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Misconceptions on the Catholic Church The Christian Factor -Are They What They Appear to Be? By: Vickie Shepherd The Catholic Church seems to be a bit of a mystery to people of other faiths; there are so many rich traditions that have been handed down through the centuries that are also a part of the Protestant Body of Christ that we really should understand each other; instead of flinging insults or accusations in reference to other religions. I want to begin this with a few that I have been asked about and try to give answers that are biblically sound, and that their origins in the earliest Christian communities are established here. If you have some questions you would like answered just drop me a line and I will explain to the best of my ability. Let us begin this journey through the ages of faith together. Let me take each of these one at a time. Praying to Mary and the Saints: Praying to Mary-this is not the same as praying to God; it is not a form of worship or glorification by any means. Our faith in Jesus and the incarnation is a special bond between God and humankind; we honor Mary as the vessel who bore the Body of Christ and raised Him in the Jewish tradition. When we address Mary we are asking her to pray for us; it is the same as asking a friend to pray for your special intentions. Mary is our intercessor (1) in Heaven; we ask her to pray (2) for us. When we pray to Mary we always address her as the Mother of Jesus, and we never address her without asking for her petitions of prayer. If you have a parent, grand parent or someone who went before you, I think you can identify with me on this subject; it is like to talking to my mother and father or other relatives who have gone before me and asking them to pray for my family and myself. The angels of God are in a constant state of prayer, and we can ask them intercede for us to God in their prayer. The Saints-These are people in the Body of Christ who have gone before us, they have done miraculous deeds and have in some way used their gifts from God to help others. They are much like our ancestors who have preceded us in death; we often ask our deceased relatives for prayer or talk to them when contemplating a problem we need to solve. We in no way worship or give the saints a place in our prayer lives that is likened to worship-never. Statues and the Saints: The idol worshippers!!!! God commanded that we put no graven images before Him. And we do not! The statues that are common to many of the Catholic Churches are the equivalent to the pictures we carry around to remind us of our loved ones. They are reminders to us of those who have been martyred in the name of God and religious beliefs, those who have given their lives to God in some way and have used His gifts to make life better for those who around them alive and in death. Many of these people were persecuted because of their religious beliefs or were kept from openly worshipping God because of some restriction. Prayer for intercession from the saints, the same thing as praying to Mary, or a relative who has gone before us, we are asking for intervention for some reason. There are certain saints who suffered from ailments common to the ones we suffer from today; so we ask them to pray for us and the relief that will come directly from God and His healing powers. It is sort of like having your favorite brother or sister go to dad and ask him for a favor; the saints are those brothers and sisters we reach out to in a time of need, and they ask our Heavenly Father to come to our aid. Genuflexion-Bowing: These are practices we use to show our respect in the presence of God. In all Catholic Churches we believe the presence of Christ is real; we therefore bow or genuflect in His presence. As the Bible states in Philippians 2: 9-11 �9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, In heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.� ter>I have had several people ask me questions about this-mainly because of the locations that the faithful choose to genuflect, such as in front of a statue. This is probably because the location of the Tabernacle is near the statue in which the presence of Jesus is always present; other explanations could be that it is a convenient place that has a step, there are many who cannot reach the ground genuflecting and this is easier for them. There could be many reasons for the place that Catholics genuflect where they do, but the main and essential reason is that the presence of Jesus is in the Church and they are recognizing that truth in which we believe. The Eucharist-The Real Presence: This is where many of the Christian Churches have their disagreements with the Catholic Church. We as Catholics believe literally the biblical meaning of Eucharist or Communion as given to us by Jesus at the Last Supper/ Paschal Meal/ Passover Meal. This is found in the Book of Luke 22: 18-20 (also found in the other two synoptic gospels--Matthew 26:25-27 and Mark 14:21-23) 18For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.ter> At every celebration of the Mass Catholics around the world we are in communion with each other in our belief that Jesus gave us this wonderful gift-Himself that we might be in communion with Him and each other as we partake of this sacrament that was founded on that night 2000 years ago and still having the same relevance in our lives as we share in the Paschal meal again and again. Why Non-Catholics are not invited to receive Communion: As I stated above, we as Catholics are in communion with one another in our belief that this bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit has been consecrated into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. [Those of you who would ask about the Old Testament rules of not consuming blood, please notice that Jesus said: "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.� New Covenant can also be called the New Testament].�As always you are welcome to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters in Christ; we pray that through our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist, that He will bring us closer to one another and begin to dispel the divisions that separate us. We pray that these divisions will lessen and disappear one day. Because Catholics believe that the celebrations of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, the churches with whom we are not fully united are ordinarily not permitted to holy communion.� (3) The Crucified Jesus: Amen brothers and sisters! What could be a better reminder of the pain and suffering that our Lord Jesus Christ went through for us? Many non-Catholics have brought up the fact that we keep Jesus crucified on the cross; but nothing could be further from the truth! As Christians we believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and will come again, we celebrate this in the Mass each week on Sunday the first day of the week on which our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected! We find much joy in this and we embrace the truth that we share in our salvation through Jesus life, death and resurrection. The crucified Jesus or crucifix is a reminder to each and every Christian that this happened because of the human weakness to be sinful; God made provisions for us by sending HIS ONLY SON to be our savior the final human sacrifice. Jesus is now our blood covenant with God the Father; Jesus is the perfect and only sacrifice that was needed for our salvation. What is this-A Catholic preaching about salvation? Are we saved? Are we promised the same things in Heaven that every other living Christian is promised? You bet! Look at Romans 10: 6-13 we see the promises of heaven: (5) Most evangelists, theologians, pastors and people of faith will tell you to get the most out of your worship and praise you must attend a Bible believing and teaching church. Most Protestant