The Joys of the Bible seen Through Catholic Eyes

The Bible is so Catholic! 

As a Protestant, I thought I knew the Bible. After all, I had been reading it since I could read. When I was twelve years old I started collecting Bible translations and even spent my birthday money in 8th grade on a RSV pocket Bible I could carry around in my purse.You see, I love and have always loved Jesus and to me the Bible has always been the infallible, precious, God-breathed WORD! I never placed anything on top of it. I carried it everywhere I went. It was my physical connection to my dearest and best friend. I have worn out several Bibles from reading and underlining them. 

Yes, I did indeed know the words written on the page. I understood the historical context and knew the Protestant scholar's commentary as well as had my lexicon and study books all around me as I studied scripture. Since 1997, I arise at 5:30 am each morning to have my special time with Jesus. I even began wearing a veil over my head that year in obedience to Paul's command that women have their heads covered in prayer. I loved obedience to His Word.

Now that I am Catholic, I am humbled by what I read (and what I thought I knew!) --- I was seeing correctly, but I wasn't seeing it all. Like some kind of magic eye picture, I knew what was printed on the page, but it was only when I became Catholic and I was taught how to read scripture that the amazing picture blossomed in front of my eyes and I could see the picture that the words were trying to get at--the meaning and form. 

For example, this morning I read I Corinthians 4 in response to a Protestant's argument of sola scriptura and found things I had never seen before. What they don't see, and I wouldn't have seen as a Protestant is this chapter in actuality is imbibed with Catholic theology. This chapter is so Catholic. Lets look at it: 

1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.  (Here we see that not all things were written down. Some people were entrusted with the secret things of God. Not all of us are chosen to be the shepherds. God chose some men to be His authorities.)

2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (If you are entrusted to be His authority, you are not allowed to slide and live in a presumption. As God's authorities, a faith-alone belief is not enough. You must prove faithful!)

3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. (This is a very interesting passage. Paul, as God's chosen authority is not worrying if others see him as God's authority. He doesn't even judge his worthiness and faithfulness as God's authority himself. He is relying upon a different system than individual or civil judgments.)

4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (What? Paul says that his conscience is clear but he cannot trust EVEN HIS OWN CONSCIENCE!!  Our consciences can deceive us into thinking we are innocent, but in fact we are not! So, if he cannot trust himself, or others who will be be trustworthy and how can any of us know?)

5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 

(Again, this is confusing. Paul is saying that the Corinthians are not to judge the faithfulness of God's servants until the final judgement? So then how do we know just who is God's authority? If I can't trust my own conscience to judge, if I am not to judge as an individual then who gets to judge and know if a person is God's faithful servant? This is terribly confusing in a world where preachers claim to teach the Word of God authoritatively each week at the pulpit. We can't judge them and they can't judge themselves? But I thought we were supposed to judge them by their fruit? )

6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." 

Note: This is extraordinary in that Paul is not quoting scripture here. He is perhaps quoting from an oral tradition, not necessarily even a Jewish tradition! He may be quoting the pagans. Scholars are unsure as to whom Paul is quoting! So Paul is going outside scripture to say that we should not go beyond what is written. And we are not even sure about which "written" works to which Paul is referring as the quote is not explicitly referring to scripture. And this verse cannot be speaking of the Bible since the New Testament was a couple centuries from being codified. Paul wouldn't be saying don't go beyond the Old Testament or that would be saying that the letter he was writing to the Corinthians would be technically "beyond scripture."

Now this is either a deep irony and Paul is contradicting himself by doing just what he says not to, or he is saying something--not about sola scriptura but about pride! 

The entire letter to the Corinthians is urging unity and not pitting Christian leaders against each other. Paul is telling his audience that he and Apollos have applied the test of faithful Christian authority to themselves. Because they are the leaders they have remained faithful for the benefit of those to whom they preach. 


In the end, Paul is saying to take Paul's word for it. He and Apollos are faithful authorities, not because of what they themselves think or even what the regular church members think (his audience.) Paul considers himself the authority because God, through the Apostles ordained him--even though he doesn't explicitly say that here. (Although he had already taken the time to explain this in the first two chapters of his letter to the Galatians.)

They are NOT saying to the audience, "go to scripture yourself and interpret it--then don't do anything beyond what is written." That is far from what Paul is saying as he is actually saying quite the opposite. He is saying that when you listen to us--WE ARE TEACHING YOU the meaning of the saying "don't go beyond what is written."

