I was told that Jesus doesn’t want us to pray repetitious prayers like the Rosary. Is that true?
by Steven O'Keefe, CAA Staff Apologist
This objection is drawn from Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said, “When you pray, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them.  Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” [Matt 6:7].  The word “babble” in the passage are sometimes rendered as condemning “vain repetitions” in Protestant translations.  Thus, many Protestants will read this as a condemnation of any prayer which features repetition.

The best response is to explain the true meaning of the passage.  Pagans treated prayer as a means of explaining their situation to their gods, bargaining with them, and placating them by reciting long invocations.  This is contrary to how we should pray. We should trust that God knows our situation and already desires what is best for us.  That is why Jesus criticizes the pagans, saying, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”   You could also point out examples of repetitious prayer in Scripture.  Take your friend to Psalm 136 and read it aloud.  Or point to Revelation 4:8, which shows the angels praying with repetition.  Or look at Jesus Himself praying repetitiously prior to His arrest [Matt. 26:39-44].  Alternatively, keep reading after Matt 6:7 you will find Jesus giving us the Our Father - a formulaic prayer we’re meant to repeat.  
Now, there is potentially a valid point in the criticism of repetitious prayer.  There is a constant danger to pray with robotic, empty recitation.  We should let the Protestant complaint serve as a reminder to always mean the words of our prayers as we say them and to let them affect our hearts.

The Church Fathers didn't write the Bible and we should pay no attention to their writings.
by Terry Garrity, CAA Vice President
The early Church Fathers confirm the truth of Scripture by their writings on the teachings of Jesus having preceded the canon of Scripture nearly 300 years. For example, Ignatius and Polycarp belueved in the perpetual virginity of Mary, so that goes to the earliest days of the Church. Several were contemporaries of apostles and disciples of Jesus as you can see by this chart. If sola scripture is true, how were the early Christians justified in the 300-400 years before the Councils of Carthage (four synods from 251-397) and Hippo (synod of 393) assembled the scriptural canon? To read the Church Fathers is to be astonished at how the veracity of their writings carried forth into the Bible and provide breathtakingly cumulative evidence of the Church as being one, holy, catholic (adj.) and apostolic.

Graphic credit: Ronnie and Hibaya Cartin

How do Catholics understand the predestination passages in Ephesians 1?  My Baptist friend thinks it means Christians cannot lose their salvation.
By Steven O'Keefe, CAA Staff Apologist
The Protestant theology known as Calvinism famously asserts that once a Christian enters into a saving relationship with God, that person’s fate is forever secure.  One of the passages they cite as evidence of this doctrine is Ephesians 1:4, which reads: “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.”  Using this passage, the common assertion is: “If God predestines us Christians, then there is no way for someone adopted into God’s family to lose his/her salvation.”

This passage does indeed talk about predestination.  The question is, predestination to what?  In this case, the gentile audience of Ephesians is being told they were “predestined to adoption”.  But if you're predestined to be adopted as a son/daughter, does that mean you're guaranteed to remain in a saving relationship with Christ?  Isn't it also possible for an adopted child to run away from home or do something to get disinherited?

We can turn to the parable of the Prodigal Son for an answer.  In this parable we start with a young man who is a son of the father, residing in the father’s house, and “alive”.  Then he spurns his father and leaves.  At this point, the father indicates his son's status is “dead” [Lk 15:32]. So in this parable (which clearly relates to our spiritual lives) we see how a person can be a child of the father and nonetheless relegate himself to spiritual death. We can do that either by walking away from the faith or by turning to a life of sin.  That's why later in the same letter (Ephesians) Paul warns his audience about the real danger of disinheriting themselves through mortal sin. [Eph 5:3-6]