Customer Reviews

Catholicism: Crisis of Faith

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'd have a problem w/ Catholics too if they believed many of the things this video says they believe...but I am a Catholic, I know my faith, I welcome challenges and can say that this is a gross misrepresentation of what I believe.

This video was a shock to me because McCarthy didn't take the time to find out what Catholics really believe. It's only goal seemed to be Catholic bashing. It implied several things that we don't believe. Such as thinking a statue could make it stop raining, Mary being a co-saviour with Jesus (that's absolutely not anything like what we believe), that Jesus' sacrifice is not finished (we believe his sacrifice is once and for all), that we try to re-sacrifice him (he said "do this in memory of me), that we ommitted the second commandment at some point in time, that we worship statues like Romans did their gods ( we use statues only in the way God says is good in Numbers 21: 8-10, 2 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 6: 23-36God isn't opposed to images when used for the proper purpose, only when worshipped as a God. I Chronicles 28:18 God ordained there be statues of Cherubim over the Arc of the Covenant. Galatians 3:1 has the Galatians looking at a crucifix.

I respect my Protestant friends who genuinely want to know what I believe and ask me, but this is an example of a person twisting what Catholics believe or not informing themselves. In a way, I'm honored Protestants took the time to watch something about my faith, but the problem is that this is not at all what we believe, and it never was. I know my faith, and this movie really doesn't.

If you really want to know what Catholics believe and why, I'd suggest any of these books. One of the most important questions we can ask is "what does the Bible say?"

Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic FaithNuts & Bolts: A Practical Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith

I have watched this erroneous video and I have also heard one of the priests who were interviewed in this documentary. I heard his side and what really happened. For instance, he who was taken way out of context... he was interviewed for long periods of time and then the tape only used short clips and spliced them together to make him sound ignorant about god and about his faith. They even asked him the 'same' question many times over and over again, making him repeat himself. So, frustrated after the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time, he answered, "I don't know what else to say", or "there's nothing I can add to that." At this point, the video producers take 'those' lines and insert them after juicy questions to make it seem like the priest has no answers and can't answer the objections... but that is not the truth of what happened. Rather, they put the priest in a bad light intentionally. It's very dishonest and unprofessional.
I have at least 3 typed pages of errors for this documentary, and they are horrendous. If you would like to see and know more, read on down below. If not, then I recommend quality Catholic, unbiased literature and Video. If you really want to know what Catholics believe, you can by the talk: "Why Be Catholic?" by Tim Staples, or can read "Catholicism Vs. Fundamentalism" by Karl Keating. These are truthful representations of Catholicism from an unbiased point of view.

FOR THOSE WHO CARE AND WANT MORE..... Here are a couple of the major errors in this video. There are many more:

#1. One of my biggest problems: The documentary that I saw stated, "Catholics have confused Mary's role with Christ's," and then shows "Mary" nailed to a cross. This is a 'huge' issue. The person on the cross in question is not Mary, but a Saint from Ecuador whose father actually did crucify her. I have "heard" that this part has been taken out of later videos, yet the fact that this grave error was in there in the first place is both concerning and disheartening. This is such a huge blunder, and it seriously damages the credibility of the documentary.

#2. It was stated that Catholics don't use St. Christopher any more, that they just scratched him as a saint. This is not true. St. Christopher's spot on the Roman calendar has been updated by more recent and more well known saints, but that's not the same as discarding him, saying that he's no longer a saint. Big difference.

#3. Another point made in the documentary: "The belief that there was a change in the bread was not invented until 1215 AD. - This was the first time the church sanctioned that theory?"
1215? There is unanimous consent of the true presence of the Eucharist back until the earliest days of Christianity, certainly before 1215 AD. this is just flat out wrong. 2 examples among countless:
St. Athanasius (373 A.D.): But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the body, and the wine the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. ... This bread and wine, so long as the prayers and supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But, after the great prayers and supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread and wine - and thus is His body confected.
Justin Martyr (Around 150AD)- "We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus." (emphasis mine)

And there are many more ...

Too much propaganda for me. If the interviews were presented unedited it would make this film completely different. There are also mistakes made that the producer has acknowledged but refused to remove them. Those who watch this should take it upon themselves to really look into the claims made about Catholicism.

