What condescending nonsense. “Here we see a fundamental difference in the understanding of just what conversion is for Protestants and Roman Catholics. In the Scriptures we read how God uses His people to proclaim the Gospel to those the Lord calls (Acts 8:35). The Lord opens hearts to respond (Acts 16:14). This gospel message declares to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Rom. 4:5). This is a Gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), a peace that comes through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:20). This isn’t a hypothetical peace; this is a real and lasting peace. Given is not a possible salvation, but an actual salvation. Given is a full and guaranteed salvation, not a salvation including chances of disqualification. Rather than moving towards the fullness of truth, one needs to stop and ask the Catholic convert why they have moved away from the fullness of truth. They have gone from Christ’s completed work on the cross that saved His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) to an uncertainty of their state of grace, “…[W]ithout a special revelation nobody can with certainty of faith know whether or not he has fulfilled all the conditions that are necessary for achieving justification” (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma Rockford Ill.: TAN Books and Publishers, 1974), p.262). Think for a moment on the concept of fullness of truth Roman Catholics claim to possess. When one considers fullness one thinks of something complete, and indeed, this is the sense in which Roman Catholics use the phrase. Protestants are lacking, because they do not have the complete body of truth Rome claims. But consider also Rome’s notion of development. The truth they have is in the process of developing. If truth is in the process of developing, it cannot be said to be complete. In other words, the whole notion of fullness of truth is misleading. Truth cannot be full and at the same time still in process. This can best be seen in Catholic Marian issues. What Mary is to finally become has yet to be determined (for instance in the co-redemptrix movement). To further complicate the situation for a Catholic convert, the fullness of truth comes with various interpretations of official decrees. Similarly, only a small handful of Biblical texts have been infallibly defined, leaving the alleged fullness of truth a theological façade. Marcus Grodi states also, “In fact, we are called all the more to shower our now confused or indignant friends and family with the all-forgiving, all-accepting love of Christ. However, we must not let the emotional trajectories of our loving glances turn our attention away from the fullness of truth before us, found only in union with the Catholic Church.” Paul states though in Colossians that believers have been given fullness in Christ, are complete in Him (2:10), and that He forgave all sins, nailing them to the cross (2:14). It is not some higher knowledge attained by placing faith in an ecclesiastical body. The development of a believers salvation was started and completed in Christ. In dialoging with your Roman Catholic friends or relatives, keep in mind that it is not they who are full by conversion to the Roman church, it is you who are full because of Christ and His work.”
Hi @Dominus Vobiscum, I am a former Catholic. I have 16 years of Catholic education, so I know Catholic teaching. What turned me off to it was the Holy Spirit. We are held accountable to God to read and know Scripture for ourselves. Jesus did all we need to be saved, we cannot merit salvation by our good works, sacraments and Masses. I pray the Holy Spirit will open your eyes too.
@Dominus Vobiscum the past of the church. The pope being considered infallible despite being just a man. Confessing my sins to man. And finally the celibacy of priests.
IRISH Wolf I did this past Easter was my confirmation. It was wonderful. And the journey through RCIA was much better then I anticipated. I’d do it again ( if they let me. Lol)
Joan C We are held accountable to God to read and know Scripture for ourselves? Where is that in the Bible? ( 2 Peter 3:16), says otherwise. “ speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, in which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do other Scriptures.” ( 2 Peter 1:20), “ First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” Finally, Jesus Christ did not write a book, He established a Church to teach and correct. ( 1 Timothy 3:15), “ The church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Thanks for sharing Bishop! I’m not a catholic but have a lot of love and respect for you, your faith and your work! Please keep going. World needs your voice.
@Dominus Vobiscum For me, I've hesitated to become Catholic because it seems like the Orthodox Church has the better truth claims. I'd love to be convinced otherwise, though. Becoming Catholic would be much easier, culturally, than becoming Orthodox for me.
@@P4yn3 Without Catholicism, no Christianity would exist now. Catholicism did all the heavy lifting for 1500 years, spreading the gospel around the entire planet. Catholicism has the direct truth of Jesus Christ via Peter and the Apostles. I suggest you actually read a book by a Catholic theologian about Catholicism, since you appear to have been brainwashed by Protestant conspiracy theorists. Again, if not for us, YOU would not exist as a Christian. I agree that the clergy is a mess but that does not detract from the eternal truth that has been preserved for 2000 years. If this is a very important issue to you instead of something you just casually slam on UA-cam, buy a cheap copy of the Catholic Catechism. Read it. Then get back to us.
I’m not a Catholic (I’m actually a Protestant Pastor) but I absolutely love Bishop Barrons ministry!!! I currently subscribe to his WOF app ($19.99 month) and enjoy it immensely!!! If I ever become Catholic it will be because of Bishop Barron. And I really like Fr. Mitch Pacwa as well.
Protestant from Finland here, intrigued by the Catholic way. Thank you for this Q&A, really good. And thanks for the recommended books on Mary... a "thing" I'm trying to get my head around. God bless you both and your program.
MIKKI S----We ask our mothers to pray for us. We ask HIS blessed mother to pray for us. Anti-Catholics post lies like---we worship her, we put her ahead of Jesus and all that BUNK !
@@mariesinnecker4450 A year later now, and I learned a thing or two. I attend a small Catholic parish. At times I ask for Mary's and a few Saint's prayers. Still a Protestant on paper, still "uncomfortable" to some Marian devotions. But, she is the Theotokos, no doubt.
I believe God sent me to the Catholic Church for reasons other than what obviously is. Bringing Christ's true salvation through grace alone was part of it. And so far in our church it has worked. I'm in a Christian band composed of Catholics and Protestant Christians. We all have that same drive, to bring Christ's salvation through grace first, and then other things follow. I'm beginning to see why I was put there. It may not be forever, but I'll be there as long as I'm supposed to be. God knows my heart and what I believe.
Excellent podcast! Excellent episode!My conversion back to the church of my childhood, the Catholic Church, has recently been completed. I'm 41, and I look forward to all the blessings I am to give, and to receive, now and in the future. Good bless! And, thank you Lord!
Great questions and such great answers! Atheists, Non-Catholics, former Catholics, Skeptics, Protestants ... With Bishop Barron at the helm, Word On Fire is an authentic 'ONE STOP SHOP'.
@Here Beforeyou How did you manage to knock here? You are SHOPPING, but for the wrong stuff. I have come across enough of busybodies in the Comments section. Not getting a clue as to why they all come *Here Beforeme.* Thanks for your admission though.
@Here Beforeyou I have pretty well grasped that you aren't shopping at all. BTW there's nothing here for SALE anyway. Your comment basically was sarcastic right?
The world needs to hear from your Holy Spirit-Inspired answers to questions. God be with us . Amen. Cebu City Philippines. I am a Catholic since birth. I owe it to my deeply Catholic upbringing from my parents. My brother is a Catholic priest . I pray you are in the best of health to carry on your mission. God is in your heart.
God bless you, Bishop Barron (and the Word of Fire team), for your courage and willingness to spread the faith/Gospel to non-Catholics and fallen-away Catholics as well as for ministering to us practicing Catholics. Keep up the good work!
So true Maria, never ever backs down from any of the toughest questions. I'm a cradle Catholic, but there is always plenty of room for growth. I love his CDs too.
The beauty of re reading the Bible is that I will sometimes read a bible chapter and get a new interpretation that I didn’t see before. In reference to Peter, when Jesus still made Peter the leader of the New Church after Peter denied him 3 times. That moment taught me how Jesus showed Peter the act of forgiveness & growth in Peter seeing his mistakes. So then Peter can do the same with the next person. Remembering how many times are we to forgive others is 7x 70 has helped me in letting go of those who have hurt me.
@@matthewthomas9996 Steps of Lectio Divina I practice without knowing of it. Terrific way of reading the bible. I grow deeper in the virtues and Gods grace when I do so. Reading. Read a passage slowly and carefully within the bible. Prayer. Having a loving conversation with God. Meditation. Thinking deeply or swelling upon a spiritual reality within a text. Contemplation. Resting in Gods presence. Action. Go and do likewise.
Great answers and also happy to learn of new books and authors. I was baptized Catholic but raised outside a denomination (mostly of the folk Protestant variety) and couldn't understand the veneration of Mary. These answers actually make sense. Looking forward to reading the books mentioned.
On the notion of not believing, even after miracles …. to quote our favourite songwriter, Bob Dylan … "The truth is in our hearts, and we still don't believe".
