As a direct result of listening to Bishop Barron for the last 5 years, I started the RCIA last week and attended Mass for the first time. I’m thrilled about this journey
As a craddle Catholic, I feel more and more reassured that being Catholic is my first calling, and I am forever grateful to my parents that brought me to the sacraments.
Rather say thank God I am a follower of Christ. The church is a spiritual nation of the holy people of God who were sanctified by the blood of the Lamb of God the Lord JESUS CHRIST ,see Daniel 7. Without holiness you cannot be a member of the catholic church.
@@christisgodd Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, no not one. We are all sinners. If one has accepted Christ as their Savior and repented of their sins to HIM, and asked HIM into their heart, then they are SAVED and have eternal life through Jesus. We still sin being in the flesh, but we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and are ever struggling to live in the spirit, not in the flesh. None of us on Earth however (including the human Pope and all the people Catholicism beautifies into Saints...none of these people are holy or without sin). We are only sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast
The Catholic Church says there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. This is NOT true. Actually, there is NO salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And please don't say that the Catholic Church is the body of Christ....not while many priests are preying on little boys without intervention from Catholic authorities. Please....my prayers go out for the many deluded good Catholics who truly want a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ yet are encouraged to pray to alleged saints and worship Mary as well. Jesus was clear that HE is the only intercessor between God and man. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
As a convert to Roman Catholicism (23 years ago) from a fundamentalist Protestant tradition, I can tell you that Catholicism just makes sense in all its teachings. And the longer I'm a Catholic, the more I believe it just makes sense. Mind you that there are sinful people in the Church, but that does not make it untrue or meaningless.
God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, had corrupt kings and priests that presided over them at times. And God allowed this to happen despite the Israelites being his chosen people. It’s the same with the Catholic Church. Just because the Church had corrupt leaders presiding over it at times - that is not proof that the Catholic Church is not the true church. We cannot understand God’s plan, but for some reason he allows things like this to happen and usually it’s for our sanctification.
@@frisco61 If I may, what makes sense about trusting that a 2000 year old book written during the bronze ages accurately depicts how our universe was created, to such an extent that you base your life around it? And isn't that same book filled with outlandish tales of the world being flooded (which disagrees with scientific findings in the geological record), or entire towns being raised from the dead, and tales of horrific vengeance by God on the people he created? Most of all, how does it "make sense" that God tortures his son in order to forgive the sins of mankind? Why would he need to torture anyone? And why is it that belief in Jesus saves you from damnation? Isn't that a terrible standard? So mass murderers who believe in Jesus go to heaven, while great men and humanitarians who are atheists go to hell? Tell me, what about that makes sense to you?
I am from India 🇮🇳born to a Catholic parents and grandparents ..and so proud ...I remember learning Catechism from CBC brothers from Ireland...attending church every Sunday with my MOM..then .. Sunday school , being taught about the church rules ..prayers by sisters of charity .....wow 😇🙏🙏...now in my 50s following Bishop Barron ....blessed 😇...praise God
@Christopher Jacob Hi Christopher, I am fascinated to hear from a Catholic from India! I wish that we could sit down for tea so I could hear from you about what that has been like for you. I’m so glad to hear that you are happy in your faith and I’m wondering if you or your loved ones have ever experienced suffering in India because of your religion? God bless you, my brother in Christ. I send you love from Connecticut ♥
@@Featherfinder 😊😊thanks so much.. may the Lord God bless you and your family members ..yes I would love to share my experiences growing up as a Catholic..😇
@Margaret Corrigan I am too a 16 year old Catholic from India..but I live Mumbai..a pretty urban city..it is the north eastern side and rural area christians who face the most persecution..and it has increased now becuz of our gov being fundamentalist Hindus trying to make India a complete Hindu nation...its said the persecution will soon come get modern cities like Mumbai and Delhi..pls pray for our country
Welcome back, Catherine Taylor! I drifted pretty far away myself and came back. One thing that I discovered that made me want to come back was that it is fascinating to learn about the saints in our Church. They are so fascinating to me and they have helped me to have a better understanding of what it means to know, and love and serve our Lord. They’re like big brothers and sisters in the faith and I really do believe that when we ask them to pray for us they do just that. One last thing: If you have the misfortune of coming across a “bad apple” in the Church (as I have) please don’t let this interfere with your own journey. Recognize the bad apples for what they are and stay close to our Lord. (And to our Lady 🌹).
Many of my dear friends are Catholic converts from other faith backgrounds.Islam, Protestants and Sikhism. The first steps for them was support from good friends, talking to the local catholic priests and attending Mass. The journey wasn't always easy, for them, but their love of Christ helped them overcome any challenges they had with family. My prayers are with you. God bless you. 🙏🙏🙏💕
To the young Muslim lady who held doubts about converting to Catholicism, I would suggest e-mailing your local churches and explaining your situation. I'm sure you will find a priest who will be able to help you out, either through conversation by e-mail or an appointment in person. If you don't find a priest you connect with, keep trying until you do. Follow your heart. Don't feel shy or self-conscious. I'm from London and doing catechism classes, and will be baptised at Easter. I had to message a few churches and talk through my doubts before reaching where I am now. I think it is brave of you to want to convert, and encourage you to carry on along the same path. God bless.
I pray for that lady that she gets all the support she needs and follows her heart , I pray the lord Jesus Christ sends blessings down upon her and all her family, friends and associates.🙏🙏
Islam doesn’t allow apostasy. Your ancestor committed his bloodline to Islam for eternity. A moslem who leaves Islam disrespects his ancestor, and violates the 4th commandment. If Islam is the true religion, he goes to hell for apostasy. If Christianity is the true religion, he goes to hell for not honoring his ancestor. Either way, he goes to hell if he converts from Islam to Christianity. Whereas if he stays with Islam, at least he gets a chance to go to heaven if Islam is the true religion.
Bishop Barron your Word on Fire evangelization is so important in my life. My mom filled you and she bequeathed her joy in listening to you, to her family. You have been a daily part of my life for almost four years. I can say it has been amazing and life changing as for my spiritual development. God bless and I will keep you in my prayers!
Full Reception into the Church ( left friends..distant from family) Divine Mercy April 2022. 64 years of age Birthplace. Chicago,IL (Yes, Bishop Barron was one of my resources in making my decision) Bishop Barron thank-you for serving our LORD My attraction to Catholicism ? Learn more about Jesus Christ 🙏🏾❤️
Bishop Barron , Thank you so much for NOT dumbing it down, I have learned so much from you over that last several years, and this video is one more superb example. Thank you and God Bless you!
Thank you Brandon and bishop Baron for this difficult and challenging topic, yet you both seem to make it accessible, realistic and convincing. I will pray for Leila too and her family so may the Spirit of God lead her in her struggle and put on her path not only a priest but perhaps a sister, a nun and even a devout lay person who could guide her and pray with her for discernment. 🙏🙏🙏
Lovely conversation with Bishop Barron on a very touchy and sensitive topic. Well presented and good points shared. Brandon moderated the episode so well. Truly blessed to be born and raised a Roman Catholic and to get the chance to live my faith and be faithful to God always.
Hi Scott Scott. Don't worry about going to mass. It's not like protestant church where people are going to come up and hug you and make you stand up and introduce yourself as a first timer....none of that nonsense. Catholics go to mass to worship God, not for social hour. Just quietly slip in, sit in the back, focus on God and take it. I wish you the best my friend.
Pick a weekday Mass. These are generally less attended. You don't have to worry about not knowing what to do. As a non-Catholic you are not expected to know what to do or what is going on. There are a number of "Teaching Mass" videos on TH-cam that explain, often in simple terms, what exactly is happening at every part of the Mass. Watch one or two of these videos before you go. I hope this helps.
