When Catholics rediscover their evangelical wings and Evangelicals rediscover their Catholic roots we’ll truly be one Church lifting this world to heaven. Jesus prayed for it. He declared it. (John 17:20-23) It will happen.
START HERE: It’s all about faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is not about what God can do. It's about our response to what He evidently did, does, and asks us to do.
CONSIDER: God is capable of the "Saul” thing. (Acts 9) He is capable of unmediated, direct, overpowering revelation. If with Saul, then with everyone on the planet. That is, the power to radically transform even a passionate Christian-killer into the most passionate of Christian-makers. Why didn’t/doesn’t God do the “Saul” thing with everyone on the planet? Right now? Wouldn’t that be something!
ENOUGH TO PRONOUNCE: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” (Is. 55:89)
SO, WHAT ARE GOD’S WAYS? WHAT DID and DOES GOD DO? Following the very manner and form of the Word made Flesh (John 1), Jesus Christ, in and through Whom all is created and is held together in existence (Col. 1): God chooses to be mediated through human and material instrumentality.
Think about it: Most of us would not know about God were it not for the witness of others. Humans. Or ink configured a certain way on paper we call Scripture. Material. This is the basis of sacramentality, that is-- a sacrosanct sign producing grace. (Signum sacro sanctum efficax gratiae - solitary Latin herein to endear my beloved fastidious Catholic friends)
Accordingly, evident in the earliest church up through the present day, Jesus accomplishes Salvation through such flesh-and-blood, concrete means as: Sacred Community/Tradition, Sacred Word, Authority (Matt. 16:18), Baptism, Penance, Confirmation, Marriage, Priesthood, Anointing of the Sick… and most notably, His Real Presence in the Eucharist: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life within you.” (John 6:53-55)
If the biblical context isn't clear enough that Jesus really meant His Real Presence (He repeated it emphatically and allowed many to leave him), consider the unanimous and undisputed belief of all in the early church. (GO)
God chooses to betroth a People who will totally and radically identify with Him, through whom His Salvation will be accomplished. All this contained in Jesus' self-revealing question: “Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts. 9:4)
OTHER NECESSARY IMPLICATIONS:
1) ABSURDITY. If it’s “just God and me” and Scripture is entirely sufficient, all churches would be superfluous. Absurd. Along with asking anyone to pray for you. Or any community for that matter.
2) RELATIVISM. If it’s “just God and me” and Scripture is entirely sufficient, there would be no norm or guide outside yourself. In our moral wilderness, it would be like having a compass without connection to an external magnetic field. Without the capacity to be oriented to Due North. The direction of anyone’s “needle” would be entirely arbitrary. Random.
Tell me this is not our situation today! So many think desire is its own validation of “good”, “true” and “right.” Even “God’s will.” If someone sexually desires someone of the same sex, it is accepted as “right.” Perhaps even from God, because after all, “God gave me this desire.” Of course, this falls apart if we pressed: If desire is its own validation for sexuality, why not adultery? Why not abortion?
Now one who insists that “God and me” and Scripture is sufficient might retort, “That’s not in Scripture!” But like the compass disconnected from the external magnetic field, without a capacity to authoritatively determine what Scripture means objectively/universally, such direction is left to each individual.
With natural/positive law anchored in divine law (“endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”), one is without any basis to contest even legal-institutional validation of sin. Indeed, there’s no argument to keep us from funding it, whether that be contraception, abortion, or (as we've seen) even infanticide!
Each of these are logical derivatives of a “God and me” / sufficiency of Scripture perspective. Each person becomes his/her own pope. Their own authoritative interpreter of what scripture means. Anything goes. No one can say anything to anyone about anything. To each, his/her own.
If we need evidence of this flawed perspective, do a search on Scriptural basis used to justify just about everything sinful… from homosexual activity to abortion. As you reach to establish an authoritative basis to say what Scripture means, note you find yourself in the same place of Catholics asserting the Magisterium.
Simply put, there will be a “vicar" of Christ (“representative”). Someone in whom we place our trust in terms of interpretation of Scripture. Even if yourself. The compelling question: On what scriptural basis does your vicar derive his/her authority?
Set aside the word “catholic” and simply look at history: The line of “primacy of Peter” conferred by Jesus in Matt. 16:18, that the earliest Christian community recognized and followed in unbroken succession up to the present day, validated by doctrine that has been unchanged (only developed) in Her 2000 year history, punctuate the biblical, historical and logical necessity: without authority there is no unity.