My favorite book about the Mother of Jesus and our Mother is "The Mystical City of God." By Venerable Mary of Agreda. Has Bishop Barron read this? His comments please...
His approach to this topic of starting a dialogue with non-Catholics is a dialogue from the Holy Spirit. Evangelization is very important to the Christian faith. More importantly, it is important to remind people that we are created in the image of God. Every person deserves the fundamental right to dignity! Word on Fire is very good at that.
You are so brave and loyal Bishop Barron🙏🏼🌎✝️ to much hard questions, the divine help alway to the rescue! .. my respect for all the studies you been taken for our support and healp🙋🏻♀️🌸
I love these videos your doing Bishop Barron, and it helps me understand and feel closer to my Catholic Brothers, but I had a hard time with your Mary answer... I think its amazing the role that she was given, by God's grace, but I still tribute it all to God. God birthed all redemption, and it seems clear that it's through him and him alone that we can give thanks for both his creation and redemption.
Chris, it will take more than a hard time for any protestant to embrace Mary as catholics do. On the other hand, you have acknowledged Mary's entrenched position in our christian faith. While she is undoubtedly the handmaid of the Lord, she is at the same time, highly favoured, full of grace and the Lord is with her. She is blessed among women. (Luke 1 28, 42). Her position is exalted out of the humility of the circumstances at the moment of the incarnation. Yet hers remains a life of complete devotion, simplicity and piety. Historically, Marian devotion formed the practical spheres of christian discernment for centuries before the Reformation. She is the example of complete humility before God. She is the obedient servant who denies herself and does the will of her Master. Her sinless nature goes to the credit of Christ's birth and our redemption/rebirth through His crucifixion. She was there every step of Christ's journey, which ended at the foot of His cross. Christ's last testament was to will His mother as the mother to all humanity. These, though not exhaustive, formed the basis for Marian devotion in the early church, which was both intercessory and meditative in context. (Ironically, Luther's christocentric theology was based on Marian devotion!) To an informed catholic, Marian devotion does not usurp the rightful position of God in our worship of the trinity. Mary cannot and will not replace God. In fact, the Hail Mary, is biblical. The Magnificat, also known in the Byzantine church as the Ode of the Theotokos, is Mary's salutation of God. Marian prayers are replete with intercessions to God, apart from praising Him. Why then pray to Mary if we can go directly to God? Catholics believe we are in complete communion with the faithful, both living and dead (the soul does not die). Hence, it is rational that if a friend can intercede for us, the saints, who have attained beatific vision, can do better without worldly distractions. The church even assigns patron saints to different petitions. ( When Luther's life was threatened in a bad storm, he prayed to St Anne, the patron saint of storms. It saved his life and he fulfilled his oath to join the friary. He would later repay the debt by unleashing the Reformation.) The concept of catholic worship is not unique to the church. In the historical context, worship would include an altar on high ground, untainted offerrings of sacifice to God and a priest to lead the people in worship. This has survived in form and substance in the church over the centuries in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the mass. It is in a sense the highest form of acknowledging God, with Christ as the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God. It is different from praise and honour, which we duly give to the saints as well, in acknowledging their lives of piety, and which are for us to meditate on and emulate. Protestants may not understand the catholic position because the concepts of praise and worship is blurred. Praise and honour becomes worship in place of the altar, the untainted sacrifice and the priest. Even if there is partaking of bread and wine, it is only symbolic. Transubstantiation becomes a misnomer. Hence, they cannot accept why we have devotions to saints, which has been the tradition of the church for centuries. They see it as synonymous with worship. To sum up, Marian devotion is the acknowledgment of Mary's position in God's covenant with His people. We exalt her as we would a hero. We ask for her intercessions as we would ask a pious friend to pray for us. We honour her because she is the mother of Christ, and a mother to us all. Behind every devotion to Mary is an acknowledgment of God's gift of Christ and salvation to man. Chris, a christian life does not make sense. It is more than mind and reason. It requires things of the heart, a leap of faith!
Because of the church lockdown, I couldn’t attend the mass, and in search of on line masses, I stumbled upon your channel and since then I’ve been attending your daily mass on my days off and just listening to all of your talks. I love the fact that you welcome questions from anyone wether a believer or non believer. Your answers to those questions just affirmed my existing beliefs on Catholic faith. I’m actually sharing this podcast to a few friends. Keep up the good work Bishop Barron and Brandon.
Thank you and God bless you Bishop Barron for continuing to illuminate and teach God's holy word and and scripture to all of us. May God always bless and protect and keep you safe at all time. .
Dear Bishop I'm catholic from Poland and I'm very glad that you citing teaching of our pope John Paul II and you've read the "Quo Vadis" - novel of Henryk Sienkiewicz, in my opinion our greatest national writer. God bless you
Thanks for this video. I was raised as a Protestant and was always drawn to the Catholic Church. I wanted to be a nun and begged my mom to buy me a rosary off TV as a young kid!! All this is incredibly interesting... going to an episcopal church now but hoping to convince my husband to go to RCIA with me
I am so happy to read this. Thank you and God bless you. I was in the Episcopal Church for almost 25 years and came back to the RC church in 2008. I hope you will come, too. ❤️ 😊
Aballer03 I’ll pray for you! I was raised Southern Baptist and non-denominational as a child, but my city has a large Catholic population, so I was always intrigued by the church. Also, one of my best friends growing up was raised in a devout Catholic family, and she had a positive impact on me. As an adult, my (lapsed Catholic) husband and I attended/joined an Episcopal church. Eventually, I converted and (in spite of many spiritual mistakes since then) we’re both finally back in the Roman Catholic Church. It’s definitely a journey worth taking! Blessings to you and your husband/family!
Do what you have been called to do, Aballer03. As the Bible says, (I paraphrase) the believing wife will be a blessing to her non-believing husband (and visa versa). Your example will likely benefit your husband. I've been a Catholic all my life and I cannot imagine being anything else. Do what you have to do and God Bless You.
Excellent questions and answers. Great program! I hope it may help to approach to light to many non-believers and many stunned christians in protestantism, and also to catholics to know and learn to defend better our faith.
Religion is a remarkable institution even for those of us who don't consider existence of god to be of any importance. I find a lot of deep ideas about morality and good-being in general in such discussions, and I deeply thankful for it. If I'm wrong and god does exist - I hope he'll bless you with his guidance, because you clearly deserve it, good people.
That is a very insightful comment on the mystery of evil. How soon we forget the pitfalls and step right back into them then call to God to get us out.
I really need to watch him with full attention and focus. So brilliant and insightful are these responses that I'll need to see this a couple of times to understand. Thank you lots!
I really enjoyed this session. I really enjoy listening to Bishop Barron. He is a very good expositor of Christianity and Catholicism. That being said, I completely disagree with his thoughts on Mary. It rapidly reaches escape velocity from what scripture teaches on Mary. This is an example of why I am not Catholic. That being said, Bishop Barron is awesome and I find myself listening to him a lot. I pray he continues his great work.
This is quite helpful to me. I'm a non-practicing Catholic and one of the reasons for that is that I have trouble with some of the things the Church believes in. I hope to clear these up and restore my faith.
Understanding Mary for me is extremely simple... If you believe that God created everything ( stars,planets,mountains, oceans, clouds,animals, etc.etc. ) then why did he (God) need Mary to be part of Jesus's creation? I don't claim to know what or how God thinks or his plans but obviously she is an important part of this equation. She is the human side of Jesus. She nurtured him, raised him, and taught him. She instilled him with values and virtue from the human side. God could have created Jesus alone without a mother, but he didn't. He (God) chose her. Out of all the women on the planet he chose her. Not to mention that her (Mary's) Mother ( St. Anne) was chosen as well. Which for me makes this very easy to understand. God put his plans in motion well in advance for his sons glorious entrance into our world. Mary was the human side of Jesus....how important is that? As a Catholic we don't worship Mary as a God... We praise her for the very important part she played in the creation and life of our savior. She is worthy of our praise. May God bless
@@petrichor5294-- i refer to St. Anselm's definition: "God is that than which nothing greater can be thought." The atheist's position contradicts the scientific conclusion that matter cannot create itself nor be destroyed. Matter is only transformed into something else.