The meaning of the quote is being learned not from scripture itself but from the life and teachings of Paul and Apollos. You as sheep are learning from the shepherds --they are the examples of it and you then follow the shepherd’s example! The shepherds are to be an example of not going beyond what is written. It is not taking away our shepherds, but our shepherds are supposed to show us what it means. 

This text is by not pitting sola scriptura against church structure and church authority, in fact, it supports it!

The context is pride--pridefully pitting one shepherd against the other--Paul against Apollos. To pit God's appointed shepherds against one another is what is beyond what scripture teaches! It is not saying that everything God's shepherds teach must be written in the Bible and it is not setting up the doctrine of sola scriptura or that the Bible is the final authority. 

Of course we know the Bible is an authority to God's leaders--for Paul says so himself to Timothy. (II Tim. 3: 16) But this passage cannot be used to prove sola scriptura. He will continue to back up his own authority as we continue the chapter.

Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 

Don't have sects....

7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 

The sheep received it from the shepherd! No one can brag that they received it themselves either from their own imagination or directly put there from the Holy Spirit or even from a book!

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings--and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. 14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 

Here Paul is taking on father role! He is the father of his Christian children. This is not pointing to the Bible as usurping or removing his position as leader.

15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 

Why we Catholics call our priests "father."

16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

Does this sound as if Paul is authorizing sola scriptura? No, Paul is not sending a book to lead them but a man. Paul gives the church leaders the authority. How can he do that? Because God appointed Paul and anointed him through the apostles. Paul wasn't self-appointed, but God appointed through the established church. 

__________

As I read scripture, I now see that at every turn it supports Catholic teaching. This example is a daily occurrence--seeing a deeper and broader, a more historical and logical approach to scripture. Not on my own, but through the teachings of the church. After all, they are 2000 years old and we have the privilege of standing on the shoulders of theological giants. The view is so much clearer from here!

PRO-LIFE!

FATHER, most glorious creator of Life, may we, in union with your sacred heart and your Mother Mary and all the saints in heaven and on earth, fall on our knees in repentance for this most deplorable wickedness--abortion.

Change us father, each of our hearts so that we may love life, love your precious gift of life in our babies.

Give our fathers courage to be fathers and take on the responsibility of their seed.
Give our mothers mercy upon the fruit of their wombs.
Give those of us who know the depths of this sin to speak bravely.

May we place our right to happiness at the feet of your Cross and sacrifice that we may become holy.
Amen

Calling All REAL Men to the Catholic Church

Michael Voris is brilliant. I have to admit, I have been talking about this very topic for years, so of course I would say that. But it is time someone have the guts to say this. Bravo!! I for one, as a very feminine and happy woman, would love to see men become masculine again. Take charge, take responsibility. I like men to be men. And God needs men to be men. Let's let them recapture the quest, the epic, combative struggle to become men!

This is a series of five episodes of the Vortex, here are the first four:

We'll Join the Jesus Vs. Religion Fun!

Okay, here's the original.  This sincere young man who has found a great relationship with Christ, now is using his zealotry to bash religion. Who can blame him? But I love his passion and I am praying that with some spiritual maturity he will not pit God against His Bride. In the end, we need to talk about this stuff, so glad he brought it up.







Turn this one way up as it is hard to hear...


Untitled from John Hollowell on Vimeo.


This one is a little slow but I love chanting.....




Other responses:
http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/
http://youngandcatholic.net/2012/01/why-i-love-jesus-and-religion/
http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2012/01/jesus-v-religion.html
http://opinionatedcatholic.blogspot.com/2012/01/catholics-look-at-why-i-hate-religion.html
http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=24948
http://www.stjohnsstockton.org/?p=292
http://shrove.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/ill-communication-about-religion/

A Cruel Silence

Heaven Now

I have always had this incredible peace about God’s merciful sovereignty. 

Most of my life, I have not worried about my salvation or that of my family’s. Sure, for a year or two in Adventist elementary school when we studied last-day prophecies and the teachers read terrorizing fiction, I would be afraid that one day I would break under the torture of bamboo shoots thrust up my fingernails as my little sisters and brother were sliced into pieces before my pried-open eyes to get me to renounce the Sabbath and go to church on Sunday...and then I would be eternally obliterated. You know, the average Adventist fears. But my parents always downplayed SDA prophecy and told me not to worry about it. So I trusted them and didn’t. 

For the vast majority of my life, I have believed God is incredibly good and powerful and has the world in the palm of His hand. Shoot, I even think God is going to be really merciful towards atheists. I am simply not worried about heaven and whose going to spend eternity in hell. The thought doesn’t enter my spiritual radar system.