Hi Scott. I’m Roman Catholic and I also have social anxiety disorder and also PTSD. What worked for me was to attend a weekday Mass where usually there aren’t as many people. But, I still had some level of anxiety, so I just made up my mind to pick a Sunday Mass and just go. My anxiety dissipated after I knelt and began to pray before Mass. No one there put any pressure on me and they respected my personal space. After that first Mass, it was all good. I love the Catholic Church and it was definitely worth feeling stressed for a little while to get there. As another commenter said, it’s not like a Protestant church. Ask God to help you and He will. May you be blessed on your journey. I’ll say an Ave Maria for you. 💕🙏🙏🙏🕯️🕊️🌷
Hi Bishop Barron, thank you so much, I appreciate your kind words and sage advice. Leila isn’t my real name (my real name is so rare that associated with my voice, anyone listening to Bishop Barron would know exactly who I am and I could run a lot of risks). Thank you to everyone else who wrote all these kind messages. They mean a lot to me.
Hi Leila! I’m in Connecticut, USA praying for you. I think the suggestions for you to reach out to various churches/priests sounds like a good one. I wonder, too, if you were to reach out to someone like Sohrab Ahmari (a convert from Islam who wrote the book From Fire By Water) if he might be able to help you or point you in the direction of others who have had to deal with the kinds of conflicts you are struggling with? Surely there is a safe network of people who can be there for you and share their own experiences! I send you love, Leila 🙏♥
Yes, I agreed 👍 with you Bishop. I inlove ♥️ being a Catholic Church because of the Holy Eucharist( body and blood of Christ). Aside from that others sacrament. I recite the "Creed" with all my ❤️ heart and show it through my actions. It's so challenging to me because my own Earthly husband is a Protestant Christian. I keep on defending my Catholic faith in a nice way with calm to my husband. We have little bit misunderstanding but he avoided to argue with me. I keep on asking God to send us His Holy Spirit from now and then in my daily life and to my family. Thanks a lot Bishop Barron! God bless you both Brandon and Bishop! God bless us all! Praise God! Amen.
Keep up with the good work Bishop Robert Barron and Brandon your work is very appreciated and it help us reinforced our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! Bishop Barron May our God fills you with his wisdom, strength to keep teaching us... amen
Dear Bishop Baron Happy to hear you are visiting London. I was in London last year and I so surprised to a lot of Christian group and we’re trying to ask me to join them. But I said I have just attended mass in the Catholic Church and they insist that I join them. But so as not to offend I sat with the family and had a chat . They read the bible and knows in detail the new testament and the Old Testament But they do not believe in the blessedVirgin and question for venerating the saints I really wish they would join the Catholic Church.
God bless Bishop Barron, the way he articulates the complexities of the faith in such a clear and thoughtful manner what a heavy cross to carry having to undertake this task.
I am Catholic. But I haven't always been Catholic. Humility is what keeps me coming back. And Humility keeps me in dialog with people who believe different from what I believe. To Lela: hope everything works out. Prayers. Thank you for considering being a Catholic Christian.
I asked God once for a sign that our faith was real and I did get a validation that was meaningful to me...this topic is so timely.....thank you Fr Barron.
Here's a sign ... Tomorrow, February 14th., 2023 is the Lunar Sabbath from God's PERFECT calendar. You might like to break from the Genesis 36:2 calendars: Cana'an/Julian or Esau/Gregorian ...
I was at a point where I didn't know which religion was right, so I asked God which one is right, and he told me Catholicism, I'm coming into communion with Rome this Easter vigil
Good Morning from Ireland, I just want to say thank you for this wonderful edition of the show. I have been listening to Bishop Barron for the last number of years now. I had spent a long time at ends with my faith and religion in general. From that perspective I would say it is exceptionally difficult to know you are correct in your faith as an adult without having questioned it. I had gone from contemplating protestantism to aethiest and very far removed from what I had grown up in. The cultural Catholicism in Ireland was a far cry from the true teachings of the church and it has been through grace, revelation, lived experience and knowledge of the Church's true teachings that I have come back to faith. To the wonderful woman who has so bravely asked the question I would like, if possible, to recommend that she views an episode of the journey home about a lady Nikki Kingsley, I hope that she may find it helpful. I will pray for her intentions and for The Word on Fire show and Bishop Barron in your continued ministries. God Bless and Thank you 😊 🙏
Every time I listen to a WOF show I feel so much more informed and better about my choice to join the church by being baptized on Holy Saturday this year.
And exactly how is that quote worthy of bold font?? All major religions can meet this standard because they've all had their share of scholars to shore up their theology. As christianity sinks to this level which parallels the stuff "american exceptionalism", it is already dead on arrival.
@@aaabbb-py5xd To my knowledge, fonts classifications do not have labels 'worthy', not worthy. I am not from America, and I do not find your comment worthy of not just American but of any nationality.
@@downenout8705 Perhaps you missed the title of the video. If not clear listen to the introduction. The show has successfully presented the expected theme.
@@marypinakat8594 I never said that RB didn't "successfully" present "the expected theme", did I. I say again, if you are going to reply to my comment please at least have the courtesy to respond to what is actually written.
I'm not against Catholic Christianity but I'm not an Catholic. I've listened to Bishop Robert Barron and he makes good arguments for the Christian faith along with William Lane Craig & Frank Turek.
Leila, all the best with your conversion. I hope you have found the support that Bishop Barron suggested. God bless you. I will pray tonight for you and your family shall the Holy Spirit guide your next steps and for your family shall they discern what is truth vs what is not.
My Catholic faith is so special to me. I was baptized Catholic as a little infant and I am 75 yrs. old now! Love my faith especially the 📿 and Holy Mass!
Thank you, Bishop! It is such a blessing being a likeminded member of the one holy Catholic (which means "universal") and Apostolic Church Jesus built! 🥰🫓🍷✝️🕊
Bishop Barron, we wish you a very holy, happy and joyous trip to London... We pray the faith grows true the truth of the gospels....May God's grace fall big on London and the United Kingdom. Jesus I trust in🙏 you
I was born in India and have been exposed mainly to Hindu and Muslim lifestyles and traditions. I have had the advantage of information and perspective of strong religious angles. And It's only lent me the ability to deepen my relationship with the Catholic faith. So in a sense, I got lucky, to have been born/raised and baptized in this faith that I, myself, have taken for granted. And by no means do I now take credit for either. But some generations ago a community was founded and one of those community members happened to be my ancestor. It does and has made me wonder about the strength of my faith. Which had all the odds stacked against itself being that it was surrounded by predominantly Hindus and yet there was a yearning and room for Jesus’s words and message of salvation. And here I'm in continuation of that faith. Going strong. I think there's something more than the effects of traditions there. There are many that are actual traditions that i don't make it a point to keep. But something special of the faith linked to Christ our savior. It is indeed a very special link and lifestyle.
@Ad X religion is historically & culturally bound, each and every one. Choose the wisdom that speaks to you from them all & realize you're a human with a FREE thinking mind who doesn't need to be brainwashed by any religion but feel what speaks to you as an individual, then you can live your personal truth instead of being a regurgitating robot of scripture.
Thank you Brandon and Bishop Barron for approaching such a sensitive topic with your typical grace and intelligence. Sharing here how the Dalai Lama addressed this question: “Human beings naturally possess different interests. So, it is not surprising that we have many different religious traditions with different ways of thinking and behaving. But this variety is a way for everyone to be happy. If we have a great variety of food, we will be able to satisfy different tastes and needs. When we only have bread, the people who eat rice are left out. And the reason those people eat rice is that rice is what grows best where they live.” As a catholic, I find this very convincing and satisfying, because religion is spiritual nourishment , like food is physical nourishment. It takes a bit of mental plasticity to accept this, though.