While we can’t discern the entire plan god had when choosing Mary, one of the primary reasons was that sin is inherited from the father; so the mother had to be a descendant of David as well as the father so that he could be of the bloodline of David and inherent the kingdom of David without inherent if the sin from the father. Simple as that; the rest is conjecture. The Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time venerating Mary for anything; it mentions her thrice and two of those times Jesus rebukes her.
One channel that shines a bright light on the point he made, that the book should be approached carefully, taking the time to understand how it was written and why, is bibleproject, they dissect each of the bible's books, amazing channel.
Thanks for engaging with the important issues as you do. As I've seen many people losing their faith, I've been re-reading C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain. I hope more priests will answer questions for those doubtful and questioning people.
Just realised that listening to the Podcast a second time has in fact been even more exciting. Particularly noteworthy is Cardinal John Henry Newman's experience, now that we are eagerly awaiting his canonization.
The mistranslation of virgin in the Bible: The mistranslation occurred when this text was translated into Greek, where the word “parthenos” meaning virgin is used. The Hebrew word for virgin is “bethulah” and cannot be found anywhere in the original Hebrew text, meaning that the original writer did not intend for it to be read as “virgin” but as “young” girl.
I guess it was too much to expect a Catholic Bishop to express any actual doubt, but it would have been nice to hear him say that the ultimate truth is finally unknowable and belief is an act of assertion and faith. Everything is truly mysterious and there are a small number of ways you can respond the mystery, and faith is the best one. Something like that
The Father did not “impregnate” Mary. “Impregnate” is a sexual term. Her pregnancy was a miracle of the Holy Spirit, not a god having sex with a woman, like you see in myths.
Re question from Valerie "How do you know if God exist " ? Our God is a living God. If you have a relationship with Him, you will know that He exists ! Start forming a relationship with Him. You will know Him and know that He exists.
Vishnu is a living God, why cant you develope a relationship with that God instead of yours? Billions of people have personal relationships with all kinds of Gods. What makes yours so special? Why are you sane when you talk to your invisible, immaterial, personal friend, but everyone is delusional when they do it?
Im sorry if you felt insulted, but i was asking an honest question. Seriously, im not trying to be mean at all, but merely trying to point out that your method for knowing God is something that not just christians, but ALL religious people do, to contradictory affects. So simply talking to God, or whichever one you believe in, doesnt seem to get us any closer to the actual truth unless you can explain why you are sane and they are delusional, why your friend that no one else can see or verify exists and no one elses does. Can you explain that? Serious question, no ill will.
@@alliepostan1702 Well I am not sure if commenting that another religion's God as "invisible, immaterial and personal friend" constitutes preconceived biases or an honest genuine search for answers. But I shall let it pass. I would also like to state that never have I assert that others are delusional. You claim that this is my position but clearly I have not say it. Catholics will never demean another religion so as to prove our point. My response to the listener is from a Christian perspective. I have not enlarge my comments further than this. It's like me saying my friend who smokes is suffering from cancer. But i never say that all smokers will get cancer. I only encourage the listener to form a personal relationship with God if she wants to know Him better. Its like if one wants to know Trump better, it's best that this person know him personally instead of reading all liiterature about Trump. It.should never be expanded to why Hilary may or may not be a better President. Faith forms in this way... through personal relationships. God has made Himself present in my life. I know that He is real. He does not take over my consciousness but gives me free will and choice. I have seen His hand in my life. God loves me and through the sacrifice of Christ, made me His son and part of His family. It's not a master and slave relationship anymore as in the Old Testament. All this happens with my clear consciousness through His Grace alone. Those who have a relationship with Him will know that what I say is true.
Firstly, allie you clearly haven't the faintest clue who or what God is. God is the subsistent act of "to be" Himself. Secondly, pagan "gods" are just demons, and therefore there is no "relationship" with demons.
One the most critical Mistakes or misinterpretations that many Agnostic/Atheists make is in the genesis narrative, they say "the world is not created in seven days" we have to know that the genesis creation story is the words of God through the author, God created time itself meaning he is not confined in it like we are he is beyond time yet he uses time constraints like the word "day" to communicate his message the way humans can understand, this also means that when God says a "day" it is not a 24 hour period that we are accustomed to it could be a millennia it could be millions of years. The parallel on this is that science teaches us that in the beginning there was nothing then the big bang happen, what does God say in this particular time? he said "Let there be light", then what happens next? he makes the heavens, In scientific theory we learn that this time in the cosmos were forming the stars the galaxies then after everything settles planets form, what does God do next? He created the earth in line with what the scientific studies show.
Here is a question for y'all: The RCC teaches that Mary was sinless. Sinless means no sin to be saved from. Now, in Luke 1:47 she calls God her Savior. A savior is one who saves someone from something. My question is this: With Mary calling God her Savior, if she was sinless (no sin to be saved from), then what did God save her from?
To try answer a good question in a few words: God preserved Mary from original sin and fulled her with grace. Grace is the undeserved gift from God that helps us to be able to choose and follow God and reject the temptation of sin. Although Mary was sinless she still experienced temptation, pain and suffering. The temptation can't be compared to other humans who have the mark of original sin but could be compared to the temptation that Jesus experienced in the desert during his fast. Because Mary was so full of grace she was able to stay sinless. She is the paragon of what it means to be a saint. She is the perfect saint. Therefore because grace is a gift from God, God is the her Savior.
I was an Anglican, an English woman, who came into thecacatholic church in 1958, so pre Vatican II and the adecree on Ecumenism. I had to renounce firmly my protestant beliefs, and wascasked no linger to attend any Anglican services etc. so Cardinal Newman definitely would have had to do the same. Conversions were very full the, no ambiguity.
The catholic church needs more people like this bishop, to balance out the unbalanced modern view of the church especially on places like youtube. I just found his channel. Nice to see some catholic person, to be able to answer questions, and show that the catholic church is a well reasoned, well thought out religion, probably the most well thought out religion. Thats not saying anything about other religions, what ever you are, just that i was born catholic, and glad i was. I just love that the catholic church and everything in it, was well thought out, and everything in it, is down to rational thinking, or as best as humans can think, or rationalise about such things. This is what the catholic church needs more of in each langauge, or country, speaking to people online like this. Just to show people how well thought out everything is in the catholic church. The net has given a massive boost to those anti religion people, whom want everyone to assume religion is for illiterate people whom do not think. Its nice to see someone like this bishop, showing that religion like the church, is a very well thought out thing, and all its beliefs have come through human rational thought. Atheists want people to believe that religion is not a thought out thing. But people would be surprised at how much thought and wisdom, has gone into rationalising what the catholic church is. Its nice this bishop wants to show that many of these simplistic ideas of atheists, really is just a myth about the church. The church has always had there intellectuals, and all the conclusions they have come to, have been well thought out, despite what people assume religions to be. Also remember the catholic church put the bible together, so they should know it should be interpreted. They see it as a guide, not as a literal document.
Well there were 3 major canonical periods in Rome prior to the RCC's creation, so I don't know if that's entirely accurate. Even the Apocryphal texts weren't included in Catholic Bible until the 1500s as they were hotly debated as to whether they were Divinely Inspired. However, one thing we can say is that the Church did play a major role in the preservation and education (passing down) of Biblical texts for close to 2000 years. So we can't discount the importance of what the Church has done in that its intellectuals have influenced and helped build Western society.
Thank you, for you all especially for those who have asked questions are doing great. But for most importantly 'your excellency' what you did is absolutely great.
Thank you so much for recording and posting the Mass online! Please consider displaying the Spiritual Communion prayer immediately after the priest receives Communion. That way, it gives viewers more time to pray after receiving Spiritual Communion. Otherwise, we have to remain watchful for the Spiritual Communion prayer to appear and by the time it does, we only have about 3 seconds to pray after that. Thank you and God bless you.