Churches would not call the Catholic faith one of those types of Churches, but I tell you this, our Church is founded in the teachings of Jesus Christ and is the most biblical �teaching� church I have attended so far. The Mass is founded in the Bible and has an overabundance of biblical prayers of thanksgiving, worship and praise. We sing our praises to the Lord with hymns no differently than the hymns sung by other faiths. I invite you to �come and see� for Jesus lives with us as much as He does any other Christian faith. Listen as you worship and give your praises to God in prayer, the Mass is full of inspirational prayer bringing us closer to God in every way. Are We Saved By Works Alone? Where in the world did this statement come from? We are Christians, we live our lives by the Word of God, and we are part of the Body of Christ as stated in the New Testament so many, many times. So how did this come about to be a misconception in the Protestant communities? At some point in all our lives we are called by God to do His will, whether it be a ministry, a good deed, a vocation or a profession. This is not coincidental, it is the will of God that we go where we go and meet the people we meet, it is His will that we have the life experiences we do. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives gives us the ability to do these things we are called to embark upon, giving us the grace and authority to be a messenger of the Word. Our faith has much to do with the way we live our lives, work at our jobs and meet other people. If we are to live our faith then we need the grace of the Holy Spirit and His guidance to perform these assignments in life. The power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is one of the reasons we do what we do, so of course if we are called to do some type of work in the name of Jesus, doesn�t that just count as �good works�? The flow of good works comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives; we can�t help but do well when He is influencing our lives-right? So why is it so wrong to say that we are saved by good works, it is not good works alone that gives us our salvation, but the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross! We are saved and forgiven by the stripes on His back, the blood that flowed from those wounds that he so silently and altruistically gave his life for us, the sinner. So where is the difference in our beliefs? I do not know; it is a fact that we believe that good works flow from the Holy Spirit as a product of the grace and strength we get from God. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us that push when we don�t know exactly what to do, but we do it anyway. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the coincidences in life that seem to happen between all people; such as saying the same thing at the same time. Or bringing a book along with you and the sermon or teaching in the Bible study is on that exact subject. We have all had our �Holy Spirit or God� moments, this is what brings us together as Christians/ the Body of Christ and not so much as a denomination of that role. We should all strive to know more about each other�s faith. Not every pastor in every faith is educated in or knowledgeable about the practices and traditions of every denomination. And when it comes right down to it, most of the Christian practices and traditions are born in the tradition of Judaism. The faith from which Jesus was taught, taught others and gave to us-those candles in church are traditions from the days when our churches had no electricity to turn on the lights, the altars in some churches exist because of the altars used in the Old Testament for their sacrifices. We have many things that are common and which are still to be shared among us, let us search for that common ground before we try to change the other things, which are the differences that aren�t the imminent factors behind our religious beliefs. From the C.C.C. (Catholic Catechism) �He "prays without ceasing" who unites prayer to works and good works to prayer. Only in this way can we consider as f praying without ceasing.� The Issue of Purgatory: Much has been said for and against the subject of purgatory. The Catholic Church itself was not sure about the existence of such a place and it was argued for several centuries. I believe that there is such a place, and that in the order of things God had to provide a place for the saints of the Old Testament, surely He would not condemn the men like Moses and Noah because there was no salvation for them before the time of Christ. Therefore He kept a place so that they could await the arrival of the promised Savior, this is one point that is made in the Apostles Creed. That Jesus was crucified, died and was buried and descended into Hades (Hell). While Jesus was in this place He spent three days bringing His light to the darkened corners and there He revealed Himself as the savior, preaching the good news throughout the boundaries of Hades. However there was a separate plane called Sheol for the Old Testament people, not the fires of hell but fires of redemption. �It is a common belief among Christians that on this occasion he took the souls of those who had died trusting in the promises made under the Old Covenant - Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and many others - and brought them out of the realm of the dead and into heavenly glory.� (4) This being so- it would constitute the existence of a place where we are purged of our sins and impurities to be made perfect as to enter into the presence of the Father. (1 Cor 3:15) If anyone's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. 1 Cor 3:15 is referring to the state of purgatory in which there will be punishment due to sins committed on earth, as well as the purging of all imperfections not acceptable for entrance into heaven. "Works that are burned" in 1 Cor 3:15 refers to our sinful acts being purged. In essence, there are only three points on Purgatory that the Catholic Church insists: (1) that there is purification after death, (2) that this purification involves some kind of pain or discomfort, and (3) that God assists those in this purification in response to the actions of the living. Among the things the Church does not insist on are the ideas that purgatory is a place or that it takes time. Luther, in 1519 and years previous to this, had said that the existence of purgatory was undeniable. It wasn�t until later in the Reformation period that the doctrine of purgatory abandoned permanently. May I refer you to a book by St. John of the Cross called �The Dark Night of the Soul�. There is a version of it available for reading on this website if you would like to check out the writings of this man. It explains the dark night as in a poem but clearly a purging of the soul, which we can experiehref="/death. http://www.ecatholic2000.com/index2.htmlPlease scroll down to the Spirituality area about half way down the page and click on: Dark Night of the Soul. It is not reading that can be done in one night, the translation is very good and thorough. I had to think over every 4 pages or so to let it sink in, I felt that at times this man could see into my soul, it was so spiritually insightful. Footnotes: (1) (Intercession: Merriam Webster Dictionary: prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another) (2) (Pray: Merriam Webster Dictionary: 1: Entreat or implore; often used as a function word in introducing a question, request, or plea 2: to get or bring by praying 3: to make a request in a humble manner (3) Adapted from the statements of the United States Catholic Conference (4) http://www.gty.org/~phil/creeds/apostles.htm (5) http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bg?passage=ROM+1&language=english&version=NIV Part II to follow. �Copyright2002 Viickie Shepherd. All rights reserved. |
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