Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If in fact the Catholic Church taught what this book potrays as official Catholic teaching, I too would leave the church. The problem is this book's interpretations of Catholic teaching are inaccurate, distorted, and in some cases flat out untrue. This book is challenging for "cultural Catholics" and ignorant Catholics because it has many shades of Catholic truth and teachings they would recognize. But these truths are often twisted or misrepresented, therefore they are not accurate Catholic teaching, but something else. If one is really knowledgable of scripture and AUTHENTIC Catholic teaching, this book's errors and distortions are obvious and clear.

If you are going to challenge Catholic teaching, you have to at least present authentic Catholic teaching accurately and completely. This books fails to do to accomplish this.

It's apparent from other reviews this book is a love it or hate it. As I said, I loved it. I was born and raised Catholic and am now at a point in my life of searching for a bit more than what I am finding in my Catholic church. This book helped answer questions to a few things I had questioned myself throughout the years, and it also pointed out many other things I hadn't thought of. I would agree, it does sound a bit harsh against the Catholic faith, but McCarthy backs all of these arguments up with scripture. I highly recommend this book.

To sum up this book in too words would be to say, "Strawman Fallacy." I am a protestant and I look at this book and see idiocy. He takes what Catholics believe and distorts them in terrible ways. If the Catholic Church was like he describes it to be, then it would need reform. It is not, however, anything like it. This is another example on the scandal of the evangelical mind, that is to say, "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is no evangelical mind"(Mark Knoll). He makes the protestant church look bad. Some protestant evangelicals write idiotic things like this which has the affect of making the whole church look bad. Books like this are why protestants are not normally considered intellectuals. I strongly believe that it is time for protestants to move beyond their ignorance like God calls us to.

I recently read the book by James McCarthy entitled "Talking With Catholic Friends And Family". I have read other books by Mr. McCarthy, including "The Gospel According to Rome". In the prior book, Mr. McCarthy did a fairly decent job of presenting the Catholic viewpoint and then presenting his viewpoint and why he believes it is biblically correct. As a Roman Catholic, it was interesting and enlightening to see clear explanations of what one believes. I mention this because I did not find his most recent book "Talking With Catholic Friends And Family" to be nearly as tolerant. Mr. McCarthy appears to be convinced that there is no salvation in the Catholic Church and that anyone who discovered Jesus cannot in truth remain in the Catholic Church. Apparently it doesn't matter what Christian church you are involved in, as long as it isn't Catholic. If you believe this statement, this book is for you! But if you are looking for solid informaton about the Catholic Faith, this is not the place to go. You'd be much better off getting a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and spending the time reading that and following the cross-references to Scripture. There are many, many books, both Catholic and non-Catholic, that do a much, much better job explaining the Catholic Faith.

I read this book in the process of reading the viewpoints of both critics and defenders of the Catholic faith.

I have read both this and "The Gospel According to Rome", and I have seen "Catholicism: Crisis of Faith". McCarthy's "The Gospel According to Rome" seemed to me to be a bit more balanced, presenting a more thorough investigation into the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other church documents. By contrast this book strikes me as a bit patronizing and, in many areas, misleading. In all fairness to James McCarthy, he was probably just trying to simplify the material for a shorter presentation. However, I think that something was lost in the process.

First, I am very skeptical as to whether the conversations recorded in the book actually took place - the dialog seemed a bit contrived to me. If they were real conversations, they are not like any that I have had with Catholic priests or laity. If they were fictional conversations used to help make the material more readable, that's OK as long as that is explicitly stated somewhere in the book.

The second significant problem I had with the book was the material on the Eucharist. First, I didn't see it mentioned that the concept of the Real Presence is one that has been there since the earliest days of the Church (mentioned by many early Church fathers). Second, the quotation from John 16:25 (supposedly refuting a literal interpretation) was in the context of a discussion about the Passion and the coming of the Holy Spirit, not a discussion of eating and drinking his blood (which was back in John 6). I would like to give McCarthy the benefit of the doubt, but this out-of-context "proof text" caused me to read on with much greater scrutiny.

The last objection I have to this and other material from McCarthy on this subject is the fact that he, like Jack Chick and others, uses scare tactics to try and get people to leave the Catholic Church in a hurry. He quotes Revelation 18:4-5 (which equates the Catholic Church to Babylon) and 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, both of which, seem to exhort believers to leave the Catholic Church or else share "her plagues." I believe that this detracts from serious, thoughtful consideration of the issues, and as long as critics persist in equating the Catholic Church with Babylon (or any variation thereof) it will be difficult to have genuine dialog.

I am sorry to give this such a poor review - I believe that James McCarthy is operating out of a sincere concern for those who, in his view, are in a false system of belief. However, when it comes to matters of people's salvation, we have to hold one another to high standards of honesty and scholarship, especially since McCarthy seems to be fully capable of better.

I was born and raised a Catholic and recently left the church for a bible based church. After reading this book (in one day because it was so interesting), I realized how little I actually knew about my old religion. This book is for you if you have Catholic friends you want to relate to. It is an awesome resource for people conflicted w/ the CAtholic teachings and the Bible.

This book was especially helpful for me in understanding why many Catholics can agree with concepts of the gospel (Christ's diety, actual death to pay for our sin, and physical resurection) and still not be saved! Part of it is that they may use the same terms that evangelical Christians do, but they hold different meaning for them. The book illustrates this very well. It also shows how most Catholics do not believe that faith in Christ's work on the cross was sufficient to pay for our salvation... they believe it gets them 99% of the way into heaven (or purgatory, as the case may be), but they feel responsible to do their 1% to earn the rest of their way.

I appreciated how the author is not a Catholic hater, rather he is deeply moved to help those wrestl;ing with the inconsistancies and frustration that one runs into while trying to merrit their own salvation.

The author wrote this book because he loves Catholics and wants them to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, not through their trusting in religious liturgy and sacraments.

We must love Roman Catholics enough to tell them the truth even if they malign and assign all manner of ill to the messenger. Some will become angry, others will respond in faith. Nevertheless, if we truly love them, we will not hold back the truth simply because they are displeased with the message.

James G. McCarthy's writings and ministry never "bash." That is not his calling. This is not a book of unrighteous judgment or condemnation. You may have noticed that every doctrine of Catholicism brings members into bondage to the Catholic church. By that I mean, they need their church to be saved. They require their church to receive forgiveness for their sins. They need their church for everything! Religion brings man into bondage; conversely, saving faith according to God's Word does not.

" Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one." 1 Corinthians 2:14-15

Spiritual maturity demands that we test doctrines, values, and weigh propositions and exercise sensible discretion--in order to discover true character of those claiming to be "Bashed."

James G. McCarthy, a former Roman Catholic is widely published. Without cost, one can read his writings that demonstrate by their character, the fallaciousness and ill will of those who slander him.

As you read, my sincere prayer is that God will reveal His truth to your heart and mind. God bless you.

I greatly enjoyed this book. This down to earth presentation was a great read. The author while being non confrontational, does not hold back the truth, showing that the errors of the Roman church are not found in the Bible.

Talking With Catholic Friends And Family was a very good read. It shows true love in how to talk to your friends about Roman Catholicism.

After reading three books from Jim McCarthy, I an sure he is using Biblical truths and a willing to help others who may be stuck in a rut of religion without faith.