Bishop Barron is very insightful. I love his sermons on line because I'm a terrible believer and just can't believe anything I don't understand. I'm wired that way so I study all sort of scientific or religious views. The questions in this video were great and I was a bit frustrated by the answers which obviously often could only scratch the surface of the required explanations. No fault of Bishop Barron of course. There was only one topic which was possibly badly dealt with. It was the one regarding the book of Genesis and Adam and Eve. So many have moved away and now doubt the religion for the following question which Bishop Barron avoided answering: Did Adam and Eve really exist and if not why ever did Jesus come die on a cross to redeem us from an original sin which would then never have occurred? Having studied artificial intelligence in an engineering school in France I really do not understand the theory of Evolution. The technology of the living is far too advanced (replication, self repairing, finding its own source of energy, etc..) to have been produced with the only two proposed ingredients which are random chance and the laws of physics. For those who have read The Origin of Species you will know that Darwin was a brilliant scientist and that his model really seemed to make sense because at the time the DNA code hadn't been cracked. If Darwin were around today he would probably be the first to move away from his theory given the fact that the mechanisms of adaptation within species are now well understood (cf. the gene) and do not allow for the "creation" of a new species. Most people (scientists included) believe in this theory simply because they learnt about it and were told it was true by teachers who have also learnt about it. Those who doubt it and do not have any religious reason to do so avoid talking about it because they would be ridiculed by those who believe themselves scientifically educated. Those who do talk against the theory of evolution are the "creationists" who are obviously biased (even the scientists). I have no idea or opinion of how the world came to be but I'm quite sure that the theory of evolution is but another belief. Obviously Bishop Barron won't go down that road even if he had doubts because he would lose all credibility. But then the question of original sin remains.
The phrase "knowledge of good and evil" means to know all things like God. The disobedience is the essence of their sin despite their intellectual limitation.
The question: How could apostles flee and deny Christ, having seen his many miracles? Look at modern days. We hailed police as heroes after many gave their life trying to save others during 9/11. With the onset of COVID pandemic, we hailed police and other first responders who continued doing their job while many of us hunkered down. How quickly did people vilify police during recent riots, calling for the defunding of police? Many immediately began to treat ALL police as guilty of the acts of the few; few remembered how police have served the community.
Maybe I missed it, but the Bishop did not mention the most obvious reason why God is referred to in the "masculine" sense --- Jesus himself pronounced this (e.g. "Our Father," "Thank you Father," "Father if it be your will...," "Father forgive them for..."). So clearly Jesus was voicing a spiritual reality that the relationship between God and himself is much more akin to Father and Son, than Mother and Son.
Honestly his answer to that question was kind of lacking, I think he got caught up in the politics of the question. Thanks for this additional insight!
@@peakperformancetrain Well, one could hardly call a straightforward answer a "smack down." Nobody is talking here about insulting the caller, nor does it preclude adding other explanations for the caller's inquiry.
Why is it that, when asked about the veracity of Genesis 1 & 2, no one ever seems to point out that the author, who knew nothing of the THEORY of Evolution, got it all in pretty much the right order...according to the theory? If I may ... There is a thing I found, called the Square of Probability, I think. If applied to the existence of God, it shows that if God exists, The believer should be reasonably happy with the result of "Lliving !a Good Life" and the non believer may need to sincerely apologise. If God does not exist, neither of them will ever know who was right.
If you look at Geology the creation period is over millions of years. Time is something we’ve invented as humans. We say a day is 24 hours but to a timeless all knowing deity a day could be millions of years and if you look at Geology and the order of appearance it matches that of the bible.
I think it's easy to imagine that if you saw a miracle, your brain would just stop questioning and that would be the end of it, but think how often ALL of us reject clear truth for any number of reasons, because psychologically we're not ready to accept that truth.
LENSES FOR THE BIBLE: Most editions of the Bible have a preface that explains the origins of that book or section. The better ones will clearly identify the books of fiction. Try the NAB.
Regarding Sarah’s question, “Why is God almost exclusively referred to as a masculine entity in the Catholic Church?” I would like to share my thoughts. 1) God describes himself as Father more than Mother, so we use the language he gave us. It’s how God identifies, it’s not up to us to change it. The church did not choose the language, God did. 2) When a Mother creates new life, she creates it within her own body. When a Father creates new life, he creates it outside of his body. God created life, not from within his self, but outside of his self, therefore he is Father, not Mother. 3) God uses limited human language to describe His relationship with us. He could choose so many: master/slave, or sovereign/subjects, or charioteer/horses, or self-interested god and lowly people, etc. But he chooses a parent/child relationship. We are family to Him, it’s so beautiful. 4) I think it’s worth reflecting about the attributes of a perfect Father versus a perfect Mother, and what would our relationship be with each, to consider what causes God to choose “Father” as opposed to “Mother” in our limited human understanding. One reason I see for God to be Father rather than Mother is that, when children are in physical danger, a Father is typically better able to fight to protect them. Perhaps also, when children “go bad,” then a Father is better able to discipline them harshly if necessary. Further, I suspect that fallen people (especially men?) are more likely to follow a masculine than a feminine authority. 5) Catechism paragraph 239: By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood*, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father. *: Cf Isa 66:13; Ps 131:2
In general, the one question I have, which point #2 leaves me with, is this. One of the core doctrines to Catholicism is centered around the Holy Eucharist, where the bread and wine is transubstantiated into the literal body and blood of Christ. Now with the language added, where God is described as sustaining us through the consumption of his flesh and blood, it sometimes sound analogous to the way a motherly being directly nourishes her young through her own essence (like providing milk to drink, producing yolk for the eggs, or directly providing nutrients from the blood in her placenta). Not being an expert on this kind of theology, I do not know if whether this comparison is technically valid. But part of me has wondered, whether some people likened the concept of the Eucharist to a more feminine kind of nurturing quality, on that basis.
When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own. Pius XII Humani Generis
Thank you! Becoming a Catholic from a Protestant was the best decision I’ve ever made. I have the whole pie not not just half of it
Welcome to the foundation and pillar of Truth 1 Timothy 3:15....will never be destroyed!! Acts 5:38-39
What condescending nonsense. “Here we see a fundamental difference in the understanding of just what conversion is for Protestants and Roman Catholics. In the Scriptures we read how God uses His people to proclaim the Gospel to those the Lord calls (Acts 8:35). The Lord opens hearts to respond (Acts 16:14). This gospel message declares to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Rom. 4:5). This is a Gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), a peace that comes through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:20). This isn’t a hypothetical peace; this is a real and lasting peace. Given is not a possible salvation, but an actual salvation. Given is a full and guaranteed salvation, not a salvation including chances of disqualification. Rather than moving towards the fullness of truth, one needs to stop and ask the Catholic convert why they have moved away from the fullness of truth. They have gone from Christ’s completed work on the cross that saved His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) to an uncertainty of their state of grace, “…[W]ithout a special revelation nobody can with certainty of faith know whether or not he has fulfilled all the conditions that are necessary for achieving justification” (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma Rockford Ill.: TAN Books and Publishers, 1974), p.262). Think for a moment on the concept of fullness of truth Roman Catholics claim to possess. When one considers fullness one thinks of something complete, and indeed, this is the sense in which Roman Catholics use the phrase. Protestants are lacking, because they do not have the complete body of truth Rome claims. But consider also Rome’s notion of development. The truth they have is in the process of developing. If truth is in the process of developing, it cannot be said to be complete. In other words, the whole notion of fullness of truth is misleading. Truth cannot be full and at the same time still in process. This can best be seen in Catholic Marian issues. What Mary is to finally become has yet to be determined (for instance in the co-redemptrix movement). To further complicate the situation for a Catholic convert, the fullness of truth comes with various interpretations of official decrees. Similarly, only a small handful of Biblical texts have been infallibly defined, leaving the alleged fullness of truth a theological façade. Marcus Grodi states also, “In fact, we are called all the more to shower our now confused or indignant friends and family with the all-forgiving, all-accepting love of Christ. However, we must not let the emotional trajectories of our loving glances turn our attention away from the fullness of truth before us, found only in union with the Catholic Church.” Paul states though in Colossians that believers have been given fullness in Christ, are complete in Him (2:10), and that He forgave all sins, nailing them to the cross (2:14). It is not some higher knowledge attained by placing faith in an ecclesiastical body. The development of a believers salvation was started and completed in Christ. In dialoging with your Roman Catholic friends or relatives, keep in mind that it is not they who are full by conversion to the Roman church, it is you who are full because of Christ and His work.”
I am protestant, but I've been listening to Bishop Barron for several years. He has been very helpful to me.
👏🏻🙏🏼 we are family brother ✨
Hi @Dominus Vobiscum, I am a former Catholic. I have 16 years of Catholic education, so I know Catholic teaching. What turned me off to it was the Holy Spirit. We are held accountable to God to read and know Scripture for ourselves. Jesus did all we need to be saved, we cannot merit salvation by our good works, sacraments and Masses. I pray the Holy Spirit will open your eyes too.
@Dominus Vobiscum the past of the church. The pope being considered infallible despite being just a man. Confessing my sins to man. And finally the celibacy of priests.
