You know, Victor, I went through a period that I really thought I might join the RC Church, and, as you’ve probably gathered from other posts, am very sympathetic to and celebratory of you guys. I happen to have a family that was raised old time Baptist, and they still refer to “papists” and the whore of Babylon in Rome. So you might say I have a view from the “other” side.

I recently met an Hipanic guy who was the foreman of a crew abating asbestos on my mental health campus (no, I’m not committed here, I work here!) and he left the RC church for a pentecostal church. It happens to be one that even I as a protestant don’t think is scriptural in all their doctrine. The only thing I gathered, however, is that this guy had a real love for Jesus, and he put that first before anything else. Perhaps that should be the focus of your interaction with your aunt — forget, when you can, the differences and focus on sharing Christ. That, I tend to think, will run circles around apologetic debate.

We are called to preach the word, but there are many ways of doing it. Praying for your Aunt might be your duty. It is not our duty to convert EVERYONE, although we can pray for everyone. If the church is doing all those good thigns for her, I certainyl wouldn’t tell her she is doing something terribly wrong. Maybe talk about the Beauty and Glory of the Catholic Church.

No, I’m not singing a song.

Please remember that your aunt may very well think that YOU are the one trapped in error.

I think that it might be a good tactic to simply remember that the RC tradition of faith has a “from the start” history and defines the existence of Protestant/Evangelical churches, whether they admit to that or not. Forget the defensive position, imho!

You’ll likely find yourself immersed in discussions that [u:1sd2fghu]she[/u:1sd2fghu] starts.

While I no longer hold completely to the Reformed teaching on Predestination, I do acknowledge that ‘no one comes to Me except the Father call him,” as Jesus said. God has a fatherly interest in the formation of Christ in His children. He’s more involved in this concern than you are, even! I can testify to the truth that the Hound of Heaven on your trail is a formidable tracker.

I believe that Pentecostalism has long shown a tendency toward error and apostasy (denying the doctrine of the Trinity, etc.) and the only way that the individual maintains this belief system is through constant immersion in it. The charismatic renewal, I believe, is directly responsible for the orders of magnitude increase in the sales of books and music, because of this need for constant reinforcement to maintain their system.

It is a possible strategy to simply give voice to your spiritual growth, trials and triumphs both, with dignity and calmness. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that she starts the debate. Put on the whole armor of God, bro’, as us Presbocathopalians say!

Oh, okay. I did not know she did thigns such as talking trash on Mary… If seh does that, you must respond and show her the error of her ways. You don’t necessarily have to bring these things up, but if she starts attacking the Church, defend it.

Well, depending on your how your conversations go it’s all going to boil down to authority. Like Elkabong song we have history on our side. Our system of authority was given to us by Christ and has existed longer than the NT.