My heart is for the here and now. In a sense (and don’t think I am being theologically dogmatic or clarifying a personal doctrine) but in a general sense, I think heaven and hell are going on at this moment. The seeds of heaven and hell, anyway. 

When a person is full of joy in the Lord and their life is at peace, I figure they are already inside heaven. They have “made it” and I am not worried about what happens to them after they die. I don’t have this need to make someone think like I do doctrinally, believe the way I do in specific theology. I trust God will bring them along the path to where they need to be--including me!

Now, I am utterly convicted, convinced and on fire that the Catholic Church is the kingdom on earth and I am passionate about sharing the beauties of Christ I find within her. But I do not think if you reject Catholicism, Protestantism, Christianity or even God that you are necessarily going to hell.

Absolutely, Christ has commissioned us to go and spread the gospel. And I believe that if we have faith in Him, God is going to save us. But I also think God has mysterious ways of saving that He alone knows and its none of our business. He is sovereign. We have a job to do in spreading the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and that is that. God saves and He alone saves and if He gives someone salvation outside of the system He gave us, we are not to question it but rejoice! After all, if billions of aborted babies couldn’t have a personal faith that saves, I doubt they are all going to an eternal hell. God has His ways of saving through Christ Jesus that He doesn’t explain to me and I am so happy He does! For it gives me great hope, for what seems in my eyes, hopeless. 

Catholicism teaches us that we can always have hope. Always. 

Back onto my point that I am having a hard time getting to: 

A Cruel Silence

The truth--the truth--is important, not just because of an eternal home in some nebulous future, but for us--right here, right now. Truth sets us free from sin. We Christians seem to have it all backwards. 


Christians today are afraid of speaking truth because of this whole idea of being nice and tolerant. Making people feel bad seems to be the ultimate sin in our society. That is the very opposite of what is real. 

The truth is what actually makes our lives worth living. It is lies that oppress us and enslave us. People are miserable because they have fallen for lies. We are certainly not being nice by keeping quiet. That fear of being judged “mean”  or “bigoted” is a bullying spirit of the ultimate slave master--our greatest enemy--Satan. He is attempting to swallow us up in misery. His strategy is to seduce us, addict us to sin, exploit, tyrannize and dominate us. Satan’s plan is to reduce us to beggars, make our souls disappear into the cosmic nothingness and convince us nothing has meaning. 

Christ, on the other hand, wants to bring us to the point where we are towering saints and princes of the universe. His desire is that we are perfect, like His Father in heaven is perfect--where we have the capacity to endure beauties beyond our imagination. Where we can fly into the sun and not be burned. Our immortal bodies, shed of their restrictive sin, will bi-locate, hover, time-travel, raise the dead--right now. Saints have done this and more! The cartoon superheroes are shadows of what God has placed deep within our psyches, the craving to be saints! 

The lie is that we can’t get there or that we can get to a facade of it by wielding the power of money, or in fame or influence. We falsely believe in an immortality brought on by being successful on human terms. God has something vastly better. 

The truth is being kept from us so that in this life we can begin the eternal hell, living a miserable damnation of confusion, chasing ephemeral pleasures, searching for heaven within the doorless, windowless prison of hell itself.

I continue to speak against lies because they darken our path and eventually blind us. The Father of Lies reduces us to beggars, and makes us love our filth, cling to that which is slaughtering us and defend with screeching shrieks that which is eradicating our very existence. 

The Father of Lies has convinced a world of Christians that life is not worth fighting for and has brainwashed us into an assembly-line, zombie existence of silently waiting for death. Don’t look, don’t see for it is too painful, too ugly. So we put our calloused hearts on auto-pilot, watch the inflight movie and hope heaven comes soon. 

Satan has so cruelly beaten us with his lies that we have, as a Christian culture, submitted to his loathing of true authority, consented to Satan’s despising of God’s rituals and rites that keep us focused on Christ and unify us.  Our enemy has glutted our churches with untrustworthy leaders so that we will hated religion itself. He has puffed us up with an arrogant and false self-righteousness that lustfully craves the rights and freedoms to sin!

And God help anyone who dares to voice that our Christian appetite for sin is evil. 

So, we play nice and stand firm on the false premise that as a Christian we must fight for the rights of others to kill their souls in sin. Or equally bad, we say nothing-- trying to make sure people like us. 

Make no mistake--Lies demand a cruel silence.