Thank you Bishop Barron. Thank you Brendon too. Enjoyable and interesting. Have a wonderful blessed, happy life and enjoyable Holy Lent. Amen Glory to God in the Highest level of Love forever. ❤❤❤😁
A non-Catholic Christian here. Would just like to say thanks Brandon, and Bishop Barron. And to the non-practicing Muslim woman, God bless you and your family!
The spiritual and physical feeding episodes of God... wedding in Cana... God bless Word on Fire... Mabuhay Bishop Barron and the entire cast and crew...
I played American football my entire life, (had pro try-outs) never liked soccer for Bishops reasons, however I tried watching the World Cup 10 years ago, and really enjoy it now and find it extremely exciting 😊👍🏻
A great book that is very relevant here is Dinesh D'Souza's What is So Great About Christianity. In it he tackles that question about there being 4000+ religions. He boils them down pretty quickly and sees many of them not as religions, but rather philosophy or cultural expressions. So, that number of actual religions falls dramatically. Then when you start to look for eternal truth that is applicable to every human on the planet you quickly come to monotheism and then he breaks it down further from there. It's a good read and pretty straight forward, it might not be exactly in the Catholic tradition but pretty close.
@@russellmiles2861 I hope you’re not under the impression that you “don’t need heaven”, Russell Miles. Because humans don’t come to an end when they die.
Maybe you mentioned it near the end. But first thing and last thing is: Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church with St. Peter and we can trace our lineage down throughout history.
Christianity is Catholicism and Catholicism is Christianity, for all intents and purposes, since the grace from Jesus fully subsists in the Catholic Church.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Concerning your sermon I think of Fonzie on Happy Days. He can’t say the word wrong. It’s hard to admit your wrong. I believe discussions about Religion have to include admitting you might be wrong. I try to follow that practice myself.
I have always believed the Catholic faith . I have not always lived it though. I have turned back to God, and am listening to a Christian Bible. The fact that the Blessed Mother Mary is not recognized REALLY surprised and pffended me!
I really like the way "askcliffe" presents the Gospel to the college students. I think Bishop did not answer the question in a direct way which is confusing. While Cliffs run directly to the point and leave no room for vague explanation. Everyone has to come to the point that they realized God, the Truth. That point is the most crucial moment. The criteria that Cliffe set up to test all religions and belief system is amazing. I give him credit for that.
Dear Bishop Barron, this is such a wonderfully nuanced answer to one of the most difficult questions that any faithful person might try to answer today. And as a catholic, I agree with you. But there is a problem: you’ve never taken the time to study every other religion with such depth and intensity as you studied your own. And this is why your saying “it’s the more fully true” is not satisfying. If we want to answer this question as honestly and truthfully as we can, we HAVE to at least CONSIDER the possibility that 1). most but not all claims of catholicism might be right for “all of humanity”; 2). other religions might be “better” for other people with different MILLENNIAL traditions.
@@rlrett1 Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Hi Bishop Barron and Brandon. I just read that Adam Curry, the inventor of the podcast, has just become a follower of Jesus after being an atheist for most of his life. He would be an interesting guest to have on your discussion channel.
Jacques Maritain's book "Introduction to Philosophy" breaks down the different "religions" and how they deviated or where they went wrong in their view or pursuit of truth.
Absolutely love this... we are called to preach the Gospel to all nations as part of an obligation... but we also should *want* and *desire* to preach that Gospel... it is not pushing an agenda or imposing our views... it is EVANGELIZATION!
If Laila is reading, I’d say that the first step is to include your mother and your family in your questions and thoughts. Don’t just convert and then surprise them a big announcement later. Show your family that you take these questions very seriously and give them a chance to win you back. Be open, patient, loving, and honest. Maybe include your mother in your catechesis. Talk about where Islam and Catholicism intersect, find points of commonality.
There ought to be laws protecting citizens from religious authority flooding. An example is a person who attends kingdom hall in victoria British Columbia pulling strings for some one in Terrace British Columbia to effect the result of an investigation.
“Christ's Church has no intention of yielding ground to her avowed enemy, atheistic socialism/communism, without a struggle. This battle will be fought to the end, but with the weapons of Christ!” Pope Pious XII 1957
Little known fact about the Divine Comedy (little known because no one reads Paradiso) : this is one of the most important theological issues for Dante. He presents it while in Limbo, but we have to wait until Paradiso 19 and 20 for the full answer. Fascinatingly, he used the example of a person who lives somewhere along the Hindu river and who’s never heard about Jesus Christ, to build his argument.
A Facebook meme says something to the effect of, "In the course of history, humans have believed in millions of different gods - gods you Christians also reject. I simply believe in one less god than you." This strikes me as fairly obviously flawed. Firstly, it's not just in matters of religion that there is an enormous spectrum of belief or opinion. There are innumerable positions in the various forms of political discourse, for example. Just because humans cannot agree on a single political philosophy does not mean that anybody who has a political opinion is therefore a fool. Many an atheist would be insulted to be told that their political opinions are idiotic simply because there are lots of other political opinions out there. But Bishop Barron rightly draws attention to the glaring example of an excluded middle: just because I believe that I have found the one true faith does not mean that all other faiths are wholly devoid of truth (even though some Christians have asserted exactly that). How could Thomas Aquinas have accorded such respect to the pagan, Aristotle, if he thought that there was no truth at all outside the boundaries of the Christian religion? It is one of the flaws of Puritanism that it thought that Christianity was somehow polluted (and thereby invalidated) if it accepted the possibility that non-Christians (and non-Puritans) could speak the truth.
@@downenout8705 The video is titled "Why is Your Religion the Right One?" and the discussion did aim at answering it. There wasn't any promise of proving something.
Yes I think that's the most helpful way to put it, that you believe your religion to be a 'fuller expression of the truth', and that all the major traditions are close to that truth, and not simply wrong, and you're sincerely speaking from a considered position that has been very well informed by a variety of critiques and self doubts, fully considered, and expressed with love. That is fair enough I think. I still don't think any of us can actually totally remove elements of cultural conditioning and confirmation bias, we're all somewhat rationalising what we've been given, and effectively saying this is my culture and my tradition, and it makes more sense for me to be a flavour of that than to completely up root myself from it and plunge totally into something different, assuming it's basically justifiable to me. I was brought up in a strong pacifist version of Christianity, Quakerism, and one that values silence and simplicity. I can see great merit in more colourful traditions, but I also see that I value peace, silence and simplicity because that tradition makes that very real to me. That's not just an argument I can make to someone else, it's a lived experience I can only hope to draw you towards, and at certain point it's highly likely that it will only draw you in if it's expressing something that you already have some sympathy for, so to a degree it makes sense to me that we all find a place that right for us, even within any one tradition.
I was scrolling through these comments hoping to find one as intelligent as yours. Thank you. No one can answer this question “fully” without saying what you just said.
Not confirmation bias, but disconfirmation bias, marks the encounter with Christ. What else could baptism, entry into His death, be if not to “plunge totally into something different”? Rabbinic Judaism remained “basically justifiable" per St. Paul; such an issue had no relevance because the plunge he took was not from one "religion" to another. Nevertheless he took a plunge. Religion as a genus with many species, or emotive language like "justifiable to me,” “that you believe,” “makes more sense for me": all of this is a nonsequitur to “lived experience," doesn't touch it at any point. Mention of “flavours” in this context would baffle or provoke laughter. “What in the world are you talking about?!” they’d ask. (South Asians reacted this way when the Brits told them they were practicing a religion called Hinduism.) Catholics can betray their principles, their baptism; some enter Christ’s death more fully than others. But with "flavours" and personal preferences, there is nothing that *could* be betrayed, nothing to answer for, because these concern no public matters of principle or truth. Someone explain to me why it is considered humility to speak a privatizing language whose sole purpose is to immunize against contact with the other and keep us undisturbed on our present path, like comfortable old shoes. How is that humility?