IRISH Wolf I did this past Easter was my confirmation. It was wonderful.
And the journey through RCIA was much better then I anticipated. I’d do it again ( if they let me. Lol)
Joan C We are held accountable to God to read and know Scripture for ourselves? Where is that in the Bible? ( 2 Peter 3:16), says otherwise. “ speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, in which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do other Scriptures.” ( 2 Peter 1:20), “ First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” Finally, Jesus Christ did not write a book, He established a Church to teach and correct. ( 1 Timothy 3:15), “ The church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Thanks for sharing Bishop! I’m not a catholic but have a lot of love and respect for you, your faith and your work! Please keep going. World needs your voice.
No it doesn't. catholics have ZERO moral superiority right now, it's a false ideology.
@Dominus Vobiscum For me, I've hesitated to become Catholic because it seems like the Orthodox Church has the better truth claims. I'd love to be convinced otherwise, though. Becoming Catholic would be much easier, culturally, than becoming Orthodox for me.
@@P4yn3 Without Catholicism, no Christianity would exist now. Catholicism did all the heavy lifting for 1500 years, spreading the gospel around the entire planet. Catholicism has the direct truth of Jesus Christ via Peter and the Apostles. I suggest you actually read a book by a Catholic theologian about Catholicism, since you appear to have been brainwashed by Protestant conspiracy theorists. Again, if not for us, YOU would not exist as a Christian. I agree that the clergy is a mess but that does not detract from the eternal truth that has been preserved for 2000 years. If this is a very important issue to you instead of something you just casually slam on UA-cam, buy a cheap copy of the Catholic Catechism. Read it. Then get back to us.
John LaLone God is calling you to come home, because you are humbling yourself by telling the truth that is a good sign . God bless you
Dominus Vobiscum > Well said!!!! That’s brilliant idea.
Thank you Bishop Barron for being a virtual mentor to me.
I’m not a Catholic (I’m actually a Protestant Pastor) but I absolutely love Bishop Barrons ministry!!! I currently subscribe to his WOF app ($19.99 month) and enjoy it immensely!!!
If I ever become Catholic it will be because of Bishop Barron. And I really like Fr. Mitch Pacwa as well.
@Jordan Orick Thanks for writing that. Will pray for you becoming a Catholic :)
Your soul needs the Eucharist to be in full communion with Christ and His Universal Church Jordan. Your journey home has already started.
C'mon Home Pastor
Protestant from Finland here, intrigued by the Catholic way. Thank you for this Q&A, really good. And thanks for the recommended books on Mary... a "thing" I'm trying to get my head around. God bless you both and your program.
MIKKI S----We ask our mothers to pray for us. We ask HIS blessed mother to pray for us. Anti-Catholics post lies like---we worship her, we put her ahead of Jesus and all that BUNK !
Most protestantes should read the REAL beliefs and devotion yo Mary se have: it should not become mariolatry, and it's beautiful
@@mariesinnecker4450 A year later now, and I learned a thing or two. I attend a small Catholic parish. At times I ask for Mary's and a few Saint's prayers. Still a Protestant on paper, still "uncomfortable" to some Marian devotions. But, she is the Theotokos, no doubt.
@@mikkis668doubt!!! Satan's best weapon is doubt!!!!!
@@davido3026 That's a strange comment.
God bless you dear Bishop Barron. May the Holy Spirit continue to pour His gifts upon you so that you will continue to speak TRUTH.
I believe God sent me to the Catholic Church for reasons other than what obviously is. Bringing Christ's true salvation through grace alone was part of it. And so far in our church it has worked. I'm in a Christian band composed of Catholics and Protestant Christians. We all have that same drive, to bring Christ's salvation through grace first, and then other things follow. I'm beginning to see why I was put there. It may not be forever, but I'll be there as long as I'm supposed to be. God knows my heart and what I believe.
Excellent podcast! Excellent episode!My conversion back to the church of my childhood, the Catholic Church, has recently been completed. I'm 41, and I look forward to all the blessings I am to give, and to receive, now and in the future. Good bless! And, thank you Lord!
BIshop Robert just states it so beautifully. never cease to shed light to me.
Great questions and such great answers!
Atheists, Non-Catholics, former Catholics, Skeptics, Protestants ...
With Bishop Barron at the helm, Word On Fire is an authentic 'ONE STOP SHOP'.
@Here Beforeyou
Who knows, some day you might find yourself shopping too. Ha ha.
@Here Beforeyou
How did you manage to knock here?
You are SHOPPING, but for the wrong stuff.
I have come across enough of busybodies in the Comments section.
Not getting a clue as to why they all come *Here Beforeme.*
Thanks for your admission though.
@Here Beforeyou
I have pretty well grasped that you aren't shopping at all.
BTW there's nothing here for SALE anyway.
Your comment basically was sarcastic right?
Thanks Bishop Barron. Keep educating us through the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
🙏🙏🙏
I love listening to Bishop Barron. He is one of the best apologists of our time.
John Cox amen to that.
The world needs to hear from your Holy Spirit-Inspired answers to questions. God be with us . Amen. Cebu City Philippines. I am a Catholic since birth. I owe it to my deeply Catholic upbringing from my parents. My brother is a Catholic priest . I pray you are in the best of health to carry on your mission. God is in your heart.
Thanks, Bishop! Great nuanced answers that help understand our relationship with God as Christians and communicate it.
God bless you, Bishop Barron (and the Word of Fire team), for your courage and willingness to spread the faith/Gospel to non-Catholics and fallen-away Catholics as well as for ministering to us practicing Catholics. Keep up the good work!
So true Maria, never ever backs down from any of the toughest questions. I'm a cradle Catholic, but there is always plenty of room for growth. I love his CDs too.
What’s a cradle catholic?
@@moisesvillasenor9322 Someone who was born and raised Catholic.
The beauty of re reading the Bible is that I will sometimes read a bible chapter and get a new interpretation that I didn’t see before. In reference to Peter, when Jesus still made Peter the leader of the New Church after Peter denied him 3 times. That moment taught me how Jesus showed Peter the act of forgiveness & growth in Peter seeing his mistakes. So then Peter can do the same with the next person. Remembering how many times are we to forgive others is 7x 70 has helped me in letting go of those who have hurt me.
Txtea Ranch I recommend you look into lectio divina. It’s an amazing way to read the Bible.
@@matthewthomas9996 Steps of Lectio Divina
I practice without knowing of it.
Terrific way of reading the bible.
I grow deeper in the virtues and Gods grace when I do so.
Reading. Read a passage slowly and carefully within the bible.
Prayer. Having a loving conversation with God.
Meditation. Thinking deeply or swelling upon a spiritual reality within a text.
Contemplation. Resting in Gods presence.
Action. Go and do likewise.
It's good to see that skeptics and non-believers haven't all made up their minds but are wrestling with these questions and willing to ask them here.
Bishop Barron's authority and lucidity masterfully lead to the Mystery of Faith like all roads lead to Rome; his vocation is a great gift the world.
Great answers and also happy to learn of new books and authors. I was baptized Catholic but raised outside a denomination (mostly of the folk Protestant variety) and couldn't understand the veneration of Mary. These answers actually make sense. Looking forward to reading the books mentioned.
I am a staunch Catholic and this video helped unravel many doubts. Thank you Brandon. Thank You Father Barron.
On the notion of not believing, even after miracles …. to quote our favourite songwriter, Bob Dylan … "The truth is in our hearts, and we still don't believe".
My favorite book about the Mother of Jesus and our Mother is "The Mystical City of God." By Venerable Mary of Agreda. Has Bishop Barron read this?
His comments please...
Tandy Noeller OLM
His approach to this topic of starting a dialogue with non-Catholics is a dialogue from the Holy Spirit. Evangelization is very important to the Christian faith. More importantly, it is important to remind people that we are created in the image of God. Every person deserves the fundamental right to dignity! Word on Fire is very good at that.
You are so brave and loyal Bishop Barron🙏🏼🌎✝️ to much hard questions, the divine help alway to the rescue! .. my respect for all the studies you been taken for our support and healp🙋🏻♀️🌸
I’m not a catholic, but I really enjoy catholic philosophy and theology. Bishop Barron.... I’m a big fan of your work.
He has some interesting lectures. I'm Protestant and I enjoy listening to them.
''Thank you for the work you do and the entire Word On Fire team.
Thanks! God bless!'' - questioner Erica
For everyone's information *@Mises Hayek* is known for his comments against Bishop Barron.
