Customer Reviews

Where is That in the Bible?

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This pocket-size book by veteran apologist Patrick Madrid is a powerful resource for Catholics that need a quick Bible verse to justify Catholic teachings.

Not only does each chapter handle the most common objections about the faith (the papacy, sola scriptura, the saints, Mary, and the sacraments), but each also provides a plethora of Biblical verses to support the Catholic teachings in each case.

The nice thing about this book, aside from its size (which makes it easy to carry with you), is that it provides Scripture for issues beyond the typical objections raised. Interested readers will discover Biblical citations on issues such as abortion, tithing, non-Catholic beliefs, drinking and other issues - giving it some merit even outside of Catholic circles.

While there are several books like this in existence, few have gathered so much good information all into one place.

This book is not a theological compendium of all Catholic Beliefs.

If you want that, go buy a Catechism.

This book is not an apologetics manual for how to irrefutably defend the faith.

If you want that, I suggest Scott Hahn's tape series *Answering Common Objections*, or some other such material.

If we're clear on what this book is NOT, let's look at what it is.

It IS a reference book. It IS the kind of thing you want to keep handy at all times, or better yet, memorize it. It IS the sort of supplement that is nice to have when you KNOW the words of the bible, but you don't remember the chapter and verse. It IS the kind of thing that's nice when you KNOW the logic behind a teaching, but you need a list of bible verses that support it. It IS a kind of cross-reference guide that will help you become familiar with all the places in the bible that support Catholic teaching, so that you don't have to rely on one lonely proof-text.

This really is more like a Yellow Pages, with a handy tab-style reference on the sides of the pages, for fast, easy reference. It's a great investment, at a great price. Do yourself the favor of buying and memorizing this book.

Where has this book been all my life? I am so happy to have found it! It's given me hundreds of Bible verses (in context) that my husband and I can use in our discussions with our non-Catholic family and friends. So many of them are used to putting Catholics on the defensive with the magic question: "Where is that in the Bible? Hmmmm?" This book has the answers! I bought a copy at a parish conference the author spoke at, and since then I have bought several other copies to give out to friends. This book isn't an exhaustive or comprehensive explanation of all the Bible verses for all Catholic doctrines, and it doesn't pretend to be. Instead, I personally have found it to be a handy, clear, and extremely "user-friendly" quick reference book. And that's exactly what I and many, many Catholics have needed for so long. Now we have it with this wonderful new book.

The art of defending beliefs soley by scriptural reference is not one historically well developed in the Catholic church. Many times growing up, I would ask my mother or a faith formation teacher why Catholics believe something, and the response would be becuse the Church has always said that.

The fact is that the Church would not say something that was not supported by scripture, but when thrust into the Bible Belt as a teen, and constantly forced to defend my beliefs which were attacked as "unbiblical," I was not properly prepared for any such dialogue. Only saying "I know it's somewhere in the Bible" does not convince many minds, particularly when the people arguing with you appear to knwo that Bible more thoroughly and insist they never heard of anything to justify your belief.

I wish I had this book then. It is a great handbook for explaining the biblical roots of Catholic beliefs that generally come under attack or that seem difficult to explain by scritural references. Topics included (but are not limited to) the papcy, calling priests "father," communion of saints, Mary, relics, statues, purgatory, slavation, sola sciptura, and the sacraments. All faith formation prgrams should give a copy to all candidates for confirmation (if not a bit sooner) and RCIA. Also, every parent should have a copy so tht when the questions come up, they can quickly find the answers, if they do not remmebr the sources off hand. It also is helpful to people thining about leaving or returning to the Catholic Church, as well as those thinking about entering.

Patrick Madrid describes this book as the fruit of his study of scrpiture. That it comprises notes he made in the margins of his Bible to defend and explain Catholic beliefs. The format is similar to an encyclopedia and has indexes on the side of the pages about the topics, so that it is easy to find support for topics that are the source of your (or others') questions. Each topics has a brief explanation on the doctrine of belief, and usually includes the references to where the belief is articulated in the Cathechism, directing the reader to where the teaching is explained in greater deatil. Then a list of biblical references follows, so the reader can see how the cathechism pulled these teachings out of scripture.

The book also includes scriptural references to provide defense against attacks by Morman, Jehovak Witnesses, and details about the Inquistion.

