One of the things that I love about being Catholic is that the Catholic tradition recovered the visible Church in a real sense. The Church that Christ founded subsists in the Catholic Church. The one visible Church is headed by one living person, and governed by visible, living bishops in visible union with him.
It's tragic to watch people argue endlessly firstly about what the "Church" has or hasn't done, or does or does not believe, because no one can actually find it, first of all.
Secondly, how long does anyone actually think they'll be able to hold the "historic" Christian teaching on anything, without actually being in union with that Church which is tasked with preaching that historic teaching? It should not be news to people, but if the Catholic Church is the true Church founded by Jesus Christ, then she is also protected by Jesus Christ, in a way that nothing else is, except by a special and extraordinary mercy of the Holy Spirit. Even so, the Holy Spirit is leading all Christians back toward the Church.
It is truly a liberating thing to wake up every single day, knowing that the Catholic Church will not and cannot change anything in natural law, or in supernaturally revealed truth that she has received from Jesus. We don't have to debate homosexuality, or whatever we mean by "gay", or anything else. I might have personal opinions about how to say this or that thing better than it was said by this or that person, but at the end of the day, the question is, "Do I believe that what the Catholic Church teaches has been revealed by God?"
Evangelicals--by which we mean Protestants--seem to be stuck in an endless loop of bad faith accusations, and an ambivalent relationship to their own forefathers, and to their relationship with historic Christian teaching. Let's save each other the time, and realize that any historic Christian teaching is by definition Catholic teaching. If you want to affirm Catholic teaching, be my guest. But you cannot hold it merely by means of Sola Scriptura.
Furthermore, the structures of a visible church are the structures by which historic dogma is preserved, if and only if those structures possess at least a situational charism of infallibility. This is why all the working papers and doctrinal statements of every Protestant community can only be snapshots in time, because Sola Scriptura may also be defined as, "ecclesial fallibility". One of the things that means in practice is that the debate is never really over. And once a critical mass of people decides that some element of "historic" teaching is not all that historic, they go their own way, and the cycle begins again.
I never lost my faith, in the sense that I always believed that Jesus really has come to reveal the Father. Therefore, I knew that there was some thread of belief, some teaching that could never go away, and never be erased. The reason why the Catholic Church will eventually win every historical argument is that one cannot account for the origins of the most ancient dogmas, without the visibly identifiable structure of the Catholic Church. Submitting to the Catholic Church in one's own time and place tells that coherent story, but also prepares one to meet new challenges to the faith once delivered.
I belong first and only to God, and to his Church. I lament the loss of Christian influence in society, not because I have some power that I wish to gain, but because an influential and highly visible Church truly is Christ's presence in the world, and is a sign of salvation for the small and the great alike. We say that we want a more just society, that upholds the dignity of every person. Do we realize however, that the foremost dignity of every person involves their eternal salvation? Every moment that Christians remain separated, and in doubt about what God has given the world, harms the dignity of all people. Christian disunity harms the dignity of all people.
If you believe that you cannot under any circumstances consider submission to the Catholic Church to be submission to Christ himself, by all means, stand apart. But if you can see the possibility that submitting to the Catholic Church could be submitting to Christ himself, and that what once was known and clear to all Christians is being lost in the endless scriptural and doctrinal debates--which always seem to end in a decidedly non-historical direction--then you should go forward in pursuing possible full communion with the Catholic Church.
All I ever wanted to do was love Jesus, and love people in Jesus. But a certain affection for relativism meant that while people wanted to affirm me in that, they kept distorting who Jesus is, for the sake of the "essentials". Sooner or later, one starts to notice that the universe of essentials is getting smaller and smaller, and paradoxically, the arguments are getting fiercer and fiercer. God is a God of peace and order, and not confusion. The sacred Scriptures speak of his faithfulness, and his unchanging nature, almost more than they speak of anything else. And yet my old way of looking at the historical record was such that God wrote the Bible, and then abandoned the people to whom he was allegedly speaking. That doesn't make sense. It just doesn't.