@@m-hayek1985
Viewers are not stupid.
@@m-hayek1985 you sound radical.
This is great. Please make this a regular thing.
@Leonardo's Truth
I see what you did there
@Leonardo's Truth Eh? Are Kasper and our current Pope Catholics?
What about -Sister- Father James Martin? HE could call in.
@Leonardo's Truth sounds like hope. Not disappointment. I loved the connection between believers and non believers
I love these videos your doing Bishop Barron, and it helps me understand and feel closer to my Catholic Brothers, but I had a hard time with your Mary answer... I think its amazing the role that she was given, by God's grace, but I still tribute it all to God. God birthed all redemption, and it seems clear that it's through him and him alone that we can give thanks for both his creation and redemption.
Chris, it will take more than a hard time for any protestant to embrace Mary as catholics do. On the other hand, you have acknowledged Mary's entrenched position in our christian faith. While she is undoubtedly the handmaid of the Lord, she is at the same time, highly favoured, full of grace and the Lord is with her. She is blessed among women. (Luke 1 28, 42). Her position is exalted out of the humility of the circumstances at the moment of the incarnation. Yet hers remains a life of complete devotion, simplicity and piety.
Historically, Marian devotion formed the practical spheres of christian discernment for centuries before the Reformation. She is the example of complete humility before God. She is the obedient servant who denies herself and does the will of her Master. Her sinless nature goes to the credit of Christ's birth and our redemption/rebirth through His crucifixion. She was there every step of Christ's journey, which ended at the foot of His cross. Christ's last testament was to will His mother as the mother to all humanity. These, though not exhaustive, formed the basis for Marian devotion in the early church, which was both intercessory and meditative in context. (Ironically, Luther's christocentric theology was based on Marian devotion!)
To an informed catholic, Marian devotion does not usurp the rightful position of God in our worship of the trinity. Mary cannot and will not replace God. In fact, the Hail Mary, is biblical. The Magnificat, also known in the Byzantine church as the Ode of the Theotokos, is Mary's salutation of God. Marian prayers are replete with intercessions to God, apart from praising Him. Why then pray to Mary if we can go directly to God?
Catholics believe we are in complete communion with the faithful, both living and dead (the soul does not die). Hence, it is rational that if a friend can intercede for us, the saints, who have attained beatific vision, can do better without worldly distractions. The church even assigns patron saints to different petitions. ( When Luther's life was threatened in a bad storm, he prayed to St Anne, the patron saint of storms. It saved his life and he fulfilled his oath to join the friary. He would later repay the debt by unleashing the Reformation.)
The concept of catholic worship is not unique to the church. In the historical context, worship would include an altar on high ground, untainted offerrings of sacifice to God and a priest to lead the people in worship. This has survived in form and substance in the church over the centuries in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the mass. It is in a sense the highest form of acknowledging God, with Christ as the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God. It is different from praise and honour, which we duly give to the saints as well, in acknowledging their lives of piety, and which are for us to meditate on and emulate.
Protestants may not understand the catholic position because the concepts of praise and worship is blurred. Praise and honour becomes worship in place of the altar, the untainted sacrifice and the priest. Even if there is partaking of bread and wine, it is only symbolic. Transubstantiation becomes a misnomer. Hence, they cannot accept why we have devotions to saints, which has been the tradition of the church for centuries. They see it as synonymous with worship.
To sum up, Marian devotion is the acknowledgment of Mary's position in God's covenant with His people. We exalt her as we would a hero. We ask for her intercessions as we would ask a pious friend to pray for us. We honour her because she is the mother of Christ, and a mother to us all. Behind every devotion to Mary is an acknowledgment of God's gift of Christ and salvation to man.
Chris, a christian life does not make sense. It is more than mind and reason. It requires things of the heart, a leap of faith!
Because of the church lockdown, I couldn’t attend the mass, and in search of on line masses, I stumbled upon your channel and since then I’ve been attending your daily mass on my days off and just listening to all of your talks. I love the fact that you welcome questions from anyone wether a believer or non believer. Your answers to those questions just affirmed my existing beliefs on Catholic faith. I’m actually sharing this podcast to a few friends. Keep up the good work Bishop Barron and Brandon.
Thank you and God bless you Bishop Barron for continuing to illuminate and teach God's holy word and and scripture to all of us. May God always bless and protect and keep you safe at
all time.
.
Dear Bishop I'm catholic from Poland and I'm very glad that you citing teaching of our pope John Paul II and you've read the "Quo Vadis" - novel of Henryk Sienkiewicz, in my opinion our greatest national writer. God bless you
Thank you for this! I’m Protestant but am hearing the call of Catholicism. Observed my fourth Mass today. RCIA starts soon🙏🏻. Excited!
Thank you Bishop Barron and WOF team! You all are blessing! Continue this great work! To God be the glory!
Huge appreciation to all our dear questioners. Thanks for the really good questions.
Thanks for this video. I was raised as a Protestant and was always drawn to the Catholic Church. I wanted to be a nun and begged my mom to buy me a rosary off TV as a young kid!! All this is incredibly interesting... going to an episcopal church now but hoping to convince my husband to go to RCIA with me
That’s wonderful. Sounds like a call from the beginning of your life. 🙏for your husband to follow.
I am so happy to read this. Thank you and God bless you. I was in the Episcopal Church for almost 25 years and came back to the RC church in 2008. I hope you will come, too. ❤️ 😊
God bless you!
Aballer03 I’ll pray for you! I was raised Southern Baptist and non-denominational as a child, but my city has a large Catholic population, so I was always intrigued by the church. Also, one of my best friends growing up was raised in a devout Catholic family, and she had a positive impact on me.
As an adult, my (lapsed Catholic) husband and I attended/joined an Episcopal church. Eventually, I converted and (in spite of many spiritual mistakes since then) we’re both finally back in the Roman Catholic Church. It’s definitely a journey worth taking! Blessings to you and your husband/family!
Do what you have been called to do, Aballer03. As the Bible says, (I paraphrase) the believing wife will be a blessing to her non-believing husband (and visa versa). Your example will likely benefit your husband. I've been a Catholic all my life and I cannot imagine being anything else. Do what you have to do and God Bless You.
Excellent questions and answers. Great program! I hope it may help to approach to light to many non-believers and many stunned christians in protestantism, and also to catholics to know and learn to defend better our faith.
Thank you! What a blessing to have these videos available. Praying for you!
Great stuff! Thank you Brandon and Bishop Barron for this ongoing dialogue.
Praise the Lord. I like listening to Bishop Robert Barron
Religion is a remarkable institution even for those of us who don't consider existence of god to be of any importance. I find a lot of deep ideas about morality and good-being in general in such discussions, and I deeply thankful for it. If I'm wrong and god does exist - I hope he'll bless you with his guidance, because you clearly deserve it, good people.
That is a very insightful comment on the mystery of evil. How soon we forget the pitfalls and step right back into them then call to God to get us out.
God bless you Bishop. Don’t stop talking. We love you
Start at 4 minutes... Excellent answer for the Adan and Eve garden forbidden fruit to 9:20
I love Bishop Baron he i is very Understand ing of other people’s ideas when speaking the word of God!
I really need to watch him with full attention and focus. So brilliant and insightful are these responses that I'll need to see this a couple of times to understand. Thank you lots!
You're awesome Bishop Barron! Keep up the good work.
Thank you Bishop Barron and all at Word on fire!
God Bless them and fill them with he's wisdom.
I really enjoyed this session. I really enjoy listening to Bishop Barron. He is a very good expositor of Christianity and Catholicism. That being said, I completely disagree with his thoughts on Mary. It rapidly reaches escape velocity from what scripture teaches on Mary. This is an example of why I am not Catholic. That being said, Bishop Barron is awesome and I find myself listening to him a lot. I pray he continues his great work.
Thank you for a great show. God bless Bishop Barron and Brandon!
Re: Mary, you may also read Scott Hahn’s “Hail, Holy Queen”. It’s very very biblical.
This is quite helpful to me. I'm a non-practicing Catholic and one of the reasons for that is that I have trouble with some of the things the Church believes in. I hope to clear these up and restore my faith.
Understanding Mary for me is extremely simple... If you believe that God created everything ( stars,planets,mountains, oceans, clouds,animals, etc.etc. ) then why did he (God) need Mary to be part of Jesus's creation?