The book focuses on scriptural references that are shared with the Protestant Bible. Meaning, that the Catholic Bible has more references than the book indicates to support its beliefs, because it includes a more comprehensive collection of Old Testament books, but Madrid wisely does not use these references because they would not have much validity with Prostestants who don't consider those books "biblical."

It is difficult for me to decide whether this is a four star rating or five stars. I wish the book was longer and had more explanations, but at the same time I value its compact size, whcih can easily be carried in a purse or pocket. At times I felt that some of the references used to validate a doctrine were tenuous at best, but upon those occasions, there were many other references on the subject that supported the Church's persepctive more clearly. I also wished at times that Madrid more fully explained the relationship between the scripture verses cited and the doctirne, but doing so would have produced a different sort of book, one long and more difficult to find the references in a pinch. As this book's accessible format is one of its strongest assets, it seems wrong to penalize it by giving it less a star; particularly when the argument involves wanting more of a good thing.

This little book has been a lot of help to me. As a convert to Catholicism, I needed a way to explain the Catholic faith to my parents (I want them to convert, too) and I found it in this book. It provides scriptural support for questions like "Why do Catholics have a priesthood if the Bible says that we are all priests?" and "Do Catholics worship the saints?" I think it is very well done and provides lots of Bible references, in addition to the initial explanation of each topic. This is all done, by the way, in a manner that does NOT suggest that Protestants are stupid and deluded for not believing as Catholics do, which I appreciated. It is simple and matter-of-fact, very readable and easy to use.

Anything Patrick Madrid has written should be owned by any searching Christian, but this book is a must. You will want several copies. It is worth owning just for the first chapter where Patrick introduces one six (6) word sentence and shows how, with the emphasis on a different word each time you read that sentence, without knowing the context and history, you cannot truly understand what is being said. WOW! Now that was amazing, Mr. Madrid! Now we know why the 30,000 different denominations in the world cannot get along with others in their own denomination-not to mention cannot even have lunch with some of the other denominations. Then the book is great for any Catholic or any other Christian who truly wants to understand the TRUTH about "where is that in the Bible?" We are new converts and we are amazed (after years in the scripture) at the ignorance we had about the beliefs of the Church until we started studying Church History and books written by Madrid, Hahn, Keating and many more.

This book, Where is That in the Bible, is simple and filled with verses. Truth is a wonderful thing. Buy it now. You will love it.

This book is exactly what it says it is, a quick reference tool to answer the question, "Where is that in the bible?" While it is true that the questioner seldom will be converted by the Scripture texts that totally disagree with their preconcieved notions about the Catholic Church, the Catholic holding this tool no longer has to be at the mercy of the individual who has spent his time memorizing proof texts, while ignoring the rest of the Bible.

As is a fine Swiss Army knife to an avid outdoorsman, this book is essential to both the career apologist and the weekend evangelist. With a mere flick of the thumb, these pages fall open to a well crafted and highly researched response to any snare that a Bible thumping Protestant might lay in your spiritual path. Madrid's deft, eloquent explanations,-coupled with his meticulous Scriptural citations, -make this book the all-purpose survival tool for those of us who oft times feel that we're hacking our way through a tangle of "Biblical" challenges to our faith.

Problem with the Papacy? Flip open age 30. Need to refute an attack on Mary? Page 65. Got somebody questioning the existence of purgatory? Page 84. Etc., etc., etc.

I've worked with Madrid on a couple of his books, yet this small gem remains my favorite.

On page 14, Madrid recommends that the reader "take the notes and verses listed here and highlight them in your Bible." I did. The Bible I use when debating Protestants bears notes and citations I gleaned from Patrick Madrid's Where is That in the Bible. Your Bible should,too.

This is a wonderful book! It gave a wealth of basic information from the Bible to help me better explain my Catholic beliefs in a way that my evangelical Protestant friends will relate to: from the Bible. What I liked best were the concise, clear explanations in each section, showing how to use the Bible verses that may come up when you talk about different doctrines. Praise be to Jesus Christ for helpful books like this.

This book was excellent if you're looking for a Catholic's testimony as to where they get the basis of their religion. However, if you are a non-Catholic Christian and you're looking for a unbiased view, this might not be the best choice. Still, this is a great book. Just be careful -- it just might turn you Catholic.