Catholic Answers Live - Open Forum

Questions Covered: 

• 04:40 - I am divorced, but not annulled. I want to come back to the Catholic Church and so I broke up with the woman I had been dating. Was this the right thing to do? 
• 11:32 - How can I respond to people who say that Vatican II is merely pastoral and not authoritative? 
• 15:57 - Where do we get the idea of tithing ten percent? Can we give that to whoever or whatever we want within the Church or only our parish? 
• 20:00 - I just became Catholic and today I heard someone say, “I am going to pray a rosary for you.” What does that mean? I thought the rosary was a prayer for contemplating the mysteries of Christ’s life. 
• 23:22 - How can I defend the existence of purgatory using Scripture? 
• 29:32 - My brother is probably not getting married in the Church because he’s not really a practicing Catholic. I know that people can get a dispensation to not marry in the Church, but can that be obtained for a person who doesn’t practice the faith anyway? 
• 33:22 - How do we respond to people who say that Catholic usage of the Old Testament is just cultural appropriation of Jewish culture? 
• 39:53 - Was there ever a time when only priests and bishops could partake in the Holy Eucharist? 
• 42:48 - In Mark 2:7. The Pharisees ask, “Who can forgive sin but God?” Why did Jesus say that the Son of God had the authority to do so rather than just saying he is God? Does this have anything to do with John 20:23? 
• 46:05 - Earlier Jimmy said the requirement for the 10% tithing rule is no longer obligatory. I heard that in the New Testament there’s an account of two people who were struck dead by God because they didn’t bring their full tithe into their community. How can this be reconciled? 
• 49:03 - I want Jimmy’s advice on how to respond to an atheist who says, “Why if God knows everything in our heart would he command Abraham to kill his son if God knew that Abraham would obey?