Without an authoritative basis to know revealed truth, “faith” can devolve to radical individualism. The potential for worshiping emotions, or self, in the name of God. Do we not see this in the prevalence of over 30,000 “denominations”? A great scandal against which Jesus prayed that “they be one.” (John 17:3)
If we embrace Sacred Scripture as God-breathed, as inerrant, authoritative, and inspired-- it is logically necessary that we recognize the authority of the context that gave us that Word: Sacred Community/Tradition. The origin and interpretative basis of the Sacred Word is none other than “the church… the pillar and foundation of truth.” (1 Tim. 3:15)
Without Sacred Tradition, the Sacred Word would not exist. Nor would we have an authoritative understanding of what it means. As suggested above, we understand why there are as many conceptions of truth and doctrine as there are people.
4) SCHOLARLY WITNESS. It’s worth noting: Thousands throughout history pursued and availed to the undeniable verdict of truth, wherever it may lead, without diminishment. They asked every question that could possibly be asked of the Catholic Church. Do you worship Mary and the Saints? What about Purgatory? What’s with the Eucharist? Each of these found solid answers not simply to their satisfaction, but to the great edification of a deep, rich faith in Jesus Christ they’d already professed; these became Catholic.
(See in particular works by Scott Walker Hahn, Patrick Madrid, Marcus Grodi, Eric Sammons, Paul Thigpen, Michael J Cumbie, Patrick Coffin, Tim Staples)
On the other hand, I have earnestly scoured the web for any examples of rigorous truth pursuers within the Catholic Church who left as a result. I have not found one. This living testimony is perhaps summarized by the multitude of converts who have stated in so many words: There are many misconceptions of the Catholic Church and were I to believe these to be true, I wouldn’t be Catholic either.
On the most basic, simple level, it’s worth noting that most of the significant objections today were not even a question prior to 500 years ago (Protestantism, 1517AD; Orthodox Christian notwithstanding, 1054AD), which begs the question: “Did God change his mind after 1500 years?”
As many prominent converts have proclaimed: To study history is to cease being Protestant.
5) IMPORTANT. This is important because the entire world is tripping over the low bar set by the Church. While God can and certainly does use partial, the full power of the Kingdom is found in total. Everything that comes from God. (Matt. 4:4) An irrevocable and complete "YES!" A whole. The heart of holiness.
Now I’m particularly referring to Catholics. In the most significant and fundamental regards, our call is to be as Catholic as innumerable evangelicals.
Simply put: Do we really believe what we profess? At heart is the nature of “belief.” If we simply regard “belief” as knowledge, Satan is the greatest saint. If we regard “belief” as mere performance, an actor can be a saint.
Throughout my life, but particularly in recent months, I have been profoundly blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit so alive in community with non-Catholic Christians. So many evangelical pastors. Together we have witnessed and been instruments of powerful manifestations of the Kingdom of a truly biblical proportion. Miraculous healings. Deliverance. Amazing prophecy. Powerful conversions. The distinctive trademark of new believers not simply ignited but inaugurated into a community that continues to disciple them more fully.
Ecclesia (root of "church") doesn't simply mean GATHER and be formed. It means GO and make disciples. (Matt. 28:19) The integrity of our gathering is measured by our going. The integrity of our truly receiving Holy Communion is measured by the degree to which we are all-in building Holy Community. Multiplying.
While delighting in all this (many evangelicals have been doing this for years), in general, the world is asking: Where are the Catholics? Where are the priests? Where are the parishes?
With confidence, I can state: the single greatest reason many won’t even consider Catholicism is because all they see is a field of dry bones. (Ez. 37) Ritualism. Performance/checklist-ism. Fruitlessness. Languishing. They’re like the little old lady in the first Wendy’s commercial: “Where's the beef?"
And why should they even consider what we purport to be doctrinal TRUTH if it’s so patently devoid of FRUIT? 80% Catholics leave the faith by age 23. Of those who stay, no more than 10% even pray before meals. Most are mired by all the “useless anxiety” of unbelievers. So the rest of the world rightly observes and asks: WHY BOTHER?
Knowledge and Sacraments are essential, but they are not enough. Having had God Himself as a Catechist for three years, having experienced His tremendous power, having experienced the abundant grace of all the Sacraments-- without the Holy Spirit they remained hidden. Cowering in an upper room. They needed Something more. Are we aware of that Something more?
Our faith may be like the most beautiful, formidable Sailboat... formed by the very Hand of God to get us where we're ultimately destined to go, without opening the sails it remains stagnant. We languish. Our spiritually emaciated world pining for the saving knowledge and power of God in Jesus Christ languishes.
If we’ve truly encountered the Holy Spirit, we have the Father’s Heart beating within us. It can not be contained. We can not help but share the Father’s Heart yearning for all to know Him. Intimately. To be one in Him. To build the Kingdom.
SEEK THE FULFILLMENT: OneHeartOneCity.us.
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