Opposing views on Christianity, without footing
First, let’s answer a few common opposing views to Christianity. Without doing so, it is hard to make progress, because people reject Christianity for one of these reasons:
- "I am distancing myself from Christianity due to the serious sins committed by certain priests"
Jesus entrusted the Church to human stewardship, fully aware of human sinfulness. Those who receive particular graces not granted to others bear a greater responsibility, as they act in representation of the Church. When this privilege is misused, the resulting sins carry even graver consequences. According to the reported visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1820), Jesus foresaw the abomination of future sins at Gethsemane, describing them as “…the sacrilegious crimes of all wicked priests with their frightful consequences…” Similarly, Saint Bridget of Sweden (1360) noted that “Priests… because of their sins and evil deeds, are unworthy of heavenly glory in God’s sight.” While human actions can tarnish the moral witness of the Church, they do not alter the enduring efficacy of the sacraments themselves. If we can't separate human actions from the Church itself, where Mass and Sacraments are static, we should then apply the same logic and live in a country free from government corruption; the ultimate justice belongs to God in the afterlife. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, published in 1566, affirms:
It should never be forgotten, that the Sacraments, although they cannot lose the divine efficacy inherent in them, bring eternal death and everlasting perdition on him who dares to administer them with hands stained with the defilement of sin. Holy things, and the observation cannot be too often repeated, should be treated holily, and with due reverence...the vices of the planter do not impede the growth of the vine, so, and the comparison is sufficiently intelligible, those who were planted in Christ by the ministry of bad men, sustain no injury from guilt which is not their own. Judas Iscariot, as the Holy Fathers infer from the Gospel of S. John, conferred baptism on many ; and yet none of those whom he baptised are recorded to have been baptised again.
Book: The Catechism of the Council of Trent by Council of Trent
Each individual claim of wrongdoing must be carefully verified, as mass hysteria can mislead and divert us from the truth. For example, consider the case of the alleged mass grave in Kamloops, Canada:
- "My view of the Roman Catholic Church has been influenced by historical events such as the Spanish Inquisition"
Better explained by these two blog links.
Falsified evidence left by resentful Protestants. Fabrications about the supposed torture and cruelties of the Inquisition spread like wildfire among those ready to pounce at the slightest pretense to defame Spain or the Holy Mother Church.
- "A movie or book portrayed Christianity as outdated or misguided"
It is common for individuals to dismiss truths that challenge their everyday perspectives. Before re-evaluating such portrayals, it may be beneficial to study foundational Catholic texts. Doing so can provide a deeper understanding and may reveal perspectives that contrast sharply with those presented in the media.
- "Religion is a way to control people"
In my understanding, a true Christian is one who practices humility and selflessness, recognizing their own sins and striving for obedience to God rather than seeking to be right. Such a person acts with consideration for others, placing the needs of their neighbor above personal gain. Their life is not governed by wealth, but by devotion to God. Through prayer, offered in silence and with gratitude, they detach from the desire for human praise. They accept suffering with patience and embrace joy with a grateful heart. I can only pray for the discipline and self-mastery required to live in this way.
- "If God truly exists, there would be no suffering in this world"
Suffering serves as a means to learn love. God does not override our free will, and if all suffering were removed from the world—through the absence of hospitals, law enforcement, schools, or even daily responsibilities—we might fail to learn genuine compassion and gratitude. Why, for example, is a person born blind? Jesus teaches that such individuals are born this way to glorify God. In observing their condition, we are reminded to appreciate our own faculties—sight, hearing, mobility, understanding, and other senses—which we often take for granted. By lifting our hearts to heaven in gratitude for these gifts, we honor God. Thus, even what appears negative can bring forth countless blessings. As the Blessed Virgin Mary conveyed in 2018:"... what is to come afterward is unknown to you, but when your hereafter comes, you will receive all the answers." Likewise, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1250) explained: "In the future life, this defect of intellect will be removed by the state of glory when we shall be able to see the Essence of God Himself, but without being able to comprehend Him."
- "The Bible says the universe was created in seven days and humanity is about 6,000 years old, but carbon dating shows that the Earth is millions of years old, so the Bible must be wrong"
In response, the New Testament clarifies in 2 Peter 3:8: "One day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day." God is light (John 1:15) and light travels an extraordinary speed. As Albert Einstein demonstrated, when traveling near the the speed of light, time for the traveler slows relative to observers on Earth, and distances contract. A one-day space journey is thousands of days on Earth and physical distances get closer. This raises the question: do the “seven days” of creation reflect God’s perspective or ours? Indeed, the principle works both ways—“one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” While basic science offers one way to approach this question, supernatural realities transcend it entirely. God, as the Creator of time, can suspend, accelerate, or extend it beyond human perception at His will. A mystical experience in November 1994 may offer further insight into this divine mastery over time:
He noted that he calls it a light, but that though it felt billions of times stronger than the sun, it had no heat and did not hurt his eyes...begged the presence not to leave, or if it went, to take him with him, and the communication came, "I am always everywhere," before the light stopped and Nader was again in the cold, dark hermitage. Glancing at his watch, he said he realised four hours had passed "like a second."
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) may further clarify,
God's power is always and everywhere, so whatever is God is everywhere and always... free from every law of space and time and composition of parts.
Book: Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works by Anselm, St.
According to the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, dinosaurs were created first, followed by millions of years before the creation of humanity. From God’s perspective, a single “day” encompasses vast stretches of time for us, illustrating the principle of divine time dilation,
So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind... the fifth day... So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them... the sixth day.