Truth cuts us free from the bondage of sin, awakens us and makes us sensitive, painfully sensitive to wickedness. There is this strange and mysterious, harmonious contradiction of Truth that overwhelms us with joy and can, at the same time, sear our hearts with the tragedy of sin. Our capacity to experience life expands till we think we cannot bear either the ecstasy of God of living with us, within us in our current human flesh nor bear the sorrow we see. Yet miraculously, as we behold the Lamb of God in humble obedience, He gives us the grace to press on from glory to glory! And we taste the goodness of the Kingdom. We become like Him!

My soul’s desire is that we all can experience heaven now, today, this minute. But it cannot be reached when our lives have accepted hell and sin and lies. 

Joining the Battle for Truth

Though the war for the Kingdom has been won with Christ, the battle for your eternal home and your earthly joy is fiercely waging as you make daily decisions about what you will read, what you will watch, what you will think, what you will say and do. 

There is no passive Christianity, no conscientious objection status in this, all Christians, every single one within the body of Christ has been drafted into this battle of living as saints today so that you will influence the souls of your neighbor. The demonic excuse, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” are words from the abyss that are sucking precious souls into her bosom of fifth. Pornography, fornication, adultery, sodomy... The list is endless of the seductive, vulgar entertaining comedy of abominations that intimidate us into silence.

It is a great and glorious act of mercy when someone loves you so much they are willing to reach out and sear you with truth. 

It is a great and glorious act of mercy when you love someone so much that you are willing to reach out and sear your brother in Christ with truth. 

Christians will tell me to lighten up, but when you don’t courageously confront the sins you protect, that are polluting your own soul, you will be too cowardly to condemn the wickedness of our culture. 

So you will allow your light to dim. You will become so small in your thoughts, so self-deceived that you will brush off the responsibility of love as if it were dandruff on your shoulder. 

There are those who do want to get involved in the battle against the culture of death, and they don’t know what to do. So they get involved with a political candidate (which I am completely for, mind you--get politically involved for the sake of our country!) But in the end, political victory will only stem the tide. It cannot do what a country of Christians can do as individuals--which is save our youth from a life of pride, self-centeredness, immaturity, disobedience, confusion, isolation, loneliness, divorce and misery. 

Battle Gear

We must become saints. Saints who have conquered sin, not for the salvation of our own souls, but to give a reality to Christ--right now. To bring the power of Christ to a nation that is hungering for truth and authenticity. 

Love others enough to become a saint for them. 

Cast away your own selfishness and desires, place your rights at the foot of the Cross and be Christ to the world so that they can feel His love, His concern, His nearness. 

You will not receive love in return, you will receive pain. But some of those Roman soldiers who scourged Christ, some of those who screamed out the loudest “crucify Him!” were the very ones who fell to their knees at the feet of the Apostles and would later stand, head held high, while a colosseum of scoffers giddily watched them being torn to bits for their faith.

And some of those watching the martyrs in the colosseum would themselves be crushed by the weight of the cross and later join them in facing down death for their Lord. This is the story of the early church. Saints overcoming in the face of terrible slaughter, so that others will find the strength to overcome. 

This is not about a work-based salvation, this is about love. Loving others enough to boldly proclaim the truth, to be truth, to live truth so that others will look at the strength of our love and have the audacity to repent and be saved--live as someone saved. 

Fighting sin in our lives is not about a self-centered fear of hell, but to save others from the doom of today, the agony of the results of their sins they commit, the wrong choices they make that ruin the gift of life God has given them as they walk this earth! 

Our silence is a crime against our children, blinding them, enslaving them to make the same mistakes and lead the ruinous lives we see all around us. And if you don’t see the sin in the insidious little lies we tell and hear daily, the arrogant flouting of wickedness, the collapse of our culture, then may God have mercy on your soul. You have closed your heart to the cries of God’s creatures.

Many will agree with my assessment, many of you disagree but almost all will read this and then click back to your jobs and your life with an impenetrable apathy, the church of Laodicea, and will draw back into a victimhood mentality and lament about how evil the world is getting. 

But I know there are those of you already in the epic battle doing amazing things for God and pressing onward to perfection out of love for your neighbor. Your prayers will avail much and the heavens will open one day, clearing away the rubbish of lies and you will receive endless blessing from those who your fight for the right gave them the courage to choose a better life here. 


Your courage to face down the tsunami of lies, though it left you alone, battered and bleeding, was watched by at least one pair of innocent, little eyes--who stood against temptation and made the right choice and saved him or herself from being enslaved by sin-- because they saw God in you.

Question For Protestants

If the Holy Spirit interprets scripture for us personally, why am I considered wrong for following the Holy Spirit into the Catholic Church?

You Can't Get There From Here....

