True Religion?
The beginning is admittedly more than half of the whole, and throws light at once on many of the questions under investigation (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1098b).
If the beginning is so important to the journey, most especially to a successful journey’s end, then where does one begin the journey of finding the True Religion—if there is one?
Phrased another way, what are the questions that one could ask, and in what order, in order that by the end of one’s questioning, he or she would know for sure (or as sure as one could be) that the faith in front of him is true?
The answer to that question is, what we at Think Catholic call, The Fundamental Five.
These are the five fundamental questions that if answered in the affirmative, necessarily lead to the demonstrable1 veracity of the Catholic Faith.
Here are those questions:
1) Does God exist? 2) Are the Gospels historically reliable? 3) Did Jesus claim to be God? 4) Did Jesus establish a Church and bestow upon it the charism of infallibility? 5) Is that Church the present-day Catholic Church?
And, here are our answers:
The Conclusion
What then, is the conclusion?
In a way, that’s up to you, for each of us must undertake his or her own investigation of the Truth.
It is also up to God, for “no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).
All of us at Think Catholic will be praying for your journey, and please feel free to email us if you ever have any specific questions or need direction towards additional resources.
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1. I use the word “demonstrable” loosely here. Here is the relevant quote from Vatican II: Indeed, it must be attributed to this divine revelation that those things, which in divine things are not impenetrable to human reason by itself, can, even in this present condition of the human race, be known readily by all with firm certitude and with no admixture of error.* Nevertheless, it is not for this reason that revelation is said to be absolutely necessary, but because God in His infinite goodness has ordained man for a supernatural end, to participation, namely, in the divine goods which altogether surpass the understanding of the human mind, since “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9 ; can. 2 and 3). Vatican II, Dei Filius, Chpt. II). 2. Credit to the teachings of Dr. Alan Fimister, for the five questions listed above.
