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Well, the primary answer is that
Catholicism is the right religion
to follow because it is true.
This leads to the question:
- Why is it true or how do we know
it is true?
For that, we can look at the Scriptures
and history.
If we first take the Scriptures as
historical documents (not necessarily
inspired), we see that Jesus was
a historical person who:
- lived and
taught
- was crucified, and
- according
to his followers, rose from the dead.
If he did not rise from the dead,
it seems quite unlikely that a group
of sniveling, cowardly disciples
would suddenly proclaim a lie (or
at least an unsubstantiated fact) with such boldness and courage. We
also see how the Scriptures accurately
portrayed the faults of the leaders
of the early Church. Ancient writers
tended to hide negative information
about themselves but Peter denied
his Master and they put it right
in the Book. This is evidence of authenticity.
We might also use the liar, lunatic,
or Lord trilemma <an argument analogous to a dilemma but presenting three instead of two alternatives in the premises> — in other
words, there are only three possible
conclusions about Jesus:
- He lied, in which case he was
the worst kind of evil man, which
seems unlikely since he had no
worldly ambition and died an ignominious
death he could have easily avoided;
- He was a lunatic, but he doesn't
behave like one; or
- He is who he claims to be, Lord
and God, in which case He should
be followed.
Anyway, these historical documents
tell us they founded a church with
Peter as its leader, and we see that
church in other historical documents
of the time. Since it's unlikely,
as I said, that such a church would
be founded on an event in doubtful,
tenuous, or unsubstantiated veracity
given its explosive growth and amazing
fervor, something must have happened,
and there is no reason to suppose
that the Resurrection didn't really
happen.
Thus, accepting that Christ is God
and rose from the dead, we trust
the testimony of the Church itself
and move from considering the Scriptures
as historical documents to inspired
documents, and demonstrate that the
Church is the conduit of all truth
(1 Timothy 3:15, John 16:13,
John 14:26, John 3:34, Isaiah 59:20-21, Jude 3, Isaiah 2:2-3)
Now it is plain that I am oversimplifying
things and glossing over some big
leaps of logic, but this is a skeleton
of what you would do. This is not
an easy argument to make. To be honest,
it is the
Holy Spirit who convicts and converts,
and unless He does, no one will believe.
Avoid futile arguments. Have first
recourse to prayer. Don't waste time
on someone whose goal is to argue;
unless you sense true sincerity behind
the question.
May I recommend the Handbook
of Catholic Apologetics by
Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli.
May St. Justin Martyr pray for you!
Eric
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