It started at a railway station outside London when we were recently traveling abroad. We had this amazing train pass that was supposed to let us travel all over for one low price. We wanted to go to Stonehenge (or something like that) and the man in the ticket booth looked up at us and said with a thick accent, "ya cahn't get theh from heyah..." Arthur and I looked at each other dumbfounded. What did that mean? We can't get to this hugely important historical monument from this city? It is impossible to achieve our transportation goals from this spot? What on earth? (We can hear so many of you remark."Yep, the give-up mentality of all those European socialists.")

From Britain to France to Austria to Italy we would occasionally get that reply. The phrase refused to register in our brains even after this concept was translated to American. It only meant that within the boundaries of that particular railway system, there is no direct route. You either have to change to a different rail system, make transfers on theirs or you would have to add walking, a bus, or auto to the plans.

I have been tempted to use that phrase when speaking to my Protestant friends when they accuse the Catholics of being idolators or rejecting scripture. I usually pause with my mouth gaping open and can't think of anyway of answering it in a short timeframe. And the fact is you really can't get there from here... because we do not use the same "rail system." Our basic understandings and ways of getting to the same place differ quite a bit and if we try as Catholics to use the Protestant systems of understanding Christianity, we find it extremely difficult to connect.

As Catholics we have to lay out some groundwork in order for our Protestant brothers to understand where we are. We cannot start out by answering their questions about Mary or the Inquisition or celibacy of the priesthood. We should just reply "you can't get there from here." There is no direct way of reaching understanding when you start in the middle of the story. You will never get to the fullness of truth when you debate or discuss theology on faulty premises. You have to begin with the premise of Catholicism and then go out from there.

So, what premises should we make clear before engaging? Unfortunately there are several and each take a tremendous amount of explanation. Catholicism, being 2000 years old, isn't good at soundbites. I think of Treebeard's quote in Lord of the Rings, "You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say." That is pretty much Catholicism.

Because it is so complex to explain, often Protestants give up and say,"Shouldn't this be simple? Isn't the gospel simple?" To them I reply, if Japanese is your native tongue it seems simple to you, but when you try and teach it to someone speaking English, it can't be learned in a few minutes. Catholic to Protestant isn't quite that difficult, but at times it seems like it.

If a person, especially a Fundamentalist, really wants to understand Catholicism you will have to prove a few premises first before getting into specific theology.



SIDE NOTE: There is also another problem. Lots of Protestants will say they are interested in what you believe but really just want to open up discussion so they can correct you and bring you to their understanding of the gospel. When a Protestant asks questions, before saying a thing, ask them if they believe Catholicism was/ is/ or will be the Whore of Babylon. If they start carefully chiseling their words and break eye contact or admit they do, don't even waste your time getting into a discussion. If they honestly believe that the Catholic church is the Whore, then in their minds, the Catholic Church is unredeemable. Whatever logic, scriptures, history you bring up will be passed over. You and your church are untrustworthy and on the Devil's side. If you believe God wants you to try and convince them it isn't, that Catholicism is the Bride of Christ, bless your heart and peace be with you. Let me know if it works.

If however, you believe the person is truly desires and understanding of Catholicism start with these premises:

Authority

Catholics reject Sola Scriptura.

Catholics do not believe in an invisible Kingdom.

Our source of authority is not a book. For Catholics, our source of authority for salvation and living as a Christian is the Word of God. The Word of God is what proceedeth from the mouth of God and it is manifested threefold. The Word of God is breathed in oral form and when it is breathed it became:

One: Flesh--Christ, the Word. When salvation was accomplished on the Cross, Christ returned to heaven and left his New Covenant body on earth. We, Christians are His visible body, His visible kingdom on earth. The church, as His Body, has His authority to pass down, protect, and interpret what He taught them. The two means by which His Church protects what He told them is:


Two: Oral tradition and Three: Written tradition. The oral form came first, it is God-breathed and infallible, inerrant. Some of that was later recorded with small symbols on papyrus or vellum and became the written form of God's word. Both are equally important. God uses the same miracle to protect His truths in oral form as in written. There is no magic in those squiggly lines on paper. They are the Word written. The source is the miracle, not the book itself. God is inerrant and that inerrancy is recorded in scripture.

What God spoke is authoritative. Catholics do not pit the Apostles' written words against the words they spoke and never wrote down. They are both God's word. The Catholic church obeys all God's words. Catholics reject Sola Scriptura because Jesus never taught it, nor did His Apostles, disciples or their successors. The inerrant, infallible, God-breathed scriptures support Catholic teaching and they prove Catholic teaching.

God's Word was given to an organized, visible church.
The visible church preaches orally and having written down a portion of what they preached in gospels and letters, later compiled those writings, translated them into 120 different tongues in the first few centuries and continues to protect and disseminate them.