I don't claim to know what or how God thinks or his plans but obviously she is an important part of this equation. She is the human side of Jesus. She nurtured him, raised him, and taught him. She instilled him with values and virtue from the human side.
God could have created Jesus alone without a mother, but he didn't. He (God) chose her. Out of all the women on the planet he chose her. Not to mention that her (Mary's) Mother ( St. Anne) was chosen as well. Which for me makes this very easy to understand.
God put his plans in motion well in advance for his sons glorious entrance into our world.
Mary was the human side of Jesus....how important is that?
As a Catholic we don't worship Mary as a God... We praise her for the very important part she played in the creation and life of our savior. She is worthy of our praise.
May God bless
@@randycouch2769 no, I think you are.
@@rvz77 he's a troll. Ignore him.
@@petrichor5294--
i refer to St. Anselm's definition: "God is that than which nothing greater can be thought." The atheist's position contradicts the scientific conclusion that matter cannot create itself nor be destroyed. Matter is only transformed into something else.
Well said. Thank you.
While we can’t discern the entire plan god had when choosing Mary, one of the primary reasons was that sin is inherited from the father; so the mother had to be a descendant of David as well as the father so that he could be of the bloodline of David and inherent the kingdom of David without inherent if the sin from the father. Simple as that; the rest is conjecture. The Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time venerating Mary for anything; it mentions her thrice and two of those times Jesus rebukes her.
One channel that shines a bright light on the point he made, that the book should be approached carefully, taking the time to understand how it was written and why, is bibleproject, they dissect each of the bible's books, amazing channel.
Thanks for engaging with the important issues as you do. As I've seen many people losing their faith, I've been re-reading C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain. I hope more priests will answer questions for those doubtful and questioning people.
Just realised that listening to the Podcast a second time has in fact been even more exciting. Particularly noteworthy is Cardinal John Henry Newman's experience, now that we are eagerly awaiting his canonization.
Thank you, this was a powerful and easy to listen to talk and clear in its depth of communication.
Books recommended for Clarification on Mother Mary :
1.Hail holy queen
2.Worlds first love
3.Jesus and the roots of Mary
The mistranslation of virgin in the Bible: The mistranslation occurred when this text was translated into Greek, where the word “parthenos” meaning virgin is used. The Hebrew word for virgin is “bethulah” and cannot be found anywhere in the original Hebrew text, meaning that the original writer did not intend for it to be read as “virgin” but as “young” girl.
The dynamic duo hits another home run!
I guess it was too much to expect a Catholic Bishop to express any actual doubt, but it would have been nice to hear him say that the ultimate truth is finally unknowable and belief is an act of assertion and faith. Everything is truly mysterious and there are a small number of ways you can respond the mystery, and faith is the best one. Something like that
The Father, impregnated Mary, The Mother and, in our reckoning of Time and Space, birthed Jesus! How can we not regard the Father as He!?
The Father did not “impregnate” Mary. “Impregnate” is a sexual term. Her pregnancy was a miracle of the Holy Spirit, not a god having sex with a woman, like you see in myths.
Thank you.. God bless you.. Love from India
Wonderful Q & A session Bishop Barron and Brandon.👌
Re question from Valerie "How do you know if God exist " ? Our God is a living God. If you have a relationship with Him, you will know that He exists ! Start forming a relationship with Him. You will know Him and know that He exists.
Vishnu is a living God, why cant you develope a relationship with that God instead of yours? Billions of people have personal relationships with all kinds of Gods. What makes yours so special? Why are you sane when you talk to your invisible, immaterial, personal friend, but everyone is delusional when they do it?
@@alliepostan1702 I think we need to respect each other's religion. I have not insulted yours. So dont insult mine.
Im sorry if you felt insulted, but i was asking an honest question. Seriously, im not trying to be mean at all, but merely trying to point out that your method for knowing God is something that not just christians, but ALL religious people do, to contradictory affects. So simply talking to God, or whichever one you believe in, doesnt seem to get us any closer to the actual truth unless you can explain why you are sane and they are delusional, why your friend that no one else can see or verify exists and no one elses does. Can you explain that? Serious question, no ill will.
@@alliepostan1702 Well I am not sure if commenting that another religion's God as "invisible, immaterial and personal friend" constitutes preconceived biases or an honest genuine search for answers. But I shall let it pass.
I would also like to state that never have I assert that others are delusional. You claim that this is my position but clearly I have not say it. Catholics will never demean another religion so as to prove our point.
My response to the listener is from a Christian perspective. I have not enlarge my comments further than this. It's like me saying my friend who smokes is suffering from cancer. But i never say that all smokers will get cancer.
I only encourage the listener to form a personal relationship with God if she wants to know Him better. Its like if one wants to know Trump better, it's best that this person know him personally instead of reading all liiterature about Trump. It.should never be expanded to why Hilary may or may not be a better President.
Faith forms in this way... through personal relationships. God has made Himself present in my life. I know that He is real. He does not take over my consciousness but gives me free will and choice. I have seen His hand in my life. God loves me and through the sacrifice of Christ, made me His son and part of His family. It's not a master and slave relationship anymore as in the Old Testament. All this happens with my clear consciousness through His Grace alone. Those who have a relationship with Him will know that what I say is true.
Firstly, allie you clearly haven't the faintest clue who or what God is. God is the subsistent act of "to be" Himself. Secondly, pagan "gods" are just demons, and therefore there is no "relationship" with demons.
Love, love, love! Will you ever do a show on questions about how to deal with the political contradictions that we are asked to bear in these days?
One the most critical Mistakes or misinterpretations that many Agnostic/Atheists make is in the genesis narrative, they say "the world is not created in seven days" we have to know that the genesis creation story is the words of God through the author, God created time itself meaning he is not confined in it like we are he is beyond time yet he uses time constraints like the word "day" to communicate his message the way humans can understand, this also means that when God says a "day" it is not a 24 hour period that we are accustomed to it could be a millennia it could be millions of years.
The parallel on this is that science teaches us that in the beginning there was nothing then the big bang happen, what does God say in this particular time? he said "Let there be light", then what happens next? he makes the heavens, In scientific theory we learn that this time in the cosmos were forming the stars the galaxies then after everything settles planets form, what does God do next? He created the earth in line with what the scientific studies show.
Excellent ..so calm and secure in all the programs...God Bless you ! Always pray for you
Pray for Bishop Barron, surrounded by modernist men and ideas, he has the capacity to help clean up the US Church!
Thanks Brandon and Bishop.
Here is a question for y'all:
The RCC teaches that Mary was sinless. Sinless means no sin to be saved from. Now, in Luke 1:47 she calls God her Savior. A savior is one who saves someone from something. My question is this: With Mary calling God her Savior, if she was sinless (no sin to be saved from), then what did God save her from?
To try answer a good question in a few words: God preserved Mary from original sin and fulled her with grace. Grace is the undeserved gift from God that helps us to be able to choose and follow God and reject the temptation of sin. Although Mary was sinless she still experienced temptation, pain and suffering. The temptation can't be compared to other humans who have the mark of original sin but could be compared to the temptation that Jesus experienced in the desert during his fast. Because Mary was so full of grace she was able to stay sinless. She is the paragon of what it means to be a saint. She is the perfect saint. Therefore because grace is a gift from God, God is the her Savior.
I was an Anglican, an English woman, who came into thecacatholic church in 1958, so pre Vatican II and the adecree on Ecumenism. I had to renounce firmly my protestant beliefs, and wascasked no linger to attend any Anglican services etc. so Cardinal Newman definitely would have had to do the same. Conversions were very full the, no ambiguity.
Excellent video and explanation. Please make more educational videos like this one.
The catholic church needs more people like this bishop, to balance out the unbalanced modern view of the church especially on places like youtube.
I just found his channel.
Nice to see some catholic person, to be able to answer questions, and show that the catholic church is a well reasoned, well thought out religion, probably the most well thought out religion. Thats not saying anything about other religions, what ever you are, just that i was born catholic, and glad i was.
I just love that the catholic church and everything in it, was well thought out, and everything in it, is down to rational thinking, or as best as humans can think, or rationalise about such things.
This is what the catholic church needs more of in each langauge, or country, speaking to people online like this. Just to show people how well thought out everything is in the catholic church.
The net has given a massive boost to those anti religion people, whom want everyone to assume religion is for illiterate people whom do not think.
Its nice to see someone like this bishop, showing that religion like the church, is a very well thought out thing, and all its beliefs have come through human rational thought.