I am a Catholic Christian who has been seriously wrestling with this question for quite some time. I had been a Protestant missionary and pastor and 11 1/2 years ago entered full communion with the Catholic Church. I have a graduate degree in divinity and have researched and thought seriously for many years. All of that written, recently, I've thought of this question from the perspective of Rebert Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution and the multi-scientific work The Emergence and Evolution of Religion by Natural Selection, and Peter C. Phan's The Joy of Religious Pluralism. If we start with the origin of the universe and humanity, and we find by 15,000 BC humans spread out all over the planet engaging in myth and ritual practices, and Judaism and Christi9anity come about thousands of years later, why believe that Christianity is the "fullness of truth"? Why not just see it as one of many attempts by human beings to articulate answers to the origin of the universe and humanity, their problem, their solution, and their end? This is an inadequate to fully address this issue, but I thought I would put this out there. Since your work is evangelization, this issue needs to be addressed more fully than this video does. I would welcome the opportunity to dialogue about this more. Thank you for your work.
Great questions that are best addressed when a person sets aside their presupposition that a creator god exists and that god is not only the Christian God but also the Catholic Christian God.
@@kbking Yes, with the help of others I sought to discern a vocation as priest or deacon, but those doors haven't opened for me, yet. Since becoming Catholic I have served as a Director of Faith Formation and Youth Ministry in a few parishes, but currently I'm pausing while I sort out questions like the one I shared above. I'm also working on a couple of writing projects. What a journey! Thanks for asking.
@@downenout8705 there is no “presupposition” to someone who knows the Truth and has been elevated above mere selfishness to be a vessel of Light, as opposed to someone unsure of Christ. To be a Christian for real is to know far more about Truth. And that is that. Nobody who isn’t a true Christian has a thousandth of the knowledge (or joy in this world, quite often) of a follower who has genuinely seen and been even temporally embraced by the coming Light. So arguing is tiresome. The atheist lives purely by the artificial imposition of presuppositions, trapped into mortality by his own selfish desires for proof and contrarian theorems and dogma to keep the Light out. An atheist is someone lost in a small shallow inner sphere of tiny mindedness and limited experience of real life… His is a desperate search for proof and evidence - “facts”, he mistakenly calls then - and thereby for safe material worldly things for him to clutch onto like a magpie crowing over his scraps of tinsel - in the quest for control and conquest over the uncontrollable and invincible… What he clings to unwittingly is purely the mortal and less real. This fallen, shallow mental state leads only to an unsatisfactory temporary security in a “scientifically proven” world of death and darkness - and all that obvious utter bunkum. The atheist clings and tethers himself (in defiance of the words of Christ) to a life raft of proven materiality that is made of lead - as he heads into the open sea to come. And he has the sheer lack of foresight or imagination to ask why his more enlightened brother cares so much and yells at him to wake up. ALL of us can turn things around at any time - reject the world - and ask for God’s love and forgiveness. “Knock - and the door will be opened for you”. God’s grace is what we Christians have unequivocally sampled… we recommend it with every fibre of our beings for a REASON (beyond your “safe” corridors of rationality). Get out under a sky alone for some hours… God made that for you… Same GOD OF CHRIST that all your brilliant ancestors knelt before and found joy in …wake up and speak thanks to Him - and Him ALONE for the chance of eternal love, peace and joy. The Light is eternal. The end is already written. Only you INDIVIDUALLY - through His gift of your own self-will, for you alone to control - can move towards Him - or away in the final missing piece of the jigsaw.
@@matthewstokes1608 It's oh so easy to believe whatever you want when you construct an asinine strawman that you can destroy within your fantasy world. My only hope is that an intellectually honest Christian will read your post and begin to wake up.
I love Bishops Barrons insights. That being said, I believe his math analogy with regard to other great religions of the world is misleading at best. I believe we needn't denigrate other folks, but truth is truth. I believe the other great religions of the world offer comparable morality teaching in their search for God, but access to God is through his Son, Jesus Christ and furthermore for the rational scholar is rooted in historical events that have been corroborated by non-religious sources. It isn't unkind to tell the truth, it needn't be insulting, there needn't be wars over such disagreements, but not telling truth isn't part of our earthly call to spread the word. Keep up the good work with these stimulating conversations.
As a direct result of listening to Bishop Barron for the last 5 years, I started the RCIA last week and attended Mass for the first time. I’m thrilled about this journey
Welcome, May God’s blessings be with you always. 🇨🇦🙏🙏🌹🇨🇦
My prayers for your total conversion into our catholic religion and eager to hear that you will be one more of Christ’s army soldiers 🙏😊
Gloria a Dios 🙏🏻
WELCOME!
I am so excited for you. I loved my confirmation class so much.
As a craddle Catholic, I feel more and more reassured that being Catholic is my first calling, and I am forever grateful to my parents that brought me to the sacraments.
I feel the same way, my faith is the greatest gift that my parents gave me.♥️😁
I should say that my parents showed/taught me. God gave me faith.
Rather say thank God I am a follower of Christ. The church is a spiritual nation of the holy people of God who were sanctified by the blood of the Lamb of God the Lord JESUS CHRIST ,see Daniel 7. Without holiness you cannot be a member of the catholic church.
@@christisgodd Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, no not one. We are all sinners. If one has accepted Christ as their Savior and repented of their sins to HIM, and asked HIM into their heart, then they are SAVED and have eternal life through Jesus. We still sin being in the flesh, but we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and are ever struggling to live in the spirit, not in the flesh. None of us on Earth however (including the human Pope and all the people Catholicism beautifies into Saints...none of these people are holy or without sin). We are only sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast
The Catholic Church says there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. This is NOT true. Actually, there is NO salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And please don't say that the Catholic Church is the body of Christ....not while many priests are preying on little boys without intervention from Catholic authorities. Please....my prayers go out for the many deluded good Catholics who truly want a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ yet are encouraged to pray to alleged saints and worship Mary as well. Jesus was clear that HE is the only intercessor between God and man. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
As a convert to Roman Catholicism (23 years ago) from a fundamentalist Protestant tradition, I can tell you that Catholicism just makes sense in all its teachings. And the longer I'm a Catholic, the more I believe it just makes sense. Mind you that there are sinful people in the Church, but that does not make it untrue or meaningless.
God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, had corrupt kings and priests that presided over them at times. And God allowed this to happen despite the Israelites being his chosen people.
It’s the same with the Catholic Church. Just because the Church had corrupt leaders presiding over it at times - that is not proof that the Catholic Church is not the true church.
We cannot understand God’s plan, but for some reason he allows things like this to happen and usually it’s for our sanctification.
Amen
The church is not a hotel for saints. It is a hospital for sinners
That’s my first response too. It just makes sense.
@@frisco61 If I may, what makes sense about trusting that a 2000 year old book written during the bronze ages accurately depicts how our universe was created, to such an extent that you base your life around it? And isn't that same book filled with outlandish tales of the world being flooded (which disagrees with scientific findings in the geological record), or entire towns being raised from the dead, and tales of horrific vengeance by God on the people he created? Most of all, how does it "make sense" that God tortures his son in order to forgive the sins of mankind? Why would he need to torture anyone? And why is it that belief in Jesus saves you from damnation? Isn't that a terrible standard? So mass murderers who believe in Jesus go to heaven, while great men and humanitarians who are atheists go to hell?
Tell me, what about that makes sense to you?
