Anti-Catholic: I am a current member of the Roman Catholic Church. I want to discuss the Catholic faith with you. Watch this video and think for yourself. ::Insert anti-Catholic video:: Please leave the Catholic Church. I am leaving the church. I recommend you do also.
Me: Sadly, that video was wildly imaginary and fanciful. It was filled with errors.
Anti-Catholic: You ignore the Scriptures!! The Pope is the beast, not Nero. Look at the Pope’s title. VICARIUS FILLI DEI [spelled wrong]. It reads, “Vicar of the Son of God” and numerically it adds up to 666 showing that the pope is the Beast and the anti-Christ talked about in the Book of Revelation.
Me: Vicarius Filii Dei is one of those terrible arguments that 7th Day Adventists promote. The problem with this argument is that this has never been a title for the pope. It has never been used by a pope or by the Catholic Church, yet this myth keeps getting promulgated.
Anti-Catholic: The Roman Catholic Church is the official Church of Satan. It abolished the Sabbath and the Passover (Revelation 18:1-2). I hate Catholicism and its pagan doctrines. Please do your homework.
Me: Could you please show me the words “the Catholic Church is from Satan” in the Bible. It is not there. No offense, but this is your personal interpretation of Scripture based off of a random YouTube video that was riddled with errors.
In addition, you did not respond to the Vicarius Filii Dei argument which you brought up. I had mentioned that this title was never used for a pope and so doesn’t prove your point that the pope is the Beast. You never responded to this.
Anti-Catholic: You worship Jesus in vain you fools, you idolaters. So, you will teach me, huh? You don’t even know the history of Roman Catholic Church.
Me: Receiving your “history” lesson from a YouTube video is not real history, my friend. How many history books have you read written by a Catholic? In other words, have you even studied your own faith before running away? What encyclopedias or historians can you quote to verify the garbage in this YouTube video?
Anti-Catholic: Prepare to perish in hell if you still follow Catholicism. I know the reason behind why you won’t listen, but you are exposed.
[SIDE NOTE: Notice how anti-Catholics like to ignore questions proposed to them. Moreover, they rarely provide any facts when asked to. They replace solid intellectual responses with insults, condemnations, and emotional rantings. It’s sad really, and we must feel badly for them and pray for them. Also, we must never act like them.]
Me: My friend, you have not given me any answers yet. You didn’t answer my questions above. You just insulted me in return informing me that I was going to burn.
Anti-Catholic: All Catholic holidays are pagan festivals. Your popes are evil. They pray with their heads covered which is against the Bible. And they changed the Sabbath. What kind of an evil church would change the Sabbath?
[APOLOGETICS NOTE: Seeing that this conversation was going nowhere and that he continued to introduce new topics even though former ones had not been dealt with, I decided to use a common apologetics tactic of trying to get him to stick to one topic. If this technique works, it focuses the conversation and helps to have a better discussion. If it does not work, then the conversation is a waste of time and we can just pray for him instead. Let’s see what happens.]
Me: You brought up the popular 7th Day Adventist argument Vicarius Fillii Dei. I specifically stated that this was a false argument and that the Catholic Church has never used this title as an official title of the pope. You ignored that. I want you to address it. You seem to have a lot of hate, but do you have humility to admit this argument is wrong?
Anti-Catholic: What do you say about pagan festivals? In that video, all proofs were given. You are not ready to listen to anything which I am saying. See that video properly and if any errors can be found.
Moreover, you say Vicarius Fille Dei [he continues to spell wrong] has never been the title of pope. You are being completely dishonest about this. Look at this link. https://youtu.be/BPsAUtfyv1k. Catholic Newspaper dated 18 April 1915. You guys expose yourselves. See the evidence?
Me: First, I told you several errors in the video. Second, my statement was that this has never been an official title used by the pope or the Catholic Church. If you disagree, then you have to procure an official source and prove it. However, you only provided a Catholic newspaper which is not remotely an official source.
Anything may be written in a Catholic newspaper. Sadly, there are Catholic newspapers that sometimes print anti-catholic articles. So please provide an official source.
Anti-Catholic: Keep following paganism. There’s evidence, but you will deny it. I know that the POPE is a bloody prostitute.
Me: Nice response! You failed to provide a single official source to back up your statement. Instead, you merely resorted to attacks and insults. This is so typical for anti-Catholics, but I would prefer more intellectual arguments. It seems you have a hard and angry heart. I will pray for you, friend.
Anti-Catholic: Typical sh*t you talk my friend.
Me: I thought you were a man of God. Men of God do not speak like that or use such language. You are getting angry, and yet, in your anger, you have failed to prove your point regarding Vicarius Filii Dei. You have not provided a single official source, so please don’t get mad at me. Just provide a source or some proof.
Anti-Catholic: You are a mere blasphemy to Jesus. You worship him in vain.
Me: That is an emotional, nonfactual, opinion you are giving. I am a person of facts, and if you want to convince me, then you have to offer facts. If you do not, then this conversation is over.
Anti-Catholic: I don’t need to give any facts or evidence. That all rests all upon you.