There is nothing to be gained by such an anti- Catholic video.
In using small sound bytes and overly edited interviews this video seeks to show the "truths" of the Catholic Faith.
The truth of the film is that James McCarthy, is a disgruntled former Catholic, who today he is a Fundamentalist minister who describes the Catholic Church and its teachings as "an insult to the finished work of Christ."
If you want to know the truth about Catholic teaching-- this is not the film for you.

Of all my tapes this is in my top 5 videos of all time.

We placed 50 different educational videos on many subjects in our waiting room for patients to watch. For over 15 years at least one person a month would say, Thank You for the [ASIN:188483308X Catholicism: Crisis of Faith]] video.

We never interrupted them when they watched this video. Everyone said it was well done and made them think, never was anyone ever upset. Catholics can be obstinate but eventually they do listen.

I highly recommend this DVD.

This video was given to me (a cradle Catholic at the time) from a Baptist youth minister when I was in high school. He gave it to me because he wanted me to have a look at what he thought the Catholic faith was all about. I can thank the Holy Spirit, this youth minister and this video for lighting a fire inside of me to find out the truth about what the Catholic church TRULY teaches, and it is definitely not what this video contains. It sure did give me great inspiration to find the truth for myself, though. Many of the claims in the video are outlandish, but that's why I decided to find out for myself, with lots of time spent reading scriptures, studying the early church fathers and the writings by many protestant ministers who became Catholic (Scott Hahn, Marcus Grodi, Thomas Howard, Francis Beckwith, Steve Ray).

I am proud to say that I continued to study and grow in my Catholic faith, and am completely confident that the Catholic church is the pillar and foundation of truth. Praise to God that I did not abandon the church that Christ himself established when he walked on earth.

This video is incredible. As a former catholic, it took me over two years the hard way to learn much of what is summed up in such a thorough and well cited way in this one hour video. I can confidently say that anyone that criticizes this video has yet to refer to the scriptures that they are referencing in the video which go against Catholic doctrine. As a former Catholic I am fully aware of the pride and bias that Catholics have for all other denominations, I mean your faith is part heritage. However, from one past catholic to those that are still in the catholic church I plead with you to watch this video multiple times with a CCC with you and a Bible and to compare the two. While tradition is good to some extent, if it contradicts THE WORD OF GOD then we have some real problems. Please please please investigate this for yourself by reading the bible. I spent over 20 active years in the Catholic church and like so many was guilty of never reading the bible, ohhhhh what a mistake that was.

I used this video to teach a class on Catholic Apologetics. The class would watch one of the segments and then we would address the material presented (sometimes over a few class sessions). After that idea was throughly explored, we would move on to the next section of the video. In using the video, I divided the material into 3 categories - (1) Correct presentation of the Catholic faith, (2) Misunderstandings of the Catholic faith, (3) Misrepresentations of the Catholic faith. In each case we used only the Bible to refute the errors the video presented. Though it was a little gut wrenching to watch, it was a very valuable tool in firming up the Catholic faith of the class and giving them an insight into the thoughts of the opponents of Jesus' Church and how to defend the truth!!

Very professionally done and highly informative. This dvd helped me understand the major doctrinal differences between Rome and Biblical Christianity. Also many of the historical truths presented here were real eye openers. This is a must see for anyone seeking truth. It's great that there are seven international languages available on this one dvd (with Chinese subtitles as an option). Also, it is interesting to note that the English version was filmed in the US, the Spanish version in Latin America, and German version in Germany. Each interviewing priests, nuns, ex priests and ex nuns from their native parts of the world.

I was born and raised Catholic. I left the church when I was 28... I just thank God I finally saw the truth, and what is the truth? The word of God...the Bible.
I wanted to convert my wife to the Catholic religion. She asked me, "What do they believe?" Since I wasn't as stong in my Catholic faith as I should have been, I said, "You know, let's take a look together." We took a Catechism and started looking through it. We could not believe what we saw! Many, many things contradicted the Bible. From changing the 10 commandments, to no mention of Prugatory, to not really knowing where I was going when I died. I could seriously write a book about all the things that differ from the Bible.
I am now trying to bring my entire family out of the spiritual fog of the Catholic church. This video is the key, if Catholics see this video and do not RUN from the Catholic chuch, then they need to figure out who they want to serve, Man's traditions and doctrines OR the written word of GOD. When the Catholic Catechism is a bigger book than the bible, and that book is not totally judged by the Bible, look out for serious deviations from the word of God. There is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, and to give us everlasting life. All that is required is that we ask him to come in to our life.

He brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied , "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." ACTS 16:30-31 NIV - Praise and Glorify His name!!!