God bestowed this visible, organized church with the titles: The Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. A major theme of the written word is the story of God's visible, organized people. Indeed, His New Covenant Kingdom is an intrinsic part of the gospel. For John came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven!

And actually, there is no such thing as an invisible church. For if the church was invisible, there would be no Bible. Scripture was birthed from the New Covenant visible, organized church begun by the Messiah.

Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples and endowed them with His authority to bind and loose and preach the gospel. This God-authorized body of shepherds interpret scripture in unity with the Holy Spirit. Christ taught against private, individualistic interpretations of faith and morals.

The Catholic Premise is that we answer to God--all God's words. Because we are His Bride we would never contradict those we wrote in the Bible. Never.

Your Protestant friend will at this time want you to prove this to them in scripture. Explain to them that their insistence that it be in scripture would be comparable to telling Michelle Obama that she must prove all she knows of the president by pointing to the page and line written in his memoirs. That will sound ridiculous to a Catholic.

This clearly shows the problem with debating Catholicism. We don't use the same system and you can't get there from here. We cannot agree on the premise of Sola Scriptura or the premise of an invisible church or that God gave us the right to a private interpretation of faith and morals. Their only final source of all truth is what they personally believe the Holy Spirit is showing them in scripture. We teach what God taught us-- through tradition, which later was partially written down.

So it is futile to discuss or debate Catholicism with someone who doesn't believe your premise and it is wrong for us to argue upon their false premise. In general, the fullness of truth cannot be established upon a faulty premise. (Although, God can do miracles--so I won't say it can never happen!) Let the Protestant know gently that you are not trying to convince them, you are simply opening up a window into Catholic understanding, so there can be mutual respect.

If they are willing, for the sake of understanding their Catholic brothers and sisters (and God bless them if they are) to take our railway system to truth, then you can begin other important premises:

Covenantal Unity

The Kingdom of Heaven

After they understand the premise of our authority, we can show how the Bible does indeed point to the Catholic Church as the Kingdom of Heaven. Then you can begin taking them through scriptures showing how, when you see it through Catholic interpretation, it does indeed support Catholic teaching. Show them how God came to fulfill the Kingdom of Heaven through His promise to David and establish an actual kingdom--organized with leadership: apostles, teachers, etc. It is a unified visible body. It began as a seed with the Apostles and will continue forever. Then you can point to the story of how God gave the keys of this kingdom to Peter and how it was foretold by Isaiah in chapter 22. Get to know the story of your church so you can then explain it using scripture to a Protestant.

During all Catholic explanation of our interpretation, the Protestants will, naturally upon their premise, believe the Holy Spirit brought them to their particular understanding and they will think we are twisting scripture. All we can do at that point is agree to disagree. But if they are willing to listen (understanding the Catholic worldview that we receive truth via God through His Apostles and the Bible records that infallibly) then continue with other vital Catholic premises that differ from Protestants.

Covenantal Salvation

The model of salvation is family covenant, not simply a legal exchange. You are born again at baptism, you enter the family of God and you are indelibly marked as a child of God. You can chose to disregard your inheritance. When you run from the kingdom, you become like the prodigal son who is in need of returning to the father’s house. Catholics see the process of salvation as a family.

There is not a moment when you are saved just as there is not a moment you were perfect to your parents. You were seen as perfect when you were born, then as a three-year-old, you became more perfect when you came home and showed your parents your first crayola picture. You are perfect, becoming perfect and will be perfect as you grown and mature and make mistakes and see the mistakes and feel sorry for them and repent. You never loose your status as children under any circumstance. But if you leave your family forever, you will not get your inheritance. God will not disinherit you, you choose to be disinherited. That is your choice.

The Body of Christ

Catholics see no difference between the church and Christ, they are one! What Christ does, His church does. They are one body therefore what Christ did, the Church did. The Catholic Church makes no distinction between Him and itself. When Christ said He is the way, the truth and the light, the Catholic Church believes that because they are His physical body on earth, one with Him, that they are the way, the truth and the light. If no one can come to the Father but through Him, the church teaches that no one can come to the Father but through His Body! We are one and God's true body on earth. Discover all the Biblical texts that support this and know them. They are dozens of Catholic apologetic websites that can help you.


(Side Note: Now I know I opened a can of worms here, because the Catholic Church does pass on the Apostolic teaching that one can be saved who never belonged to the Catholic Church.... we'll deal with that another time.)

