So I do not mean to be vindictive but I feel seriously wronged at this stage in my life because my ex-girlfriend's parents blindly refuse to recognize Catholicism as the original and full version of Christianity and as such do not want me dating their daughter, a beautiful woman that is now dating some guy that she isn't happy with because it makes her family "happy". As such, I am going to vent a little bit and list some things that I hate hearing Protestants say...
1) Catholics aren't Christian
Oh, this one warms the cockles of my heart with a torch cutter! Unfortunately for most Evangelical/Fundamentalist/Protestant cults/sects, the weight of history rests on our side, as does Tradition. As stated in previous blogs, without Tradition there would be no Bible with which our delineated brothers and sisters in Christ could bash the Catholics with.
2) If you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior then you will be saved.
Really? So while I am out at 3am, hacksawing the body of a hated person so I can fit their dismembered corpse into a trash can and I call upon the name of the big JC then I will be saved and not have my soul thrown into a state or mortal sin? What RUBBISH! Besides, one has to be baptized, Trinitatian and with holy water, to be seen in God's eyes, which means that NO, baptism is not a meaningless external symbol and NO, one is not saved by a simple profession of faith!
3) Catholics added unoriginal stuff to Christianity.
Actually, Protestants took away stuff from Christianity. Protestants have twisted Scripture, bastardized the Body of Christ into tens of thousands of neurotically schismatic sects and stripped away the foundations and pillars of faith that had been the mainstay and support of Christianity for over 1500 years before the advent of Luther and Calvin. Unfortunately for many of the Protestants today, the face of your respective sect looks NOTHING like what Christianity once did.
Catholicism started out at the original Christianity like a brand new sportscar. Protestantism decided that the water pump, the radiator, the manual transmission and the rims were not needed for it to function properly.
Point the blame appropriately.
4) People need to read the Bible every day, it is God's word and it is our spiritual nourishment.
Look, I am a big fan of reading. In fact, I just bought a Kindle and I have it loaded with a bunch of books and it will number in the thousands of books in a short amount of time, but do not feed me this line that an UNCHANGING BOOK, regardless of how holy it is, is the sole source of "spiritial nourishment" and that reading and rereading it somehow fulfills you. The only reason it is called the Living Word is because the words of JC transcend time and space, they do not make one alive in faith.
Besides, the original spiritual nourishment is the Eucharist, SURPRISE! Unfortunately, only Catholics have the true Eucharist and everything else is a skeletonized knockoff. Much like Clinton, Protestants cant seem to figure out what the meaning of "is" is.
5) The Bible is infallible.
REALLY?!???! When did it make a decision for you? When did it TELL YOU what to do? I believe the proper term is inerrant and even then it is subject to limitations, one limitation being that the Bible does not claim to be nor can it be used as a scientific treatise (an example of this being the next case in point.) However, the Bible does have given to us what we need for salvation but only in conjunction with the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium, forming the "Three-Legged Stool"
This is all I have for now. I don't mean to be angry but I now have to go through the grieving process again and I am kind of an emotional wreck at the moment. Fortunately, the rant I have just posted does have some theological merit going for it.
Time to go try to be normal.
-N8
ETA: Read the comments section on this particular blog to read the wise words of dean.
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3 comments:
I find fault with your number 2 point. Yes, you can be a murderer and still be saved and go to heaven. What matters in this case is that the person repents for what they did, as God will not forgive a hardened heart. And by your definition I am in fact not seen by God. It's not all about ritual and this is why Catholicism is seen as a religion whereas Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus.
For im1ficklepickle:
You are of course right, it is not all about ritual. And I think that the words chosen by Freedom Fighter were poor. We are in fact ALL seen by God, for we are ALL His creation, and he wants us ALL to be with Him for eternity.
I unfortunately, do have to disagree with the "once saved always saved" idea. You see, it says in the Bible, in Mt. 24:13 that "he who who endures to the end will be saved." Mt. 10:22 and Mk. 8:55 say or imply the same thing. These verses show that salvation is an ongoing process, and indeed, it can be lost if a person enters grave sin, and dies in such a state. But luckily for us, if we, like you said, repent, and accept the mercy and grace of God, then we will be saved. As a Catholic, I believe the one sure way to know that I am forgiven is through the Sacrament of Confession, but that is another discussion for another time, if you like. But anyway, it is a continuous process, one that we must persevere in our entire life.
Regarding Baptism, it is the regenerative Sacrament that we are all commanded to partake in so that we may become one with Christ and His Church. 1 Pet. 3:21 is an example of this. Referring to Noah building the ark, and saving the few people through water, Peter states: "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Other verses along this point include Rom. 6:4, 1 Cor. 6:11, and especially Acts 2:37-38 and 22:16.
For Freedom Fighter: I do agree with you that there are so many misunderstandings between Protestants and Catholics, some of them out right lies that people have been fed so they hate the Church. While I was not Protestant (I was in fact very far from any Christianity) I had a deep hatred for the Church (and in fact Christianity) and I knew many of the arguments against Catholicism. But by the Grace of God, I was eventually led to the Church, and was Baptized into the Body of Christ. In any case, I understand where you are coming from, and pray that one day, we all may be unified as Christians.
I do however have a couple of things to say about your post. First point number five. Scripture is actually infallible and inerrant. You see, it is Truth, given to us by God. Paragraph 107 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: ...the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our Salvation, wished to see confided to the Scriptures. Where the problem is of course, which you pointed out, is when Scripture is taken out of the context of Sacred Tradition. The same Sacred Tradition which gave us the Scriptures themselves.
As far as point number four, you are right that our sole source of spiritual nourishment is not the Bible. In fact, the Holy Eucharist is indeed the source and summit of our life. But the way you worded it, itsounded like the Bible is a book, that while it may be holy, can be set aside if needed. This is in fact so far from the truth. As Catholics, our Faith is from Sacred Scripture and Tradition. There are far too many Catholics that leave their Bibles to gather dust. When in fact we would all do very well by reading just a little bit of Scripture every day. By doing so, we would learn better on how to defend our Faith, how to live our lives, and would appreciate so much more what early Christians had to go through. For one, I was only able to answer im1ficklepickle precisely because I try to make it a habit to read Scripture every day.
My prayers are with you dear sir. I pray that the situation in your life gets straightened out, and that the will of God be done in all...
Ad majorem Dei gloriam!
Thank you dean for your input, your clarification on these matters is greatly appreciated and invited.
I see your point on the superficiality of some of my words and for that I apologize, I will make amends in the future. I will make a note in the blog to look at these comments for the purpose of further edification in this matter.
Deo duce,
N8
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