Me: Of course you need facts. You made a statement that you cannot prove in the first place. If you don’t provide facts and support your claim, then it’s just your opinion.
Anti-Catholic: You are all idolaters.
Me: There you go calling names again. That is opinion and a poor substitute for facts and rational conversation. The issue is that you cannot support your claim and have no proof to offer. Thus, you just keep resorting to insults.
Anti-Catholic: Easter and Christmas are pagan holidays.
Me: Now you are trying to change the subject.
[NOTE: For obvious reasons, I am starting to get a bit frustrated here. I say a quick prayer to God to help me remain charitable and loving. It’s difficult to discuss with someone who is 100% emotionally charged and seemingly quite angry, which may be indicative of something deeper. I decide to tighten the above apologetics technique one last time and hold him to some proof with short replies that repeat my request. Many times, this technique works really well. It backs people into a corner to either answer the question, realize there is no proof, or to walk away. Sometimes, it reveals that the person is incapable of having a normal conversation and that we should just pray for him.]
Me: Please have a little humility and intellectual honesty before God and admit the Vicarius Filii Dei argument is erroneous.
Anti-Catholic: I don’t have to answer that. You are a pagan. Your church is pagan.
Me. That’s not an admission but changing the subject. Admit this argument is wrong about the Pope’s title, and then we can discuss any other topic of your choice.
Anti-Catholic: Your end is destruction in hell. You are blind!
Me: That is your opinion again. I only want facts. Show me one official Catholic source that uses the title Vicarius Filii Dei.
Anti-Catholic: Keep following man-made rules.
Me: Show me an official source that uses that title, please.
Anti-Catholic: I said it already earlier. A Catholic newspaper dated 18 April 1915. No further evidence is needed.
Me: A newspaper is not an official source. We discussed this. It is a journalist’s opinion and/or write up, not a Church teaching. So give me an official source, please.
Anti-Catholic: You follow the Beast.
Me: That’s your personal opinion still. I am waiting on the proof you claimed that you had. Provide me an official source, please.
Anti-Catholic: Ok fine. I will give you an official source. On one condition.
Me: Considering you believe that a mere newspaper is an official source, you have me a little concerned. But I am open. What is the proof?
Anti-Catholic [changing the topic again]: First you tell me why they abolished Sabbath and Passover.
Me: You are trying to change the subject again. Admit you’re wrong first about the pope’s title and we can change the subject.
Anti-Catholic: You also didn’t show me credible evidence.
Me: You are the one making the claim. You have to back it up.
Anti-Catholic: Keep telling yourself that.
Me: You stated that Vicarius Filii Dei was a title of the pope, but it never has been. The real issue here, if you are honest with yourself, is that you have no facts and no proof. You cannot back it up. If you could, you would have provided the source or sources by now.
Anti-Catholic: It’s the same with you.
Me: Where is your source? If you had an official source, then you would have given it by now. However, you have not.
Anti-Catholic: It was said already that I don’t need to give anything to you.
Me: That is because you can’t. Therefore, it is just your opinion and void of facts, and you should admit you are incorrect on this.
Anti-Catholic: You are all blind and stupid.
Me: I’m blind? You’re the one making false accusations that you cannot substantiate. That is holding blindly to something.
Anti-Catholic: Keeping covering your heads, pagans.
Me: You’re still trying to change the subject. If you cannot provide evidence and admit you’re wrong, then this conversation is over.
Anti-Catholic: Admit that you all distort Scriptures and present them in your own way.
Me: Well… I tried to have the conversation with you that you requested, but you refuse to have a normal, rational, intellectual conversation. You just change the subject, make false claims against the Catholic Church, or sling insults.
I don’t have time to discuss with people who are hateful and can’t even hold a conversation on one topic without answering simple questions. However, I promise to pray for you. May God bless you and have mercy on you.
END NOTE: There are some people who you just can’t talk to. They are incapable of rational conversation either because their hate blinds them, or they have been hurt deeply which blinds them, or perhaps they are not mentally well. There are different reasons for this, but the above apologetics technique usually works for people who are somewhat open and capable of rational discussion. Conversations like this sadden me. People like this sadden me. I would’ve liked to discuss his other objections, but he wasn’t even capable of answering a simple question, offering proof, or admitting that he was incorrect.
You cannot talk to somebody who is not open. You must leave that to Jesus. Jesus, the Lord of all, has to be the one who does the heavy lifting. So pray for them. Pray for these people and their souls. And perhaps for whatever has happened in their life that has made them this way. Any person who will leave their religion over a YouTube video has bigger issues. If the YouTube video can’t be corroborated with actual history, science, or truth, then it cannot be brought to the table as proof.
Here at Catholic Truth, our YouTube channel is dedicated to teaching and preaching the truth of the Catholic faith which Catholics can trust, rely on, and matches up with what the Catholic Church has taught for 2000 years. It can be authenticated by official Catholic Church teaching. Unfortunately, many YouTube channels that are anti-Catholic are filled with hate, errors, mistakes, misunderstandings, and more. Which is why we need to pray for them all the more.