Because we are God's body on earth, we have been given the responsibility of spreading to the world the means of salvation. The Catholic church believes God gave them the keys to heaven. But not to hell. Because we believe God is sovereign, we never pronounce someone soul is in hell, no matter who they are. God judges mercifully. Though Christ gives us a sure way to spend eternity with Him and the church tells the world what that is, God is never bound to any laws He creates for man. God saves. It is not formulaic.

The church is not individualistic but communal. As the Trinity is communal, so every thing from marriage, family, community, church, heaven and earth are communal in nature--not isolating. The structure of salvation is communal. We are saved with the help of others. And no sin is personal and no good deed is personal. All we do affects the church. We are all intertwined. It is extremely difficult for Americans to understand this....

Matter is Good

The World is good. Never did God reverse that pronouncement even when He cursed the ground. God’s creation is and always has been good! And it was even made better when Christ took upon Himself the curse and lifted it through His suffering, death and resurrection. Therefore all the material world is good. Go hug a tree... take a picture of a sunset and put it on your wall. Catholics worship the Creator using His creation. After all, God used His creation by becoming matter in order to save us. So it is naturally that we would use matter to worship Him. Rites, rituals, relics--these all use the material to teach us of God and to help us reach perfection.

The Bride of Christ

The Enlightenment worldview dictates that we be the measure of all things. This right-to-judge theology employs a personal conscience-based interpretation of scripture. Catholics premise differs in that it teaches the fullness of truth is not placed directly into man via the Bible and the Holy Spirit. The Catholic church teaches that we humans must be taught. The fullness of truth is given to His Holy Bride to disseminate.

God's Sufficiency, not Biblical Sufficiency

The Holy Spirit (promised to the church) enlightens the mind and heart of the hearer--through the Bible, through His Bride and through nature. The Holy Spirit is sufficient to use anything to reach a person for Christ. The Bible alone isn't sufficient, neither is the church, neither is nature. But all is sufficient when used by the Holy Spirit for our salvation! And the Holy Spirit has chosen the Bride to bring the fullness of truth to the world.

Mysteries of Faith

The mysteries of God are so deep that often a person must receive the Eucharist for years before his mind can comprehend some doctrines. There is no room for judging others. The mysteries of God are revealed by the Holy Spirit and prideful ideas such as "an understanding of Christian history will automatically make you a Catholic" or Protestants who claim their interpretation is "the plain reading of scripture" is not being charitable. No matter how brilliant your education, nor how high your IQ, nor the numerous times you have read the Bible, you cannot understand scripture unless you are taught by the Holy Spirit. God uses nature, the Holy Written Word, Tradition, people, numerous ways of teaching us. Be careful of judging others who do not understand. And if someone isn't getting "it" as quickly as you think they should...humble yourself and remember that understanding is a gift of grace.... not intelligence.

For the Catholics, the primary and greater reality combines both the physical and the spiritual. The realities of the Trinity are mirrored in marriage, the real is the Trinity and the symbol in flesh is marriage. Marriage isn’t an afterthought that God decided "this looks a lot like what I am trying to express, I think I will use the marriage relationship to explain to humans about the Trinity." No, marriage was foreordained and created for the very purpose of understanding the Trinity and the relationship between God and man. Again, food was not created merely for sustenance but we were made to be hungry and thirsty, filled and satisfied, to point to the better reality found in hungering and thirsting after righteousness and satisfaction in Christ. Our bodies were created for the Eucharist.

The world will look at Catholicism and think it is contradictory: How can you claim to be based upon reason and fully embrace the world of science and also accept the supernatural? How can you claim your salvation to be totally based in God's sovereignty and grace, and still accept free will and the merits of our works.... Ahh!! God is very clever and does indeed do these things and more.

(One of the most amazing things about being Catholic is that you always have the saints to follow! Pride cannot enter into your mind--you cannot think you know anything at all when you study the giants of the Catholic church. It humbles even the most scholarly of Catholics. When one can bi-locate then they can claim to be spiritual! Read St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, St. Anselm, go live like Mother Teresa. Yeah, we have a lot to learn!)

That is more than enough to keep you busy for months just explaining the premises of Catholic thought. But once they understand, explaining more specific dogmas, doctrines and discipline will more easily flow. For example we can tie the Marian dogmas to the Queen Mother of the Davidic Kingdom. Communal faith, indulgences, penance all flow from the idea of the unity of the kingdom.

Most Protestants will draw their theological sword and expect you prove each point to them from scripture alone even after you explain that God did not require everything to be written. But be very patient and let them know each time that they are arguing upon a different system of thought than Catholics and we don't look to the Bible to provide all the answers.

