Talking with Catholic Friends and Family: Understanding…How They Think and Feel, Why They Trust in Tradition, What the Bible Teaches

by James G. McCarthy

Why is it often difficult for evangelical Christians to talk about Christianity with their Catholic friends? What are the differences that sometimes lead to misunderstandings between the two? Capturing the heartbeat of the Roman Catholic way of life, Talking with Catholic Friends and Family provides an insightful glimpse into the way Catholics think about God, the church, getting to heaven, and the practice of their religion. With compassion and clarity, James McCarthy tells real–life stories that contrast biblical Christianity with Catholicism—and does so in a way that emphasizes what true saving faith is all about. Readers will

Genres: Christian

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2005

Reviews

[JimF · Rating 1 out of 5]

Any Christian should be utterly embarrassed by the content of this book. Except for Jack Chick, Lorraine Boettner, Ellen ("E.G. White") Gould White, the Ku Klux Klan and a few others, I have never encountered so much anti-Catholic bigotry. The author quickly betrays both his ignorance and arrogance by explaining that there are over one billion people worldwide in the Catholic "universal" (his word) Church. He then proceeds from the viewpoint that all one billion (actually 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion if counting the Orthodox) are dead wrong and that he knows the truth. See a problem with this? In his attack, he relies on anecdote, rumor, innuendo, untruths and astounding distortions in his condemnation of a Church which he clearly does not understand, and is therefore absolutely unqualified to render an opinion on.

He is driven by what seems to be a pathological hatred for the Catholic (and therefore the Eastern Orthodox) Churches, their foundation, their Sacraments and their practices. He deconstructs Christianity, then reverse engineers it according to his personal taste. Do you want information out of context? Distortions? Falsehoods? It's all here, and more. He speaks of the hackneyed "personal relationship" with Christ (itself nowhere in the bible), then espouses his personal opinion as fact. Unwittingly, he makes Christ a liar, when he assures us that the gates of hell actually did prevail against Christ's Church. He dares not assign a time or place to this catastrophe - only that he knows it occurred.

It is extremely easy to see what he hates. It is considerably more difficult to determine what, if anything, he loves. He has identified his enemy and is self-appointed to set the world straight. I bought this book so that others would not be misinformed by it. If zero stars were available, that is what I would have assigned it.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by a guy who was a Catholic for decades and decades until he saw discrepancies between what the Roman Catholic Church taught and what the Bible says. He also wasn't satisfied that the RC Church's official position on its own authority is that it is the final judge of its own authority. (Bit circular, that.) So he hightailed it out of the RC Church and became a born again Christian when he realized that the Bible says- repeatedly and in so many words- that Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for our salvation (ONCE and for all), and that the stuff the RC Church says you have to do to go to heaven (something you can't guarantee will happen, per its official doctrine) is stuff the Church itself designed and is not Biblical.

So: Big life changes there for this guy.

There's some really interesting data in the book; lots of comparisons worth checking out, lots of good verse-by-verse breakdowns on what the Biblical issues are behind why many RC Church teachings are not Biblical, etc. And for that I dug the book.

BUT: Sometimes McCarthy's got this twinge of frustration that peeks through into his writing in the form of opinion statements which, if I were Catholic myself, would probably sting a little. He's not a jerk about any of it, and again and again he asks readers to please not be combative or aggressive in talking with folks who subscribe to the RC Church's views. It's just that you can really feel that frustration sometimes in ways that make some of his stuff come off as opinion-driven instead of fact-driven, which is unfortunate because (assuming the Bible as the source of final authority on matters of the Christian faith) he's actually got a book chock FULL of facts to back up his claims.

All that to say, I enjoyed the information in the book and the way it was laid out, but I'd be a little nervous if any of my RC friends or family started thumbing through it for fear they'd land on something awkward.