Here is are links containing answers to questions asked during the last two sessions. I realize it is a lot of information, but as you know, all of the emails I send you also go directly onto our bible study blog: stjeromebiblestudy.blogspot.com.
Will the Jerusalem temple be rebuilt?
What does the Catholic Church teach about the general and particular judgements and the resurrection of the body? (also see CCC 988-1065)
Who is the "Ark of the New Covenant"? I think we covered this last week, but this question was asked 2 sessions ago, so I'd already found this reference.)
Why did the Christians leave Jerusalem before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70?
Last session we had a few brief discussions about the place of devotions/such as the Rosary, the prayer for the intervention of St. Michael the Archangel in the spiritual life of the individual Catholic Christian. Other topics that may come up at Friday's session may be the role of faith/works in salvation, Catholic moral teaching on divorce/remarriage, the practice of homosexuality, prayer to saints for their intercession, etc (I watched the lecture!).
Ark of the New Covenant:
I would like to provide some reliable sources for Catholic Apologetics: apologetics specifically means "a reasoned defense or justification" of the teachings of the Catholic Church-knowing why we do what we do, believe what we believe. learning to explain and defend the Catholic faith with confidence and ease". 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence".
Catholic Apologetics has absolutely exploded over the past 15+ years! There are many good resources that will answer all of your questions about the faith and help you to explain it to others:
1. The Coming Home Network: chnetwork.org. Many excellent resources on this website. One in particular that is my FAVORITE are archived episodes of The Journey Home which I have watched for many years-others have commented that it is one of their favorite shows. https://chnetwork.org/journey-home/. These are 1 hour in-depth interviews of individuals who have converted to Catholicism from a variety of Protestant denominations and other world religions such as Judaism Islam and agnosticism and atheism. All of the Catholic doctrines and dogmas are discussed in great depth and in a very gentle and thoughtful way by Marcus Grodi, a former Presbyterian pastor, who is an outstanding interviewer.
2. Catholic Answers podcasts https://www.catholic.com/audio and the Catholic Answers website catholic.com which I use to find answers to the questions raised in the Bible Study.
3. Catholic Apologists whose books/articles you may want to "google" and read: Jeff Cavins, Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Steve Ray (who is speaking at the upcoming Women of Christ Conference)- all of whom were Protestant pastors. Patrick Madrid is another.
Representative books:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0964261081/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 -there are 3 books in this series of conversion stories.
Anyway, all of the above have been extremely helpful to me in my search for the truth of the Catholic faith, so I thought I'd share them with you as we discuss these common questions in Catholic Apologetics!
See you Friday, God bless!
Krishna Smith
Sent from my iPad