I am from India 🇮🇳born to a Catholic parents and grandparents ..and so proud ...I remember learning Catechism from CBC brothers from Ireland...attending church every Sunday with my MOM..then .. Sunday school , being taught about the church rules ..prayers by sisters of charity .....wow 😇🙏🙏...now in my 50s following Bishop Barron ....blessed 😇...praise God
@Christopher Jacob Hi Christopher, I am fascinated to hear from a Catholic from India! I wish that we could sit down for tea so I could hear from you about what that has been like for you. I’m so glad to hear that you are happy in your faith and I’m wondering if you or your loved ones have ever experienced suffering in India because of your religion? God bless you, my brother in Christ. I send you love from Connecticut ♥
@@Featherfinder 😊😊thanks so much.. may the Lord God bless you and your family members ..yes I would love to share my experiences growing up as a Catholic..😇
Praise the Lord
@christopher jacob - That is a wonderful memory! Thank you for sharing
@Margaret Corrigan I am too a 16 year old Catholic from India..but I live Mumbai..a pretty urban city..it is the north eastern side and rural area christians who face the most persecution..and it has increased now becuz of our gov being fundamentalist Hindus trying to make India a complete Hindu nation...its said the persecution will soon come get modern cities like Mumbai and Delhi..pls pray for our country
I was baptized Catholic, raised and educated in Catholic religion. But lost my way. I came back just a few months
I love testimony like this. Tells you a lot of our faith.
Welcome back, Catherine Taylor! I drifted pretty far away myself and came back. One thing that I discovered that made me want to come back was that it is fascinating to learn about the saints in our Church. They are so fascinating to me and they have helped me to have a better understanding of what it means to know, and love and serve our Lord. They’re like big brothers and sisters in the faith and I really do believe that when we ask them to pray for us they do just that. One last thing: If you have the misfortune of coming across a “bad apple” in the Church (as I have) please don’t let this interfere with your own journey. Recognize the bad apples for what they are and stay close to our Lord. (And to our Lady 🌹).
Welcome home my sister in Christ!!!💚💚💚
I saw so many people like you
My husband has left the church. He has been led by false narrative on the history of the church. Please pray that he comes back.
Many of my dear friends are Catholic converts from other faith backgrounds.Islam, Protestants and Sikhism. The first steps for them was support from good friends, talking to the local catholic priests and attending Mass. The journey wasn't always easy, for them, but their love of Christ helped them overcome any challenges they had with family. My prayers are with you. God bless you. 🙏🙏🙏💕
basil bee,
Beware of a fake bishop out here.b
To the young Muslim lady who held doubts about converting to Catholicism, I would suggest e-mailing your local churches and explaining your situation. I'm sure you will find a priest who will be able to help you out, either through conversation by e-mail or an appointment in person. If you don't find a priest you connect with, keep trying until you do.
Follow your heart. Don't feel shy or self-conscious. I'm from London and doing catechism classes, and will be baptised at Easter. I had to message a few churches and talk through my doubts before reaching where I am now. I think it is brave of you to want to convert, and encourage you to carry on along the same path.
God bless.
May God bless you on your journey
@@frankjamesiii5362 Thank you very much James. God bless.
I pray for that lady that she gets all the support she needs and follows her heart , I pray the lord Jesus Christ sends blessings down upon her and all her family, friends and associates.🙏🙏
Islam doesn’t allow apostasy. Your ancestor committed his bloodline to Islam for eternity.
A moslem who leaves Islam disrespects his ancestor, and violates the 4th commandment. If Islam is the true religion, he goes to hell for apostasy. If Christianity is the true religion, he goes to hell for not honoring his ancestor.
Either way, he goes to hell if he converts from Islam to Christianity.
Whereas if he stays with Islam, at least he gets a chance to go to heaven if Islam is the true religion.
@@frankjamesiii5362
Mj
Bishop Barron your Word on Fire evangelization is so important in my life. My mom filled you and she bequeathed her joy in listening to you, to her family. You have been a daily part of my life for almost four years. I can say it has been amazing and life changing as for my spiritual development. God bless and I will keep you in my prayers!
Full Reception into the Church
( left friends..distant from family)
Divine Mercy April 2022. 64 years of age
Birthplace. Chicago,IL
(Yes, Bishop Barron was one of my resources in making my decision)
Bishop Barron thank-you for serving our LORD
My attraction to Catholicism ?
Learn more about Jesus Christ
🙏🏾❤️
Bishop Barron , Thank you so much for NOT dumbing it down, I have learned so much from you over that last several years, and this video is one more superb example. Thank you and God Bless you!
Thank you Brandon and bishop Baron for this difficult and challenging topic, yet you both seem to make it accessible, realistic and convincing. I will pray for Leila too and her family so may the Spirit of God lead her in her struggle and put on her path not only a priest but perhaps a sister, a nun and even a devout lay person who could guide her and pray with her for discernment. 🙏🙏🙏
Lovely conversation with Bishop Barron on a very touchy and sensitive topic. Well presented and good points shared. Brandon moderated the episode so well. Truly blessed to be born and raised a Roman Catholic and to get the chance to live my faith and be faithful to God always.
I call myself an aspiring Catholic. I haven't made to a Mass. Yet. Due to some social anxiety so social media plug in ie Bishop Baron is God send.
Pick the church, choose the mass, and make it important to go.
1 hour of your day could be meaningful and helpful. Why be anxious?
Hi Scott Scott. Don't worry about going to mass. It's not like protestant church where people are going to come up and hug you and make you stand up and introduce yourself as a first timer....none of that nonsense. Catholics go to mass to worship God, not for social hour. Just quietly slip in, sit in the back, focus on God and take it. I wish you the best my friend.
Pick a weekday Mass. These are generally less attended. You don't have to worry about not knowing what to do. As a non-Catholic you are not expected to know what to do or what is going on.
There are a number of "Teaching Mass" videos on TH-cam that explain, often in simple terms, what exactly is happening at every part of the Mass. Watch one or two of these videos before you go.
I hope this helps.
Hi Scott. I’m Roman Catholic and I also have social anxiety disorder and also PTSD. What worked for me was to attend a weekday Mass where usually there aren’t as many people. But, I still had some level of anxiety, so I just made up my mind to pick a Sunday Mass and just go. My anxiety dissipated after I knelt and began to pray before Mass. No one there put any pressure on me and they respected my personal space. After that first Mass, it was all good. I love the Catholic Church and it was definitely worth feeling stressed for a little while to get there. As another commenter said, it’s not like a Protestant church. Ask God to help you and He will. May you be blessed on your journey. I’ll say an Ave Maria for you. 💕🙏🙏🙏🕯️🕊️🌷
I'll pray for you to overcome this fear. Remember that the Mass is about encountering Christ, not the people sat around you.
Bishop Barron's opening statement says it all!
May God bless you, Brandon for your service!
Hi Bishop Barron, thank you so much, I appreciate your kind words and sage advice. Leila isn’t my real name (my real name is so rare that associated with my voice, anyone listening to Bishop Barron would know exactly who I am and I could run a lot of risks). Thank you to everyone else who wrote all these kind messages. They mean a lot to me.
Hi Leila! I’m in Connecticut, USA praying for you. I think the suggestions for you to reach out to various churches/priests sounds like a good one. I wonder, too, if you were to reach out to someone like Sohrab Ahmari (a convert from Islam who wrote the book From Fire By Water) if he might be able to help you or point you in the direction of others who have had to deal with the kinds of conflicts you are struggling with? Surely there is a safe network of people who can be there for you and share their own experiences! I send you love, Leila 🙏♥
In our Catholic Church, we have mother of God , we have saints, we have Eucharist, on and on……
I hope the trip to London becomes a Blessing for you all🌹🧿💃
Definitely praying for this young Lady 🙏
Listen to your heart ♥ where God resides. GOD BLESS ❣️
Yes, I agreed 👍 with you Bishop. I inlove ♥️ being a Catholic Church because of the Holy Eucharist( body and blood of Christ). Aside from that others sacrament. I recite the "Creed" with all my ❤️ heart and show it through my actions. It's so challenging to me because my own Earthly husband is a Protestant Christian. I keep on defending my Catholic faith in a nice way with calm to my husband. We have little bit misunderstanding but he avoided to argue with me. I keep on asking God to send us His Holy Spirit from now and then in my daily life and to my family. Thanks a lot Bishop Barron! God bless you both Brandon and Bishop! God bless us all! Praise God! Amen.
