The purpose of this portion of our web site is assist non-Christians who are seeking to better understand the Christian faith and more specifically, Catholic Christianity.  Although the main audience for these pages are:

• Atheists and Agnostics
• our Jewish brethren/(Judaism)
• Muslims/(Islam)
• Buddhists/(Buddhism) and
• Hindu's/(Hinduism)
  
  as well as those who practice:
  
  
• Confucianism
• Baha'i Faith
• Jainism
• Shinto
• Sikhism and
• Taoism

Because there can be many questions about Christianity and the difference between Catholic Christianity and Far East religions, those who are interested in learning more about Catholic Christianity are encouraged to check out my Catechism program.

Due to the sad reality that the catechesis of both Catholic Christians and non-Catholic Christians has been very poor at times, the average Catholic and non-Catholic Christian, who belongs to a mainstream denomination, will find the content of these pages a "refresher course" on the basics, all Christians should know and accept as believers in Jesus Christ — the One and Only True God and True Man.

I would like to give thanks and credit to the following companies for their materials and strongly recommend you order similar material from them here:

Catholic Viewpoint Publications
1205 Whitlock Avenue
Bronx, New York 10459
Phone: (212) 589-3660

Supplemental material on these pages come from the Oral Tradition of the Church that has been passed to through the centuries.

Mike Humphrey
AskACatholic.com Web Administrator

I. To Be Human Is To Be Religious

IT'S A FACT:

1. The thing that makes man superior to animals is his intellect, his power to think.

Examples:

• A robin will never "think" of building a roof over its nest.
  
  
• A dog or cat who has just given birth to puppies or kittens, will never think about taking out a life insurance policy for their new born's well-being.
  
  
• A pet fish will never be able to manage a successful Hi-Tech company.

IT'S A FACT:

2. Man's intellect demands that he admit there is a God.

• The motion we see in today's world has to have been caused by something that moved it. Whatever moved it, must have been caused by a mover. That mover and mover's before it, must have had an initial "unmoved Mover". (God)
  
  
• For the same reason efficient causes, as we see them operating in this world, imply the existence of a First Cause that is uncaused, i.e. that possesses in itself the sufficient reason for its existence; and this is God.
  
  
• The wonderful order or evidence of intelligent design which the universe exhibits implies the existence of a supramundane Designer, who is no other than God Himself. Otherwise:
  
  
  • How did something as complex as our human eye come into existence?
    
    
  • How did something as complex as a cell phone come into existence?
    
    If by man, where did man get this knowledge from?

THEREFORE:

To deny that there is a God is to act sub-human, to refuse to use the power that elevates man above the animal.

II. To Be Religious Is To Be Christian

IT'S A FACT:

1. Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
   

Examples:

• "And the high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him,
  
  "You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
  
  (Matthew (RSV) 26:62-64)
  

IT'S A FACT:

2. Jesus Christ foretold his resurrection and proved His claim to be God.
   

Examples:

• "And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."
  (Mark (RSV) 8:31)
  
  
  
• And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Hail!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." (Matthew (RSV) 28:9-10)
  
  
• So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
  (John (RSV) 20:25-29)

THEREFORE:

To be a religious man, one must not only, acknowledge God; he must acknowledge Jesus Christ as God.

III. To Be "Fully Christian" Is To Be Catholic

IT'S A FACT:

1. Jesus Christ drew a blueprint of His Church — to distinguish it from false religions.
   

Examples:

• "You therefore, must go out, making disciplines of ALL nations."
  (Matthew 26:63-64)
• "There will be ONE fold, and ONE shepherd." (John 10:16)
• "Holy Father, keep them HOLY, then, through the truth." (John 17:17)
• "Thou are PETER, and upon THIS ROCK,
  
  I will build MY Church"
  
  (Matthew 16:18)

IT'S A FACT:

2. No Church except the Catholic Church matches perfectly even one of these essential requirements.
   

In the United States alone there are over 5,000 Protestant sects.

THEREFORE:

Whether the individual realizes it or not, the only True Christian Church is the:

• ONE
  

• HOLY

• UNIVERSAL and

• APOSTOLIC Church

i.e. the Catholic Church

— despite the occasional bad behavior of some of its members : )

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.

367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly", with "spirit and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. "Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.

368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God.

• The Mineral Kingdom

• MINERALS DO NOT HAVE SOULS.

Examples:

• Coal and Iron cannot grow.
  
  That would be supernatural for them.

• The Plant Kingdom

• PLANTS HAVE MORTAL SOULS.

"Mortal" meaning they have an earthbound or temporary life.

All mortal souls have a "life principle."

Examples:

• Trees and flowers grow; but they cannot walk, talk or think.
  
  That would be supernatural for them.

• The Animal Kingdom

• ANIMALS HAVE MORTAL SOULS.

All animals also have a mortal soul as well; meaning they have an earthbound or temporary life.

Examples:

• Dogs and cats grow and walk; but they cannot think or reason. "Fido" {or whatever the name of your dog is} will never tell anyone what kind of a day he had at the kennels.
• A dog or cat who has just given birth to puppies or kittens, will never think about taking out a life insurance policy for their new born's well-being.
• A pet fish will never be able to manage a successful Hi-Tech company.
  
  That would be supernatural for him.

• The Human Kingdom

• HUMANS HAVE IMMORTAL SOULS.

"Immortal" meaning imperishable or everlasting.

All Men and women have "Immortal" souls that are destine for everlasting life.

Nothing in the

• Mineral,
• Plant, or
• Animal Kingdom

is destine for everlasting life. Each person has his own free will to choose. He/she has been created by God for a specific purpose in this earthly life. The choices he/she make in this life determine what type of everlasting life they will have:

• with God in Heaven or
• without God in Hell.
  
