring good out of every tragedy, and faith tells us he will (Rom. 8:28; CCC 324). However, there is m…