What a great resource! All great questions I hear quite often, so I will be returning to this video frequently.
Thank you Bishop Barron and Brandon, may GOD bless both of you abundantly. ➕ ❤
Keep up with the good work Bishop Robert Barron and Brandon your work is very appreciated and it help us reinforced our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! Bishop Barron May our God fills you with his wisdom, strength to keep teaching us... amen
Dear Bishop Baron
Happy to hear you are visiting London.
I was in London last year and I so surprised to a lot of Christian group and we’re trying to ask me to join them.
But I said I have just attended mass in the Catholic Church and they insist that I join them.
But so as not to offend I sat with the family and had a chat .
They read the bible and knows in detail the new testament and the Old Testament
But they do not believe in the blessedVirgin and question for venerating the saints
I really wish they would join the Catholic Church.
God bless Bishop Barron, the way he articulates the complexities of the faith in such a clear and thoughtful manner what a heavy cross to carry having to undertake this task.
Barron is a heretic wolf in sheep clothing. He said there are many ways to get to Heaven but Christ is the preferred way.
I am Catholic. But I haven't always been Catholic. Humility is what keeps me coming back. And Humility keeps me in dialog with people who believe different from what I believe.
To Lela: hope everything works out. Prayers. Thank you for considering being a Catholic Christian.
"Humility" is no substitute for "evidence".
Beautiful comment⭐
@@downenout8705 😂🤣
Humility allows us to consider and accept evidence without drowning it out with pride.
@@tracybrophy6767 All things work for those who love Him. (Scripturally Speaking)
I asked God once for a sign that our faith was real and I did get a validation that was meaningful to me...this topic is so timely.....thank you Fr Barron.
But, people have felt they got the same validation for all the other religions too
@@BrendanBeckett
Will they also prove it?
Here's a sign ... Tomorrow, February 14th., 2023 is the Lunar Sabbath from God's PERFECT calendar. You might like to break from the Genesis 36:2 calendars: Cana'an/Julian or Esau/Gregorian ...
I was at a point where I didn't know which religion was right, so I asked God which one is right, and he told me Catholicism, I'm coming into communion with Rome this Easter vigil
@@BrendanBeckett Poor atheists get no validation.
Good Morning from Ireland, I just want to say thank you for this wonderful edition of the show. I have been listening to Bishop Barron for the last number of years now. I had spent a long time at ends with my faith and religion in general. From that perspective I would say it is exceptionally difficult to know you are correct in your faith as an adult without having questioned it. I had gone from contemplating protestantism to aethiest and very far removed from what I had grown up in. The cultural Catholicism in Ireland was a far cry from the true teachings of the church and it has been through grace, revelation, lived experience and knowledge of the Church's true teachings that I have come back to faith. To the wonderful woman who has so bravely asked the question I would like, if possible, to recommend that she views an episode of the journey home about a lady Nikki Kingsley, I hope that she may find it helpful. I will pray for her intentions and for The Word on Fire show and Bishop Barron in your continued ministries. God Bless and Thank you 😊 🙏
Every time I listen to a WOF show I feel so much more informed and better about my choice to join the church by being baptized on Holy Saturday this year.
Congrats pal...wish you an amazing journey..Jesus Loves you so much..He is soooooo proud of you..
*"You can with reason show that many of the tenets of Catholic Christianity are correct, are rationally defensible."* - BISHOP ROBERT BARRON
And exactly how is that quote worthy of bold font?? All major religions can meet this standard because they've all had their share of scholars to shore up their theology. As christianity sinks to this level which parallels the stuff "american exceptionalism", it is already dead on arrival.
"Reason" is no substitute for "evidence" and RB, as always, offers zero empirical evidence to support the truth of 1 Corinthians 15: 14.
@@aaabbb-py5xd
To my knowledge, fonts classifications do not have labels 'worthy', not worthy. I am not from America, and I do not find your comment worthy of not just American but of any nationality.
@@downenout8705
Perhaps you missed the title of the video. If not clear listen to the introduction. The show has successfully presented the expected theme.
@@marypinakat8594 I never said that RB didn't "successfully" present "the expected theme", did I. I say again, if you are going to reply to my comment please at least have the courtesy to respond to what is actually written.
I'm not against Catholic Christianity but I'm not an Catholic. I've listened to Bishop Robert Barron and he makes good arguments for the Christian faith along with William Lane Craig & Frank Turek.
My heart hurts for Leila. I, too will pray for her. Blessings from Kansas~
Indeed, praying for Divine Providence in Leila’s life.❤
Beautiful talk with serious questions! Thank you. God bless you, bishop Barron!
Thsnkyou, from Gail
Leila, all the best with your conversion. I hope you have found the support that Bishop Barron suggested. God bless you. I will pray tonight for you and your family shall the Holy Spirit guide your next steps and for your family shall they discern what is truth vs what is not.
Marvelous discussion. Love the analogies and their use to illustrate concept. TY Bishop Barron and Brandon.
My Catholic faith is so special to me. I was baptized Catholic as a little infant and I am 75 yrs. old now! Love my faith especially the 📿 and Holy Mass!
Muchas gracias Padre, que sabio es!!! saludos desde México
Thank you, Bishop! It is such a blessing being a likeminded member of the one holy Catholic (which means "universal") and Apostolic Church Jesus built! 🥰🫓🍷✝️🕊
Great questions Brandon and great answers Bishop. 🙏❤
Bishop Barron, we wish you a very holy, happy and joyous trip to London... We pray the faith grows true the truth of the gospels....May God's grace fall big on London and the United Kingdom. Jesus I trust in🙏 you
I was born in India and have been exposed mainly to Hindu and Muslim lifestyles and traditions. I have had the advantage of information and perspective of strong religious angles. And It's only lent me the ability to deepen my relationship with the Catholic faith. So in a sense, I got lucky, to have been born/raised and baptized in this faith that I, myself, have taken for granted. And by no means do I now take credit for either. But some generations ago a community was founded and one of those community members happened to be my ancestor. It does and has made me wonder about the strength of my faith. Which had all the odds stacked against itself being that it was surrounded by predominantly Hindus and yet there was a yearning and room for Jesus’s words and message of salvation. And here I'm in continuation of that faith. Going strong. I think there's something more than the effects of traditions there. There are many that are actual traditions that i don't make it a point to keep. But something special of the faith linked to Christ our savior. It is indeed a very special link and lifestyle.
@Ad X religion is historically & culturally bound, each and every one. Choose the wisdom that speaks to you from them all & realize you're a human with a FREE thinking mind who doesn't need to be brainwashed by any religion but feel what speaks to you as an individual, then you can live your personal truth instead of being a regurgitating robot of scripture.
Leela if you're reading this, I'm praying for you
Great message, thank you bishop
Appreciate Bishop Barron's discussion on how to have a good religious argument.
Love to listen to Bishop Barron. As time passes the answers seem harder to open up
Thank you Brandon and Bishop Barron for approaching such a sensitive topic with your typical grace and intelligence.
Sharing here how the Dalai Lama addressed this question: “Human beings naturally possess different interests. So, it is not surprising that we have many different religious traditions with different ways of thinking and behaving. But this variety is a way for everyone to be happy. If we have a great variety of food, we will be able to satisfy different tastes and needs. When we only have bread, the people who eat rice are left out. And the reason those people eat rice is that rice is what grows best where they live.”
As a catholic, I find this very convincing and satisfying, because religion is spiritual nourishment , like food is physical nourishment.
It takes a bit of mental plasticity to accept this, though.
Wonderful, thanks to both of you. Just loved listening.
@@bernardevillaw3410 hearing you , truly hearing you . ❤️
Thank you Bishop Barron.
Thank you Brendon too.
