Results From the Roman Catholic Challenge

Recently we advertised that we would pay $100,000.00 to any Roman Catholic who could pin down the official Roman teaching about certain issues. The challenge was issued in response to the oft-argued, extremely tired line of reasoning that Protestantism is illegitimate by virtue of the differences in belief within Protestant denominations--or, as Scott Hahn likes to call it, the "anarchy" of Protestantism. Obviously if this line of argument is legitimate, then it must also act as a standard by which to measure the legitimacy of any religious system. So, we decided to test the Roman Catholic's own system using this same measure.

Preliminary Observations

Surely, one who so vehemently argues against the legitimacy of Protestantism by pointing out variations of belief among Protestant denominations would first ensure that his own system was not also excluded on the same grounds. Moreover, the argument is not one of a matter of degree of difference--it is that there are differences, period. One cannot, for instance, argue that his religious system is more legitimate on the basis that there is less disagreement within it than within other systems of belief. It is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either disagreements nullify the legitimacy of a religious system, or they do not. Otherwise, the best that one can argue is that his religious system more nearly conforms to the standard, but does not actually meet the standard. Finally, keep in mind that the "diversity of belief" argument is one that was invented by Roman Catholic apologists. We do not agree with its premise at all; but any system that argues for an arbitrary criterion for being the "true" church must itself conform to that criterion. We think the comments from the Roman Catholic contenders who responded to the Challenge pretty much speak for themselves.

While reading through the contestants' responses to the challenge questions, the reader will be struck by the fact that Roman Catholics tend to misread statements rather consistently. This theme emerges time and again, but particularly with regard to the first few challenges. In more than a few cases, some very presumptuous Roman Catholics have written me to declare that one or another contestant "won" the challenge and that I should send payment to them immediately--none of them had read any of my responses to the contestant to which they referred, and all of them invariably misread the challenge questions. One was so presumptuous as to tell me what was the proper interpretation of my own words! Obviously, I can act as the infallible interpreter of anything I have written. The Inquisitor (not an inappropriate designation for a Roman Catholic : ) insisted that my challenge offered to reward just anyone who happened to respond to the challenge questions. However, the challenge questions themselves (questions 1-3 excepting) ask for the (singular) Roman Catholic position on certain issues. The reason we want to know what the Roman Catholic position is on these issues is that (as we mentioned above) no one who views Protestantism as illegitimate based on differences of opinion regarding the meaning of the Bible's teaching on certain issues can at the same time be involved in a religious system that itself produces differences of opinion among its adherents regarding certain doctrinal issues. Obviously, these Roman Catholic inquisitors either do not wish to grapple with this inconsistency, or, worse, are unable to grasp it.

I should point out one more thing. Initially I intended to post all the responses to all the challenge questions at one time. However, due to stringent time constraints on my part, that course of action necessarily implied that nothing would be posted until at least the end of the year, if not longer. Many of the readers know that I have been working on my doctorate. Actually, I have been working toward two doctorates; one is a Doctorate of Theological Studies, while the other is a Ph.D. I have just recently finished the first, and hope to finish the second by next Summer. Also, as many of you know I have a few debates coming up next Spring (three to be exact), and along with being president of a corporation, my plate has, needless to say, been quite full. The contestant responses easily fills over 100 pages of text. I have therefore opted to post the challenge questions/responses as they become available (translated, as I have time). This may take as long as several months. However, the contest is not thereby ill-affected since all of the contestants (as the reader shall see) failed the contest on the very first question. The challenge questions are listed below, and are hyper-linked to their respective responses:

Challenge Questions and Responses

General Comments

Tell us how you came to decide that Rome was the "true" church without engaging in the very private judgment that Rome condemns as illegitimate.
Demonstrate that those ecclesial systems that follow "Scripture plus an Infallible Interpreter" are more unified in their beliefs than those ecclesial systems that follow Sola Scriptura.
Demonstrate that you picked the "true" church from among all the other "true" churches that say you can’t rightly understand the Bible and church history without their help, such as the Eastern Orthodox church, the Watchtower Society, Mormonism, and every other cult that exists (remember, you can’t use private judgment for this since you are fallible).
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the Inerrancy of the Bible--does it contain errors or not?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on Predestination--is it the position of Augustine? Scotus? Molina? Aquinas?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on interpreting the Genesis account--was there a literal Adam and Eve, or did evolution take place?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on whether or not Jonah was really swallowed by a "great fish."
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus ("no salvation outside the church"). Is it the view of Vatican II, or the view of every Roman document before Vatican II? Should Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox be embraced as "brothers" (as Vatican II teaches), or should they be eternally condemned as heretics (as all pre-Vatican II documents teach)?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on Vatican II. Was it an infallible ecumenical council? Does it contradict earlier teachings of Rome (as the Traditionalists claim)?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on Divine Revelation. Is it all found in Scripture, or is it partly in Scripture and partly in Tradition?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the decisions of the synods of Hippo and Carthage (which lists the books of the canon). Were these infallible "councils"? Were they right in their list of OT books, or was Trent right in its list instead?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the Greek manuscripts of the NT. Are we to trust the Byzantine text-type (as Roman Catholic apologist Bob Sungenis does), or are we to trust the Eclectic test type (as do almost all of Sungenis' colleagues)?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the Eucharist. Is it a "real," bodily presence, or is it a sacramental presence?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on Transubstantiation. Is this something the church has "always held from the beginning" (as Trent claims), or did this belief develop over time? And for that matter . . .
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the formulation of doctrine. Was the apostolic deposit complete in the first century (as Trent claims), or did doctrine develop over time (as Newman claims)?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on how to interpret the Bible. Should we use critical methods such as redaction criticism and form criticism, or were these officially condemned by Pius X's Pascendi Dominici Gregis?
Tell us what the Roman Catholic position is on the novus ordo mass? Is it binding and infallible? Or is it just an option among other options? Is the Latin mass still valid, or is it merely an accommodation to those who are not inclined to change with the Roman times?
Did Mary die?