Essential
2018-06-13
Matt recorded when he found out Ben was converting to catholicism.
Recorded on 2012-08-12
0:00 Ben becomes Catholic
0:40 Ben jokes about changing the podcast's name to "The Sci-Fi Catholic". Matt made the same joke in № 69.
Matt lists some common stereotypes Protestants have about Catholics, like "Catholics are not Christians".
3:48
How surprised was Skip, our pastor?
He was not surprised. He'd predicted it.
He predicted that you were going to turn Catholic? Wow, I did not see the warning signs.
Ben read a lot of theology especially by N. T. Wright and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He switched his views on child baptism, communion as a sacrament, and justification being more corporate than individual.
Ben mentions a few distinguishing features of Catholicism:
- Apostolic succession
- Rejection of Sola Scriptura (Bible plus church tradition)
- The Holy Spirit guides the church through ecumenical councils
Ben says one reason Catholics get a bad rap is confusion about salvation by works.
Ben transferred to a Catholic college before even considering converting.
8:53
So I started to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and I started to read the apostolic fathers, so the earliest New Testament writings.
You didn't put those on Goodreads. You were keeping them under wraps.
Apostolic fathers is there. I have several books that I've read in the last several months that aren't on Goodreads.
Oh my gosh, you were being sneaky!
Well I thought that a book called How to Go From a Good Evangelical to a Practicing Catholic in 95 Steps might not--
Might raise some red flags?
--might raise some eyebrows.
Ben says he may have time to podcast again.
13:14
Did it start with Jesus? Was Jesus the first pope?
No, Peter was the first pope.
People called him "papa"? "Papa Rock"?
Ben also took up pipe smoking and cut off his ponytail.
17:36
I was already, as opposed to some evangelicals, I was pretty for Catholicism. Now I'm even more, cuz if Ben is for it, who can be against it?
Ben says the deuterocanon was universally accepted by Christians until Martin Luther took it out of the Bible.
22:28
Matt thinks it's more likely that Catholics have extraneous books in the Bible than that Protestants are missing books.
Well but you guys took them out. They were in Protestant Bibles.
Why would we take them out?
Because Luther decided that I'll just pick and choose which books go along with my theology. Did you know he also took out Revelation, James...
I know he hated James.
...2 Peter, Jude, Hebrews...
Yeah but look, that didn't stick. Because God was like: nah, we need James. 1 and 2 Macabees: they gots ta go.