Enjoyable and interesting.
Have a wonderful blessed, happy life and enjoyable Holy Lent.
Amen Glory to God in the Highest level of Love forever. ❤❤❤😁
With the Abrahamic Family Temples recently opened- Bishop Barron’s talk on our One True Catholic and Apostolic Faith is on point!
A non-Catholic Christian here. Would just like to say thanks Brandon, and Bishop Barron.
And to the non-practicing Muslim woman, God bless you and your family!
That was such a clear expose. thank you Bishop Barron
What a beautiful, loving response to Lela. ♥️ I'm praying for you, Lela. 🙏
The spiritual and physical feeding episodes of God... wedding in Cana... God bless Word on Fire... Mabuhay Bishop Barron and the entire cast and crew...
Thanks for this video!
I join the prayers for Leila and her family
Amazing! 🙏🙌 Masterfully, yet simply and reasonably argued.Thanks for posting!
I played American football my entire life, (had pro try-outs) never liked soccer for Bishops reasons, however I tried watching the World Cup 10 years ago, and really enjoy it now and find it extremely exciting 😊👍🏻
A great book that is very relevant here is Dinesh D'Souza's What is So Great About Christianity. In it he tackles that question about there being 4000+ religions. He boils them down pretty quickly and sees many of them not as religions, but rather philosophy or cultural expressions. So, that number of actual religions falls dramatically. Then when you start to look for eternal truth that is applicable to every human on the planet you quickly come to monotheism and then he breaks it down further from there. It's a good read and pretty straight forward, it might not be exactly in the Catholic tradition but pretty close.
I would be a little wary of a book that "boils down" that many spiritual traditions in just a couple pages lol
Reasonable, intuitive, lovely. Thank you Father.
Leila, I am praying for you.
Pope John XXIII said “Isn’t it wonderful that the walls that divide us do not reach to Heaven.”
@@russellmiles2861 I hope you’re not under the impression that you “don’t need heaven”, Russell Miles. Because humans don’t come to an end when they die.
@@russellmiles2861 Whom "doesn't need" heaven? You'll be shitting your pants if you don't end up there, son. Haha.
Thank you for Word on Fire Show!Blessing&Love😍🌏🖐
Goodness Bishop, you are so intelligent. I love the way you explained this. Thank you
Good, good program thank you!
Maybe you mentioned it near the end.
But first thing and last thing is:
Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church with St. Peter and we can trace our lineage down throughout history.
I love the analogy of solving a difficult maths problem
Christianity is Catholicism and Catholicism is Christianity, for all intents and purposes, since the grace from Jesus fully subsists in the Catholic Church.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Concerning your sermon I think of Fonzie on Happy Days. He can’t say the word wrong. It’s hard to admit your wrong. I believe discussions about Religion have to include admitting you might be wrong. I try to follow that practice myself.
This is absolutely correct. Joseph Ratzinger says this in his “Introduction to Christianity”.
I have always believed the Catholic faith . I have not always lived it though. I have turned back to God, and am listening to a Christian Bible. The fact that the Blessed Mother Mary is not recognized REALLY surprised and pffended me!
I really like the way "askcliffe" presents the Gospel to the college students. I think Bishop did not answer the question in a direct way which is confusing. While Cliffs run directly to the point and leave no room for vague explanation. Everyone has to come to the point that they realized God, the Truth. That point is the most crucial moment. The criteria that Cliffe set up to test all religions and belief system is amazing. I give him credit for that.
HAHAHAHA he had me at the first line!! We can have good conversations and arguments about religion without killing each other. 😍🤩
Dear Bishop Barron, this is such a wonderfully nuanced answer to one of the most difficult questions that any faithful person might try to answer today. And as a catholic, I agree with you. But there is a problem: you’ve never taken the time to study every other religion with such depth and intensity as you studied your own. And this is why your saying “it’s the more fully true” is not satisfying. If we want to answer this question as honestly and truthfully as we can, we HAVE to at least CONSIDER the possibility that 1). most but not all claims of catholicism might be right for “all of humanity”; 2). other religions might be “better” for other people with different MILLENNIAL traditions.
Thank You for this Bishop Barron.
As a Cradle Catholic, Im beyond grateful to the Lord that our nation Philippines is chosen by God for being a Catholic Country!! 🙏🏻✨♥️
not chosen by God, deceived by the adversary
@@rlrett1 Matthew 5:13
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
@@chinitapink8074 and????
'Right' 'True' 'Correct'; I'd suggest a 6 hour seminar on each of these words as a supplement to this helpful presentation.
This one will be good!
Hi Bishop Barron and Brandon. I just read that Adam Curry, the inventor of the podcast, has just become a follower of Jesus after being an atheist for most of his life. He would be an interesting guest to have on your discussion channel.
Thank you Bishop Barron
Jacques Maritain's book "Introduction to Philosophy" breaks down the different "religions" and how they deviated or where they went wrong in their view or pursuit of truth.
Thanks much for this video.
Absolutely love this... we are called to preach the Gospel to all nations as part of an obligation... but we also should *want* and *desire* to preach that Gospel... it is not pushing an agenda or imposing our views... it is EVANGELIZATION!
If Laila is reading, I’d say that the first step is to include your mother and your family in your questions and thoughts. Don’t just convert and then surprise them a big announcement later. Show your family that you take these questions very seriously and give them a chance to win you back. Be open, patient, loving, and honest. Maybe include your mother in your catechesis. Talk about where Islam and Catholicism intersect, find points of commonality.
Laila would admit that it is more complicated than rational thinking. May the Holy Spirit guide and protect us, Laila
They do not intersect
There ought to be laws protecting citizens from religious authority flooding. An example is a person who attends kingdom hall in victoria British Columbia pulling strings for some one in Terrace British Columbia to effect the result of an investigation.
My Grand Father is at Heaven
“Christ's Church has no intention of yielding ground to her avowed enemy, atheistic socialism/communism, without a struggle. This battle will be fought to the end, but with the weapons of Christ!” Pope Pious XII 1957
The anthropologist Joseph Campbell said it well at the end of the Bill Moyers interviews: " if I chose a religion it would be Catholocism."
I doubt Joseph Campbell said that considering most of his Theology was non Catholic based on Jungian archetypes and Eastern Religions.
bro just answered this by saying 'Because it is'
Lila you are going to be in my prayers. God bless you. Pray to the holy spirit to guide your steps.
Little known fact about the Divine Comedy (little known because no one reads Paradiso) : this is one of the most important theological issues for Dante. He presents it while in Limbo, but we have to wait until Paradiso 19 and 20 for the full answer. Fascinatingly, he used the example of a person who lives somewhere along the Hindu river and who’s never heard about Jesus Christ, to build his argument.
A Facebook meme says something to the effect of, "In the course of history, humans have believed in millions of different gods - gods you Christians also reject. I simply believe in one less god than you." This strikes me as fairly obviously flawed. Firstly, it's not just in matters of religion that there is an enormous spectrum of belief or opinion. There are innumerable positions in the various forms of political discourse, for example. Just because humans cannot agree on a single political philosophy does not mean that anybody who has a political opinion is therefore a fool. Many an atheist would be insulted to be told that their political opinions are idiotic simply because there are lots of other political opinions out there.
But Bishop Barron rightly draws attention to the glaring example of an excluded middle: just because I believe that I have found the one true faith does not mean that all other faiths are wholly devoid of truth (even though some Christians have asserted exactly that). How could Thomas Aquinas have accorded such respect to the pagan, Aristotle, if he thought that there was no truth at all outside the boundaries of the Christian religion? It is one of the flaws of Puritanism that it thought that Christianity was somehow polluted (and thereby invalidated) if it accepted the possibility that non-Christians (and non-Puritans) could speak the truth.
