… by Bob Stanley
Fords and Chevys
So you went out and purchased an old used car, and soon after, it had a problem. You did not have the money to have a mechanic fix it so you decided to fix it yourself. Not knowing anything about that brand of car,you purchased a repair manual for another brand, from a friend because he owned the store. You read the manual from cover to cover and found out it did not help you much at all to fix your car. You were too proud to admit you had wasted all that time and expense. So you wandered around in the darkness and muddled around that car for the rest of your life, not ever learning anything about it, or how to fix it. Believe it or not, I received an email from a Seventh-day Adventist who remarked that I have been brainwashed by Catholic literature. He suggested if I wanted to know the truth about the Catholic Church, I should go outside the Catholic Church to find it. I asked him how can I find the truth of what the Catholic Church teaches in a SDA or any other Church which teaches against the Catholic Church? He sent me a list of books and suggested I read them. Everyone of the authors were known heretics and Catholic haters.This person topped the list of stupid ideas of all that I have ever received. In essence he said I should buy a Chevy manual to learn about Fords. Now, when I wanted to learn about the SDA Church, I acquired a set of books written by E.G. White, the source for SDA teaching.
No Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Catholic taught me.
When I wanted to learn about Jehovah’s Witnesses, I looked at their literature, obtained a JW bible, and got several of their books and studied them.
No Episcopalian, or Anglican, or Catholic taught me.
When I wanted to learn about Mormonism, I went to Mormon sources and obtained a book of Mormon. I then went to pro-Mormon websites and learned what they teach.
No Jew, or Moslem, or Catholic taught me.
Why then do not others do the same thing? I receive the same questions over and over from protestants who do not know the truth about what the Catholic Church teaches. You see, they all own Fords but are all reading from a Chevy manual. They never bothered to go to the source where they should have gone in the first place. Instead they spin wheels and muddle around for the rest of their lives. They make derogatory remarks about Fords because they do not know the first thing about them.
How can anyone learn what a Church really teaches without going to the source of that teaching and seeing it for themselves?
Are you going to learn the honest truth of what the Catholic Church teaches from:
1. A parent or relative who has hated the Catholic Church all their lives?
2. A peer or friend who hates the Catholic Church?
3. Your Church which may have been biased against the Catholic Church for many years?
4. A book written by an anti-Catholic?
I CAN GUARANTEE YOU WILL NOT FIND THE TRUTH OF WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES FROM ANY OF THESE SOURCES…
When in doubt, always go to the source. You are playing “You bet your soul if you don’t.” If you perpetuate a lie without trying to find the truth, take a look at Revelations 21:27 for the unhappy ending of those who do this. Purchase (or read on-line here or here) a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It will tell you what the Church teaches, and you will have acquired the knowledge from the source.
THE TRUTH IS TO BE FOUND NOWHERE ELSE BUT IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE SOLE DEPOSITORY OF APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE. HERESIES ARE OF RECENT FORMATION, AND CANNOT TRACE THEIR ORIGIN UP TO THE APOSTLES.
Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account are we bound to avoid them, but to make choice of the thing pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay hold of the tradition of the truth. For how stands the case? Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?
– Saint Irenaeus, 180 A.D., Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 4, Par 1, Jurgens 213