  All immortal souls, not only have a "life principle.", they have an intellect {to think and reason} for the good or, if they choose, for the evil.

• Men and women grow and walk and think. By themselves, with the grace of God, they have learned to:
  
  
• talk
• to tame the animals,
• to light fires,
• build large and small computers
• as well as hydrogen and other types of bombs for evil purposes.

This is the work of human life (intelligence and will), but that is the limit.

To live God's life would be supernatural for man.

• The Life of God

• GOD IS LIFE.

God is not only Life, He is the unCreated Creator who is the author of ALL Life, but He does not keep it to Himself. HE SHARES IT WITH HUMAN BEINGS! He creates man and draws him into His own family circle.

"He has bestowed on us precious and very great promises, to enable us to ... become partakers of the divine nature."
(2 Peter 1:4)

"See what kind of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be children, not merely in the name but in reality."
(1 John 3:1)

"And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father'"
(Galatians 4:6)

---

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1015 "The flesh is the hinge of salvation" (Tertullian, De res. 8, 2:PL 2, 852). We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.

1016 By death, the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection, God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day.

1017 "We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess" (Council of Lyons II: DS 854). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a "spiritual body" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

1018 As a consequence of original sin, man must suffer "bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned" (GS § 18).

1019 Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God, his Father. By his death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men.

1. God the Father's Creation of the Universe

He created the Angels with free will.

• Some chose God

• Some chose to follow Lucifer (Satan) into Hell.

He created Adam and Eve sinless, but with free will.

He told them to obey his commandments.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God's commandments and in doing so passed original sin on to the fruit of their love (their children), as well as succeeding generations.

The Creation of the Universe

• Genesis 1:

  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. ... (Genesis 1:1-5 (RSV)) [ back ]

The Creation of Angels

• Colossians 1, 15-16:

1He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians (RSV) 1)

• Matthew 18, 10:

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew (RSV) 18)

• Isaiah 6: 1-3

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. (Isaiah (RSV) 6)

• Ephesians 1, 21-23

  ... which he [the Father of Glory] accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians (RSV) 1) [ back ]

The Fall of Lucifer (Satan); into Hell

• Matthew 25:31-41 (Reference: Verse 41):

31 "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. 34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' 40 And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; (Matthew (RSV) 25)

• Jude 1:5-11 (Reference: Verse 6):

Judgment on False Teachers

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.


8 Yet in like manner these men in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." 10 But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! (Jude (RSV) 1)

• 2 Peter 2:4-10 (Reference: Verse 4):

  But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled.3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. 4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked 8 (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. (2 Peter 2 (RSV)) [ back ]

The Creation of Man and Woman

• Genesis 1:26-28:

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Genesis (RSV) 1)


• Genesis 2:4-7:

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up -- for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground -- 7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis (RSV) 2)

• Genesis 2, 21-22:

21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; 22 and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis (RSV) 2) [ back ]

The Fall in Paradise, and Original Sin

• Genesis 3:1-24

  1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." 14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.  15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." 16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, `You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" -- 23 therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of (Genesis (RSV) 3) [ back ]

   

2.

Sin is overcome by Love, the Love of God the Father who sent his only Son, Jesus to redeem mankind of his sin.

Jesus is Our Lord and at the same time our close Brother, who always loves us and understands our struggles. He became a man like us in all things but sin.

HOW?

• The Promise of God
  (To Send a Redeemer)
  
  

• The Choice of God
  (The Jews, Abraham and Moses)
  
  

• The Choice of God
  (The Virgin Mary as Mother of Jesus, therefore, Mother of the Divine Person, God.)
  
  

• The Incarnation
  (God becoming "flesh and bones" in the Divine person of Jesus)
  {Conceived by the Holy Spirit}
  
  

• Our Lord's Hidden Life and Public Ministry
  (The Gospel or the "Good News" )
  
  

• His Death and Resurrection
  

• His Ascension into Heaven after establishing His Church on St. Peter and His successors.

The Promise of God (To Send a Redeemer)

• Genesis 3:15

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis (RSV) 3)

• Isaiah 11:1

   

The Choice of God (The Jewish People, Abraham and Moses)

• Genesis 12:1-3

 

• Exodus 3:10

 

• Exodus 14

   

The Choice of God (The Blessed Virgin Mary)

• Isaiah 7, 14

 

• Luke 1:30-33

   

The Incarnation: God becoming 100% man for our salvation.
(Conceived by the Holy Spirit, miraculously)

• Luke 1:35

 

• John 1:1

 

• John 14

 

• Galatians 4:4-5

   

His Hidden Life and Public Ministry

• The Gospel of Matthew
  
  
  
• The Gospel of Mark
  
  
  
• The Gospel of Luke
  
  
  
• The Gospel of John
  
  

His Death and Resurrection

• 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

 

• 1 Peter 3:18

 

• 1 Corinthians 15:12-14

   

His Ascension into Heaven after establishing His Church on St. Peter and His successors

• Luke 24:50-52

   

3.

Jesus Christ establishes the Catholic Church

on St. Peter and His successors

The Soul of the Catholic Church is the Holy Spirit

• John 14:15-17

 

• John 14:26

 

• Acts 2:3-4

 

4.  The Catholic Church — The Mystical Body of Christ

• John 15:4-7
• John 17:20-23

Call us to Christian Action — "To Form Christ In Us"

• Matthew Chapters 5 to 7
• 1 John 3:18
• Romans 12:9-21
• Galatians 4:19

And to Prepare Us for The Return To

• John 14:5-7

The Heavenly Father

• Galatians 4: 6-7

Through the Merits of His Only-Begotten Son and the Works and Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

5.

Coming Soon.