As always, a complete, calm and understandable answer to this complex question
Indeed, and succeeding in less than half an hour is an achievement⭐
Calm and understandable, but not complete
@@charlescatterall949
The topic deserves Volumes perhaps, but for half an hour it's more than complete ⭐⭐
"Complete", you can't seriously believe that something that is almost completely devoid of evidence is complete.
@@downenout8705
The video is titled "Why is Your Religion the Right One?" and the discussion did aim at answering it. There wasn't any promise of proving something.
Thank your to continue to inspire us!
Yes I think that's the most helpful way to put it, that you believe your religion to be a 'fuller expression of the truth', and that all the major traditions are close to that truth, and not simply wrong, and you're sincerely speaking from a considered position that has been very well informed by a variety of critiques and self doubts, fully considered, and expressed with love. That is fair enough I think. I still don't think any of us can actually totally remove elements of cultural conditioning and confirmation bias, we're all somewhat rationalising what we've been given, and effectively saying this is my culture and my tradition, and it makes more sense for me to be a flavour of that than to completely up root myself from it and plunge totally into something different, assuming it's basically justifiable to me. I was brought up in a strong pacifist version of Christianity, Quakerism, and one that values silence and simplicity. I can see great merit in more colourful traditions, but I also see that I value peace, silence and simplicity because that tradition makes that very real to me. That's not just an argument I can make to someone else, it's a lived experience I can only hope to draw you towards, and at certain point it's highly likely that it will only draw you in if it's expressing something that you already have some sympathy for, so to a degree it makes sense to me that we all find a place that right for us, even within any one tradition.
I was scrolling through these comments hoping to find one as intelligent as yours. Thank you. No one can answer this question “fully” without saying what you just said.
Not confirmation bias, but disconfirmation bias, marks the encounter with Christ. What else could baptism, entry into His death, be if not to “plunge totally into something different”? Rabbinic Judaism remained “basically justifiable" per St. Paul; such an issue had no relevance because the plunge he took was not from one "religion" to another. Nevertheless he took a plunge. Religion as a genus with many species, or emotive language like "justifiable to me,” “that you believe,” “makes more sense for me": all of this is a nonsequitur to “lived experience," doesn't touch it at any point. Mention of “flavours” in this context would baffle or provoke laughter. “What in the world are you talking about?!” they’d ask. (South Asians reacted this way when the Brits told them they were practicing a religion called Hinduism.) Catholics can betray their principles, their baptism; some enter Christ’s death more fully than others. But with "flavours" and personal preferences, there is nothing that *could* be betrayed, nothing to answer for, because these concern no public matters of principle or truth. Someone explain to me why it is considered humility to speak a privatizing language whose sole purpose is to immunize against contact with the other and keep us undisturbed on our present path, like comfortable old shoes. How is that humility?
Just because someone was born into a religion, it doesn't make that religion false.
Because I pray God will put me in the church he wants me in! I am a Methodist at this time!
I am a Catholic Christian who has been seriously wrestling with this question for quite some time. I had been a Protestant missionary and pastor and 11 1/2 years ago entered full communion with the Catholic Church. I have a graduate degree in divinity and have researched and thought seriously for many years. All of that written, recently, I've thought of this question from the perspective of Rebert Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution and the multi-scientific work The Emergence and Evolution of Religion by Natural Selection, and Peter C. Phan's The Joy of Religious Pluralism. If we start with the origin of the universe and humanity, and we find by 15,000 BC humans spread out all over the planet engaging in myth and ritual practices, and Judaism and Christi9anity come about thousands of years later, why believe that Christianity is the "fullness of truth"? Why not just see it as one of many attempts by human beings to articulate answers to the origin of the universe and humanity, their problem, their solution, and their end? This is an inadequate to fully address this issue, but I thought I would put this out there. Since your work is evangelization, this issue needs to be addressed more fully than this video does. I would welcome the opportunity to dialogue about this more. Thank you for your work.
Great questions that are best addressed when a person sets aside their presupposition that a creator god exists and that god is not only the Christian God but also the Catholic Christian God.
Charles Catterall, your background is very impressive. Have you ever thought of becoming a Deacon or a Priest?
@@kbking Yes, with the help of others I sought to discern a vocation as priest or deacon, but those doors haven't opened for me, yet. Since becoming Catholic I have served as a Director of Faith Formation and Youth Ministry in a few parishes, but currently I'm pausing while I sort out questions like the one I shared above. I'm also working on a couple of writing projects. What a journey! Thanks for asking.
@@downenout8705 there is no “presupposition” to someone who knows the Truth and has been elevated above mere selfishness to be a vessel of Light, as opposed to someone unsure of Christ.
To be a Christian for real is to know far more about Truth. And that is that.
Nobody who isn’t a true Christian has a thousandth of the knowledge (or joy in this world, quite often) of a follower who has genuinely seen and been even temporally embraced by the coming Light.
So arguing is tiresome.
The atheist lives purely by the artificial imposition of presuppositions, trapped into mortality by his own selfish desires for proof and contrarian theorems and dogma to keep the Light out.
An atheist is someone lost in a small shallow inner sphere of tiny mindedness and limited experience of real life… His is a desperate search for proof and evidence - “facts”, he mistakenly calls then - and thereby for safe material worldly things for him to clutch onto like a magpie crowing over his scraps of tinsel - in the quest for control and conquest over the uncontrollable and invincible… What he clings to unwittingly is purely the mortal and less real.
This fallen, shallow mental state leads only to an unsatisfactory temporary security in a “scientifically proven” world of death and darkness - and all that obvious utter bunkum.
The atheist clings and tethers himself (in defiance of the words of Christ) to a life raft of proven materiality that is made of lead - as he heads into the open sea to come.
And he has the sheer lack of foresight or imagination to ask why his more enlightened brother cares so much and yells at him to wake up.
ALL of us can turn things around at any time - reject the world - and ask for God’s love and forgiveness.
“Knock - and the door will be opened for you”.
God’s grace is what we Christians have unequivocally sampled… we recommend it with every fibre of our beings for a REASON (beyond your “safe” corridors of rationality).
Get out under a sky alone for some hours… God made that for you… Same GOD OF CHRIST that all your brilliant ancestors knelt before and found joy in …wake up and speak thanks to Him - and Him ALONE for the chance of eternal love, peace and joy.
The Light is eternal. The end is already written. Only you INDIVIDUALLY - through His gift of your own self-will, for you alone to control - can move towards Him - or away in the final missing piece of the jigsaw.
@@matthewstokes1608 It's oh so easy to believe whatever you want when you construct an asinine strawman that you can destroy within your fantasy world.
My only hope is that an intellectually honest Christian will read your post and begin to wake up.
BE IN THE ONE BODY!
IGLESIA NI CRISTO
one body
acts 20:28
john 3:3
1 corinth 15:49
rome 5:12
1 Peter 2:22
Ephisian 1:7
Rome 6:23
Apocalypse 20:14
John 3:3
John 3:6
John 1:12-13
Ephisian 2:15
Colosian 1:18
John 10:9
Acts 20:28
Ephisian 4:22-23
rome 8:6
rome 8:13
hebrew 12:2
john 3:3
I have a question for Bishop Barron. How is his relationship with Jesus and how does it affect him daily
I love Bishops Barrons insights. That being said, I believe his math analogy with regard to other great religions of the world is misleading at best. I believe we needn't denigrate other folks, but truth is truth. I believe the other great religions of the world offer comparable morality teaching in their search for God, but access to God is through his Son, Jesus Christ and furthermore for the rational scholar is rooted in historical events that have been corroborated by non-religious sources. It isn't unkind to tell the truth, it needn't be insulting, there needn't be wars over such disagreements, but not telling truth isn't part of our earthly call to spread the word. Keep up the good work with these stimulating conversations.
Bishop Baron has improved!
If Bp Baron thinks soccer is boring then welcome to England the land of cricket!