It's tragic to watch people argue endlessly firstly about what the "Church" has or hasn't done, or does or does not believe, because no one can actually find it, first of all.
Secondly, how long does anyone actually think they'll be able to hold the "historic" Christian teaching on anything, without actually being in union with that Church which is tasked with preaching that historic teaching? It should not be news to people, but if the Catholic Church is the true Church founded by Jesus Christ, then she is also protected by Jesus Christ, in a way that nothing else is, except by a special and extraordinary mercy of the Holy Spirit. Even so, the Holy Spirit is leading all Christians back toward the Church.
It is truly a liberating thing to wake up every single day, knowing that the Catholic Church will not and cannot change anything in natural law, or in supernaturally revealed truth that she has received from Jesus. We don't have to debate homosexuality, or whatever we mean by "gay", or anything else. I might have personal opinions about how to say this or that thing better than it was said by this or that person, but at the end of the day, the question is, "Do I believe that what the Catholic Church teaches has been revealed by God?"
Evangelicals--by which we mean Protestants--seem to be stuck in an endless loop of bad faith accusations, and an ambivalent relationship to their own forefathers, and to their relationship with historic Christian teaching. Let's save each other the time, and realize that any historic Christian teaching is by definition Catholic teaching. If you want to affirm Catholic teaching, be my guest. But you cannot hold it merely by means of Sola Scriptura.
Furthermore, the structures of a visible church are the structures by which historic dogma is preserved, if and only if those structures possess at least a situational charism of infallibility. This is why all the working papers and doctrinal statements of every Protestant community can only be snapshots in time, because Sola Scriptura may also be defined as, "ecclesial fallibility". One of the things that means in practice is that the debate is never really over. And once a critical mass of people decides that some element of "historic" teaching is not all that historic, they go their own way, and the cycle begins again.
I never lost my faith, in the sense that I always believed that Jesus really has come to reveal the Father. Therefore, I knew that there was some thread of belief, some teaching that could never go away, and never be erased. The reason why the Catholic Church will eventually win every historical argument is that one cannot account for the origins of the most ancient dogmas, without the visibly identifiable structure of the Catholic Church. Submitting to the Catholic Church in one's own time and place tells that coherent story, but also prepares one to meet new challenges to the faith once delivered.
I belong first and only to God, and to his Church. I lament the loss of Christian influence in society, not because I have some power that I wish to gain, but because an influential and highly visible Church truly is Christ's presence in the world, and is a sign of salvation for the small and the great alike. We say that we want a more just society, that upholds the dignity of every person. Do we realize however, that the foremost dignity of every person involves their eternal salvation? Every moment that Christians remain separated, and in doubt about what God has given the world, harms the dignity of all people. Christian disunity harms the dignity of all people.
If you believe that you cannot under any circumstances consider submission to the Catholic Church to be submission to Christ himself, by all means, stand apart. But if you can see the possibility that submitting to the Catholic Church could be submitting to Christ himself, and that what once was known and clear to all Christians is being lost in the endless scriptural and doctrinal debates--which always seem to end in a decidedly non-historical direction--then you should go forward in pursuing possible full communion with the Catholic Church.
All I ever wanted to do was love Jesus, and love people in Jesus. But a certain affection for relativism meant that while people wanted to affirm me in that, they kept distorting who Jesus is, for the sake of the "essentials". Sooner or later, one starts to notice that the universe of essentials is getting smaller and smaller, and paradoxically, the arguments are getting fiercer and fiercer. God is a God of peace and order, and not confusion. The sacred Scriptures speak of his faithfulness, and his unchanging nature, almost more than they speak of anything else. And yet my old way of looking at the historical record was such that God wrote the Bible, and then abandoned the people to whom he was allegedly speaking. That doesn't make sense. It just doesn't.
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