Truly, have courage when you speak as a Catholic. In the end, even though it is not our sole authority, the Bible comes to life and reaches down deeply into the heart and soul when you understand it from a Catholic perspective. After all, it should, it is her own story. And once you understand these premises all the rest will become understandable--you will be able to "get there from here!"

The Crucified Rabbi

Musings on our Rome Pilgrimage, 2011

I am going to sound like an old person.... Reflecting and sounding as if I have some worldly wisdom to impart here... Sorry if this comes across that way, but it is just my personal reflecting upon the last three months and I have learned and grown in wisdom.

Arthur (my husband) and I lived for almost two years in Seattle, we've lived near DC and in many different places in the US because for the last ten years I have traveled with him in his work. Therefore we have gotten to know the large cities of the US. These last three months we have hit several of the main cities of western Europe: London, Edinburg, Paris, Lyon, Geneva, Prague, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, as well as little towns also.

What I have discovered is that the entire world isn't happy. There is just a black cloud of trouble, of discontent, a beneath-the-surface boiling of restlessness and resentment. The world isn't smiling--there isn't even the pretense of a smile to please tourists anymore. People are openly unhappy.

And I talked about it... I talked to every cab driver, every cleaning lady, every hotel clerk, sales clerk, pastor, priest and casual conversation with other tourists who could understand even the most modest amount of English words. I wanted to take the vital signs of the world (nurse lingo for my husband) and see how it was doing.

The western world is depressed.

We all know it in our hearts. We all have such troubles in our lives and I can tell you first hand that everyone else seems to be having big problems too.

Symptoms:

Everyone thinks this is a money problem. Con artist beggars have flooded the west from the east. From Paris south, you are continually and aggressively harassed by fake beggars--who are hardly even attempting to hide their deceit as they will occasionally let fake crippled feet fall out from under their blankets exposing their real legs tucked under. One girl (rather plump) was playing video games on her iPod as she lay prostrate on the ground in tattered clothing pleading the mercy of the passersby for money to eat on.

Then there are the merchant salesmen who stand around every single famous monument trying to sell you cheap children's toys and scarves and trinkets and roses. They line the side walks so you have to say "NO!" as they follow you trying to get you to purchase something over and over and over until you are just exhausted from the constant bombardment. No one seems to care if their cities are being littered by garbage or by fake beggars (although for some they truly ARE beggars. They don't have jobs but are professional beggars. So they would indeed go hungry if people didn't give them money.)

There are some young pathetic girls who carry around babies and small children who they drug and ask for hand outs for their children. (Local say they actually rent the children or borrow them from other family members to look pathetic.) This fake begging is ruining it for those who truly need our help.

Everyone seems to think it is a money problem, or ethnic problem or cultural problem or religious problem and they look to their local and federal leaders for political answers. We met the Wall Street zombie demonstrators in many of the cities we went to. We thought they were following us for a while. On November 12, we were literally hedged in by the green beret and camoflauge wearing, machine gun toting soldiers  in front of palace in Rome during a street protest to oust Prime Minister Berlusconi. "Buffuno! Buffuno!" I will always remember the scene as we tiptoed upon some huge cement pots containing bushes trying to see the Prime Minster's car as it drove to Parliament.

We live in a world that is puppeted by the Father of lies. Every commercial slogan, world views, political and cultural systems are seeped in confused propaganda. We are swimming in the refuse of misinformation and twisting of the facts. There is no one to turn to who we can trust... no even ourselves. Not our church leaders. Not our politicians, not our parents, not our employers, not our television commentators or journalists. No one is trustworthy.

The problem isn't money.

The problem isn't politics.

The root of the problem and the cure is where nobody wants to look, for it makes us very uncomfortable. We can't blame anyone, and we can't look to anyone to solve it for us. For the problem is sin.

Not general sins--like poverty, social injustice, intolerance.
Not general sins even in our own lives such as the gray cloudy tendency towards sinning because of our fallen natures.

The problem is more direct. It is our personal day to day ignoring of little lies, of excusing moral demands. It is our laughing at dirty jokes. It is our divorces, our abortions, our sexual immorality, our pride, our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our impatience, our demanding of rights, our critical thinking of others, our laziness, our greed, our love of money, our disrespect of others or giving of our time to pleasures that corrupt, music that corrupts, entertainment that corrupts, friends that corrupt....

Sin doesn't point just outward. We live in a world that is blinded to its own sins and therefore cannot repent and be healed. This is a sin problem that will not go away until we each repent be forgiven and begin anew in Christ.

We will not be healed as individuals, as families, communities and countries until we are holy.