Atheists want people to believe that religion is not a thought out thing. But people would be surprised at how much thought and wisdom, has gone into rationalising what the catholic church is.
Its nice this bishop wants to show that many of these simplistic ideas of atheists, really is just a myth about the church. The church has always had there intellectuals, and all the conclusions they have come to, have been well thought out, despite what people assume religions to be.
Also remember the catholic church put the bible together, so they should know it should be interpreted. They see it as a guide, not as a literal document.
Well there were 3 major canonical periods in Rome prior to the RCC's creation, so I don't know if that's entirely accurate. Even the Apocryphal texts weren't included in Catholic Bible until the 1500s as they were hotly debated as to whether they were Divinely Inspired.
However, one thing we can say is that the Church did play a major role in the preservation and education (passing down) of Biblical texts for close to 2000 years. So we can't discount the importance of what the Church has done in that its intellectuals have influenced and helped build Western society.
Great questions and illuminating answers!
Understanding original sin Is fundamental to everything else thank you
Thank you, for you all especially for those who have asked questions are doing great. But for most importantly 'your excellency' what you did is absolutely great.
WOW i just found this Bishop! so excited.
Thank you so much for recording and posting the Mass online! Please consider displaying the Spiritual Communion prayer immediately after the priest receives Communion. That way, it gives viewers more time to pray after receiving Spiritual Communion. Otherwise, we have to remain watchful for the Spiritual Communion prayer to appear and by the time it does, we only have about 3 seconds to pray after that. Thank you and God bless you.
Thanks and best wishes from London.
Very good explanation on original sin. I thought he was trying to dodge the question for a second there.
Congratulations for your job! Very good questions and billiant answers.
Bishop Barron is very insightful. I love his sermons on line because I'm a terrible believer and just can't believe anything I don't understand. I'm wired that way so I study all sort of scientific or religious views. The questions in this video were great and I was a bit frustrated by the answers which obviously often could only scratch the surface of the required explanations. No fault of Bishop Barron of course. There was only one topic which was possibly badly dealt with. It was the one regarding the book of Genesis and Adam and Eve. So many have moved away and now doubt the religion for the following question which Bishop Barron avoided answering: Did Adam and Eve really exist and if not why ever did Jesus come die on a cross to redeem us from an original sin which would then never have occurred?
Having studied artificial intelligence in an engineering school in France I really do not understand the theory of Evolution. The technology of the living is far too advanced (replication, self repairing, finding its own source of energy, etc..) to have been produced with the only two proposed ingredients which are random chance and the laws of physics. For those who have read The Origin of Species you will know that Darwin was a brilliant scientist and that his model really seemed to make sense because at the time the DNA code hadn't been cracked. If Darwin were around today he would probably be the first to move away from his theory given the fact that the mechanisms of adaptation within species are now well understood (cf. the gene) and do not allow for the "creation" of a new species. Most people (scientists included) believe in this theory simply because they learnt about it and were told it was true by teachers who have also learnt about it. Those who doubt it and do not have any religious reason to do so avoid talking about it because they would be ridiculed by those who believe themselves scientifically educated. Those who do talk against the theory of evolution are the "creationists" who are obviously biased (even the scientists). I have no idea or opinion of how the world came to be but I'm quite sure that the theory of evolution is but another belief.
Obviously Bishop Barron won't go down that road even if he had doubts because he would lose all credibility. But then the question of original sin remains.
Wow this is amazing and I'm just listening past 11minutes. Great video.
The phrase "knowledge of good and evil" means to know all things like God. The disobedience is the essence of their sin despite their intellectual limitation.
Sometimes he makes something complicated simpler.
Sometimes.
The question: How could apostles flee and deny Christ, having seen his many miracles? Look at modern days. We hailed police as heroes after many gave their life trying to save others during 9/11. With the onset of COVID pandemic, we hailed police and other first responders who continued doing their job while many of us hunkered down. How quickly did people vilify police during recent riots, calling for the defunding of police? Many immediately began to treat ALL police as guilty of the acts of the few; few remembered how police have served the community.
Well, to begin, they were scared for their lives. I think it's a very human reaction.
Thank you Bishop
NO You'll see us next week. Thanks for everything, God bless
Maybe I missed it, but the Bishop did not mention the most obvious reason why God is referred to in the "masculine" sense --- Jesus himself pronounced this (e.g. "Our Father," "Thank you Father," "Father if it be your will...," "Father forgive them for..."). So clearly Jesus was voicing a spiritual reality that the relationship between God and himself is much more akin to Father and Son, than Mother and Son.
Honestly his answer to that question was kind of lacking, I think he got caught up in the politics of the question. Thanks for this additional insight!
@@peakperformancetrain Well, one could hardly call a straightforward answer a "smack down." Nobody is talking here about insulting the caller, nor does it preclude adding other explanations for the caller's inquiry.
Why is it that, when asked about the veracity of Genesis 1 & 2, no one ever seems
to point out that the author, who knew nothing of the THEORY of Evolution, got it
all in pretty much the right order...according to the theory?
If I may ...
There is a thing I found, called the Square of Probability, I think. If applied to the
existence of God, it shows that if God exists, The believer should be reasonably
happy with the result of "Lliving !a Good Life" and the non believer may need to
sincerely apologise.
If God does not exist, neither of them will ever know who was right.
Also known as Pascal's Wager.
Brandon, you are so blessed! [You remind me of my younger cousin! Pax Vobiscum bro 😇🙏👊🏻
I think you mean “Pax tecum.” “Vobis” is plural.
If you look at Geology the creation period is over millions of years. Time is something we’ve invented as humans. We say a day is 24 hours but to a timeless all knowing deity a day could be millions of years and if you look at Geology and the order of appearance it matches that of the bible.
I think it's easy to imagine that if you saw a miracle, your brain would just stop questioning and that would be the end of it, but think how often ALL of us reject clear truth for any number of reasons, because psychologically we're not ready to accept that truth.
ERICA; MARY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Read Revelation 12 and notice the high place in scripture that Mary holds. That will help.
LENSES FOR THE BIBLE: Most editions of the Bible have a preface that explains the origins of that book or section. The better ones will clearly identify the books of fiction. Try the NAB.
Regarding Sarah’s question, “Why is God almost exclusively referred to as a masculine entity in the Catholic Church?” I would like to share my thoughts.
1) God describes himself as Father more than Mother, so we use the language he gave us. It’s how God identifies, it’s not up to us to change it. The church did not choose the language, God did.
2) When a Mother creates new life, she creates it within her own body. When a Father creates new life, he creates it outside of his body. God created life, not from within his self, but outside of his self, therefore he is Father, not Mother.
3) God uses limited human language to describe His relationship with us. He could choose so many: master/slave, or sovereign/subjects, or charioteer/horses, or self-interested god and lowly people, etc. But he chooses a parent/child relationship. We are family to Him, it’s so beautiful.
4) I think it’s worth reflecting about the attributes of a perfect Father versus a perfect Mother, and what would our relationship be with each, to consider what causes God to choose “Father” as opposed to “Mother” in our limited human understanding. One reason I see for God to be Father rather than Mother is that, when children are in physical danger, a Father is typically better able to fight to protect them. Perhaps also, when children “go bad,” then a Father is better able to discipline them harshly if necessary. Further, I suspect that fallen people (especially men?) are more likely to follow a masculine than a feminine authority.
5) Catechism paragraph 239: By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood*, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.
*: Cf Isa 66:13; Ps 131:2
In general, the one question I have, which point #2 leaves me with, is this. One of the core doctrines to Catholicism is centered around the Holy Eucharist, where the bread and wine is transubstantiated into the literal body and blood of Christ. Now with the language added, where God is described as sustaining us through the consumption of his flesh and blood, it sometimes sound analogous to the way a motherly being directly nourishes her young through her own essence (like providing milk to drink, producing yolk for the eggs, or directly providing nutrients from the blood in her placenta).
Not being an expert on this kind of theology, I do not know if whether this comparison is technically valid. But part of me has wondered, whether some people likened the concept of the Eucharist to a more feminine kind of nurturing quality, on that basis.
@@markcobuzzi826 Those are interesting insights to reflect upon, thank you!
When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.
Pius XII Humani Generis
Cant be put any simpler that that😂
do you believe the office of the papacy is vacant?
"my freedom is the criterion of good and evil" - sounds a lot like these days
Thank you🙏🏻❤️🕊🔥