DAY 307

CHALLENGE

“God may permit the use of religious images (see Day 179), but we should not kneel before or kiss them. The Bible says, ‘you shall not bow down to them’ (Exod. 20:5; Deut. 5:9), and it condemns those who have bent their knees to or kissed Ba’al (1 Kings 19:18).”

DEFENSE

These prohibitions apply to idols.

If there is an idol—a statue of a pagan god—then you absolutely should not kneel before or kiss it! However, not all kneeling and kissing falls under this ban. Scripture contains innocent examples of kneeling (Judg. 7:5–6), bowing (Gen. 23:7, 12), prostration (1 Sam...

DAY 306

CHALLENGE

“Faith and science are fundamentally opposed, as illustrated by Christians’ opposition to the theory of evolution.”

DEFENSE

The Catholic Church doesn’t have a problem with evolution.

Some Christians have read the early chapters of Genesis in a way that would preclude evolution, but the Church recognizes these chapters as using significant symbolism (see Days 90 and 290).

The statement God created man from the dust of the ground is understood as an affirmation that “the human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical ...

DAY 305

CHALLENGE

“If Jesus and the New Testament authors thought the deuterocanonical books were part of the canon, why doesn’t the Bible refer to them?”

DEFENSE

They do refer to them. The New Testament contains multiple allusions to the Deuterocanonicals.

It does not contain clear quotations from them—or from many protocanonical books of the Old Testament (see Day 288)—but it does contain clear allusions.

One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is that God’s willingness to forgive us is linked to our willingness to forgive others. This is expressed, for example, in the Lord’s Prayer: “A...

DAY 304

CHALLENGE

“The book of Leviticus condemns homosexuality (Lev. 18:22), but it also condemns eating shrimp since they don’t have fins and scales (cf. Lev. 11:9–12). If we aren’t obliged to follow it when it comes to the latter, why should we follow it when it comes to the former?”

DEFENSE

Homosexuality is contrary to human nature; shrimp-eating is not.

The Law of Moses (Gen.-Deut.) contains a variety of types of laws. Some, such as the prohibitions on murder, are based directly on human nature and apply to all cultures in all of history.

Other laws, such as the observance of the ...

DAY 303

CHALLENGE

“Why should I think the Church can teach infallibly?”

DEFENSE

Reflection on Christ’s teaching reveals why.

Christ did not reserve teaching authority to himself but established a teaching authority (Latin, magisterium) in his Church (see Day 281). This authority was originally vested in Peter and the apostles, and when they passed from the scene it was inherited by their successors, the pope, and the bishops (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2, 2 Tim. 2:2; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:3:1; CCC 861–62).

Christ willed his Church to endure to the end of the world (Matt. 16:18), and teachin...

DAY 302

CHALLENGE

“There is no such thing as mortal sin.”

DEFENSE

The concept of mortal sin is clearly taught in Scripture.

First, the language of the doctrine is drawn from Scripture itself: “If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrong-doing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal” (1 John 5:16–17).

The phrase here translated “mortal” (Greek, pros thanaton) literally means “unto death.” It can be underst...

DAY 301

CHALLENGE

“Catholics are wrong to believe that Christ’s Church is a visible, hierarchical institution; it is the invisible union of all believers.”

DEFENSE

This does not fit the scriptural data.

First, if Jesus wished to found an “invisible” Church, he wouldn’t have instituted baptism. As the Christian equivalent of circumcision (Col. 2:11–12), baptism is the Christian initiation ritual. It thus gives the Church an identifiable membership.

Second, if Jesus didn’t wish to found a hierarchical Church, he wouldn’t have established a hierarchy. Yet he did. He appointed lead...

DAY 300

CHALLENGE

“Mark’s Gospel isn’t reliable. It was written long after the events, and by a non-eyewitness.”

DEFENSE

Mark was written within living memory of the events it records, and it’s based on eyewitness testimony.

We elsewhere deal with the fact that Mark wasn’t an eyewitness (see Day 44). Biographies are written all the time by people who aren’t eye- witnesses, and Mark was in an especially good position as a biographer because he based his Gospel on the testimony of an eyewitness: Peter.

Thus the first-century figure John the Presbyter stated:

Mark, having become the inter...

DAY 299

CHALLENGE

“Christians are wrong to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Jesus could not have been born then—it would have been too cold for the shepherds to keep their flocks outdoors (Luke 2:8).”

DEFENSE

There are several problems with this challenge.

First, the Catholic Church celebrates Jesus’ birth on December 25, but this is a matter of custom rather than doctrine. It is not Church teaching that this is when Jesus was born (note that the matter isn’t even mentioned in the Catechism).

Second, although most Christians today celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25, this was ...

DAY 298

CHALLENGE

“When you look at all the different religions in world history, the odds of yours being the right one are low. We should conclude that religious truth, even if it exists, is unknowable.”

DEFENSE

This overlooks both the way religious views are structured and the role that evidence plays.

Consider a parallel: Throughout history there have been many scientific theories about the way the world works, but they contradict one another and can’t all be true. The odds of a single theory being correct are thus low and we should conclude that, if scientific truth exists, it is u...