Animals possess a temporary, irrational soul, whereas humans are endowed with a rational eternal soul. Physical evolution alone cannot transform an irrational soul into a rational one through adaptation or reproduction over the ages. Considering the roughly eight million species on Earth, humans remain the only species with a fully developed rational intellect. If other species had evolved similar cognitive capacities, we might be communicating with dolphins, sharing literature, art, and laughter, or even playing strategic games with cows—yet animals display no such intellectual or moral faculties. No sense of shame is found in animals either. As Jesus explained to Saint Bridget in 1360: "All things… are for the use of humankind… subject to humankind… For this reason, a rational intellect was not given to animals, lest they cause trouble for mankind." From this perspective, it can be concluded that the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence comparable to humans is unlikely. Furthermore, geological features such as hidden oceans under Earth's crust align with the account of Noah’s flood. Radiocarbon dating also exhibits limitations; as we examine deeper periods of prehistory, fluctuations in radiocarbon levels render such dating increasingly unreliable (example). These discrepancies can be explained mathematically and must be considered when interpreting ancient timelines,
Rejecting faith on the basis of widely accepted yet flawed scientific assumptions has contributed to the most significant apostasy in developed nations. Many people, without having studied advanced physics or biology, overlook the fundamental miracle of life and, as a result, unwittingly turn away from religion. To neglect the pursuit of God is, in effect, to choose separation from Him; we cannot truly love what we ignore.
- "Church often changes its view on sin"
Written religious laws provide guidance for living a virtuous life, but these rules are not rigid when faith is rooted in the heart. What constitutes a serious sin for one person may, under different circumstances, not be considered sinful for another. Consider the parable of the good Samaritan in the Gospel: why did the Jewish priest fail to assist the injured traveler? His concern for ritual purity, specifically avoiding defilement from contact with the dead (a law banning his entrance to the temple), took precedence over compassion. In contrast, the Samaritan who helped disregarded the law, yet in God’s eyes, his actions were righteous. This illustrates that true faith and moral discernment often transcend written rules, emphasizing the primacy of love and mercy.
- "Astrology is usually accurate, so I follow my horoscope"
This perspective falls under the category of idolatry. For further reflection, see my comments on idolatry on this site.
- "Church does not match my lifestyle"
Self-control is hard, not easy, it takes work.
He surely has more than 12 followers.
- "Science does not address God, so I don't believe in God"
In human history, when people got cold at night, fire made its appearance, and wood, a way to harness it; to move without effort, wheels. As the population increased, massive oil and gas reserves were discovered underground (they were always there) and electricity showed up in the 1800s, with magnetic fields as a way to harness it (already in nature) and pliable metals for its transmission. Our solar system, an exception: "Scientists have discovered 884 planets, 692 planetary systems, 132 of them with more than one planet, and almost none of them look like us...we live on an unusual planet in an unusual solar system, doubly-unusual." The sun, at a perfect distance from Earth, allows water to cycle through its phases, moving life around; and even though elements get denser at lower temperatures, water is not (as sinking ice would've hindered life). Life, made of cells, whose biology was discovered in the last 100 years to be amazingly complex, with millions of chemical reactions successively reacting in concert, even though physics laws tell us that things tend to disassemble, not increase in complexity. The planet has it all. For the past and future needs, for a life in perfect chemical balance. All this by chance? With those odds, I might start shaking a box full of transistors with the hope of building my own iPhone, software included. We still cannot memorize 30 random words; we need constant trial and error to get anything to work, and when it does, we write it down, otherwise we forget. Everything in small increments; we just can't grasp the big picture from its moving parts. Saint Augustine, in his "Confession" book, written in the year 400, analysing the eternity of God, said: "matter does not exist if there is no time," proven 1500 years later by Albert Einstein, and Saint Augustine's thoughts lead to the big bang theory before its time. Science is a partial view of God; a full view requires faith. Saint Thomas Aquinas said in 1250: "even that which is stable, since it is created from nothing, would return to nothingness were it not sustained by a governing hand."
Book: Confessions (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Augustine of Hippo
- "There is no such thing as free will"
Let's discuss this article. It says: “If we could understand any individual's brain architecture and chemistry well enough, we could, in theory, predict that individual's response to any given stimulus with 100 percent accuracy." Let Saint Augustine (420ac) respond to the wrong logic of that statement. Saint Augustine, in his answer on predestined lives set by astrology (personalities defined by planets at the point of conception or birth), explained twin brothers' behaving differently in their lives in response to the same stimulus. We just need to replace "astrology" with "genetic material" and answer in the same fashion to the nowadays regurgitated "foreknowledge excludes free will" nonsense from biology (genetics) and even physics (atomic). If there is no time in God, then human history is seen as events happening all at once. Included in those events are almost infinite human acts of will as causes of human activities. So, "God knows all things before they happen and that we do them by our free will; everything that we feel and know would not happen without our volition." (City of God, Augustine). Free will and foreknowledge are not mutually exclusive when the first exists "in time" and the second in "no time". Thus, only God has foreknowledge and a fixed order of all causes, yet this does not diminish the genuine freedom of human choice.
Book: City of God by Augustine of Hippo
Given the multitude of Christian denominations (video link), acknowledging that some Protestant churches may offer certain positive aspects (video link), it remains essential to remain united with the Catholic Church. Without the fullness of the sacraments, spiritual guidance, and divine grace provided through the Catholic Church, one risks straying from the path to salvation (video link).