As someone who owns a combined total of hundreds of books, cd's, mp3's and pamphlets, I can without reservation say that the 4 resources above, which I will get back to in a moment, when used together are definitely a great start to understanding Catholicism and preparing to defend the Catholic faith.
Keep in mind that when I say defend the Catholic faith, that 1 Peter 3:15 "but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence;" should be the basis of that defense with gentleness and reverence as the scripture says.
I've spent hundreds of hours learning about the Catholic faith. It wasn't all that hard to discover the TRUTH of Catholicism once I let self get out of the way. However, it can take some time to accept things that are true as the real truth if you have a closed mind to your own personal interpretation of scripture combined with thinking things like Catholics worship Mary. But I didn't think Catholics worshipped Mary; however, I still had barriers to Catholic beliefs which were based on my own authority vs. a greater authority than me: THE CHURCH.
The resources pictured include the following:
Holy Bible: There are 73 books in the Catholic Bible with 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament vs. 66 books in the Protestant Bible with 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. Note that the New Testament has the same number of books in both Bibles. One of the first things that I did was buy a Catholic Bible to have all 73 books.
Catechism of The Catholic Church: I also bought a Catechism early on and later got the one that I link to here. I didn't want to rely on what others said about Catholic Church teachings. I wanted a reference in my hand of what the Catholic Church teaches from a Catholic perspective. Sadly, just like the Bible, people will take portions of the Catechism and twist it to make it sound like something that proves their non-Catholic view of Catholic teachings. It can sometimes be easy to use words out of context to try an prove a point. Definitely get a Catechism to have for yourself.
Unabridged Christianity: Biblical Answers to Common Questions About the Roman Catholic Faith: WOW! I wish that I had of discovered this book at the beginning of my Catholic faith journey which started slowly in late 2016. What would have really been awesome is discovering the book in 1999 when it was published and having an open mind to the truth of Catholicism back then.
This single book that is nearly 20 years old as of this writing covers numerous objections to Catholicism followed by a Catholic response. I love the way Fr. Mario Romero first states the teaching of the Catholic Church then not only provides ONE objection but numerous objections to the teaching and with each objection includes a Catholic response: POWERFUL. Fr. Mario references scripture, early writings of the Church Fathers, the Catechism and numerous other resources as well as includes writings from numerous Catholic converts that were former Protestants.
This one book combined with having a Bible handy, a Catechism and access to the internet to cross reference other resources listed in the book is a tremendous way to understand Catholicism and begin to be prepared to defend the faith.
Catholic Pocket Evangelist: This is a 24 page companion to the book above. It is a concise way to have scripture references related to numerous topics right in your purse for a lady or in your pocket for a man. I actually just recently discovered it and bought 3 copies of it locally at the Catholic store.
One final resource not pictured is Catholic.com. It is a tremendous resource for understanding the Catholic faith. Hint: Use the search feature.
BONUS: Why I became Catholic?
At the end of the day, I couldn't walk away from the TRUTH. I was tired of all the confusion with Bible interpretation in Protestantism and letting myself be in control.
What "I" mean by that is choosing a church because "I" liked the preaching and/or the preacher, because "I" agreed with what that church taught because if I didn't then "I" could just find another church that was more in line with "My" personal interpretation of scripture and Christianity as "I" saw it, because "I" like the entertainment style worship music or whatever other "I" reason that "I" could come up with including "I" don't have to attend church if "I" don't want to because that's not what makes me a good Christian and there are a bunch of hypocrites that attend anyway. Yep, been there, done that: NOT ANYMORE though.
"I" discovered that is wasn't about how "I" felt. The Hollywood entertainment music that made me feel all warm and fuzzy was not what being a good Christian was all about.
There was a TRUTH that existed for 2,000 years and a form of worship that has existed 2,000 years and that "I" needed to get over myself and embrace the TRUTH that had been missing all my life.
I can now say, "Thanks be to God" and "It is well with my soul" that the Holy Spirit got me out of the way and opened my eyes to the Catholic Church.
Don't take me out of context. My faith is in Jesus Christ and always has been. However, I do believe that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and I cannot walk away from that TRUTH.
