Catholic and Christian (eBook)

An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs

Alan Schreck (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
256 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-317-2 (ISBN)

You're on the spot. Someone wants you to explain some aspect of Catholic belief. Do you really think the pope is infallible? Why do Catholics pray to Mary? Where do sacraments come from? What do you think of the Bible? Are you saved? You wish some well-informed Catholic friend were around to help with the answer. Or perhaps you are asking the questions yourself. Where do Catholic beliefs come from? Why do we pray for the dead? How does the rosary fit into a biblical faith? The best-selling Catholic and Christian provides the answers you need. It is a readable and concise summary of commonly misunderstood Catholic beliefs the teachings and practices that don't get much attention in Sunday homilies and in religious education, but which puzzle Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This is a book for all Catholics who want to know more about their faith.

PROLOGUE

Perspective on Catholic Beliefs

As we set out to examine what Catholics believe, it is important to begin with an overall perspective on the principles that guide Catholics in recognizing Christian truth. If we understand these principles, we will be better able to understand the specific Catholic beliefs discussed in this book.

These principles and beliefs will appear to be complex and mentally challenging at times. C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite Christian authors, has pointed out, “it is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple. They look simple, but they are not.” Lewis says that a wooden table looks simple, but ask a scientist to explain its composition and you encounter a series of “mysteries and complications” that boggle the mind.1

Likewise, Christianity, including Catholic Christianity, is not “simple.” God has designed it so that a child or the simplest person can understand and accept its basic truths, but a genius can spend a lifetime trying to grasp the full implications of even a single Christian truth. St. Thomas More once commented that the truths of Christianity are so designed that “a mouse can wade in them, but an elephant can swim in them.”

I have attempted to keep this presentation of Catholic Christian beliefs as simple as possible, while still unfolding some of its depth and mystery. Let us proceed to consider some of the basic principles that guide the Catholic Church in recognizing Christian truth and in formulating these truths in its doctrinal statements.

Principle I: God Reveals Christian Truth Through the Holy Spirit

Where do we go to discover Christian truth? Is it all in the Bible? Catholic Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and a “norm” for judging the truth of all Christian beliefs. That is, no Christian belief can out-rightly contradict the teaching of the Bible. The Second Letter to Timothy declares: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tm 3:16-17 NAB). Catholics believe that this teaching applies to all Scripture; both the Old and the New Testaments.

“All scripture is inspired by God....” But does this mean that only Scripture is inspired? Catholics do not find this teaching in the Bible. While Catholics believe that the Bible is the foremost and unsurpassed source of God’s revelation, they also believe that God reveals his truth and guides his people in other ways. For example, the New Testament records that the Holy Spirit revealed God’s truth through the gift of prophecy (Acts 11:27-30, 21:10-12; 1 Cor 14:1-4, 31), councils of church leaders (Acts 15:28), and even direct revelations to individuals, such as to Peter (Acts 10:9-17) and Paul (Acts 9, 18:9, 20:22-23, 27:24). Certainly these manifestations of the Holy Spirit had to be “tested” or discerned—an important responsibility of the Church’s leaders. Even the writings that now comprise the New Testament had to be discerned by those same Church leaders before they were accepted as the inspired Word of God.

Catholics believe that the revelation of God in the Bible is one important way that God reveals himself and guides his people. But the Holy Spirit has also been sent by Jesus to be the Church’s continual guide. The Spirit expands and deepens the Church’s continual guide. The Spirit expands and deepens the Church’s understanding of God’s truth over the course of history. In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells his apostles at the Last Supper, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn 16:12-13). There is no indication that the truth that the Holy Spirit would reveal was limited to the Bible alone. The Bible is a primary work of God’s revelation to humankind, but not the only work. The Second Vatican Council taught that Catholics should not think that there are two sources of revelation, the Bible and “tradition,” but that there is actually only one Word of God that has been revealed and passed on in written form (the Bible), and also in other forms, such as preaching, spiritual gifts, the Church’s worship, and other unwritten forms inspired or guided by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, Catholics believe that the Bible is the “book of Christianity,” but not that Christianity is a “religion of the book” like Judaism. Christianity is not a religion of the written word alone, but of the Holy Spirit. Later we will discuss more fully how the Holy Spirit is present among God’s people to guide them and reveal God’s truth.

Principle II: The Incarnational Principle

Catholics believe that the Incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus Christ, reveals an important truth about the way God chooses to relate to humanity. God could have continued to reveal himself to the human race solely through vision, voices, or angelic messengers. Instead he chose to “empty himself” (see Phil 2:7) and stoop down to our level by taking on our humanity—appearing in human form as a man that we could see, hear, and touch. Jesus himself used ordinary physical objects, human gestures, and even other people to reveal God’s presence and love. He used water, bread, wine, fish, his touch, and even mud made with his spit, to manifest the love and power of the Father working through him. He gave his apostles, who were ordinary men, the same power and authority that he had to heal, and expel demons, and to use the same signs that he used (water, bread, wine, touch, etc.) to make the presence and power of God visible.

Why? Why did God himself take on our humanity? Why did Jesus choose ordinary men and use the ordinary objects and gestures to show forth and transmit the power of God? Why? Because God knows what human beings are like, and what they need. God created human beings as earthly, physical creatures who experience reality through their bodies and their five senses, and not just through their “spirits.” Humans are embodied spirits, and God stoops down to our level because he knows that we need to relate to him through what is physical, visible, and tangible. Yes, God also calls humanity to have faith and hope in things that are unseen, which are eternal (2 Cor 4:18). But he graciously uses the things we can see, feel, hear, and touch to reveal his presence and love, and even to give himself to us and share his life with us fully.

What are the practical implications of this principle? Catholics believe that since the Incarnation, God has continued to relate to humanity (revealing his love and giving his life to us) in a human way—using physical objects, human gesture, and men and women whom he has set apart to be his representatives through the commission of Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that God intended there to be effective, visible signs of God’s presence and power, which Catholics call “sacraments.” These are physical things such as water, oil, salt, bread, and wine, which make visible God’s presence, power, and blessing. Catholics also believe that God can use pictures, statues, medals, and other objects to remind us of him, and of his work in holy men and women whom he has raised up for us to imitate. Catholics believe that God uses certain human beings to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world, as successors of his original apostles. All these things are related to the “incarnational” principle. This principle affirms that the Church, like Jesus, is not only a spiritual reality, but also a human and earthly one. There is nothing human or of the earth that God cannot and does not use to reveal and communicate his love for us. (St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of the university where I teach, is one of the great men of God who most appreciated this truth and expressed it in his life and teaching.) Hence Catholics believe that we are called to recognize that God uses the material, physical, and human dimension of life to direct our attention and love to him and to his work. Since “the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14) as Jesus Christ, the whole human perspective on the value of this world and the true purpose of the things of the world has been entirely transformed.

Principle III: The Hierarchy of Truths

Catholics believe that God reveals the fullness of truth to Christians through the Bible and through the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit. There are a wide range of truths that Catholics believe are revealed by God. Some of these truths are accepted by nearly all Christians, such as the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, Jesus’ intention to establish a church, and many others. Other truths are accepted by Catholics, but not by other Christians, such as the importance of Mary in God’s plan of salvation, the intercessory role of the saints, the existence of purgatory, and so on. Catholics believe that both the former and the latter categories are part of the fullness of Christian truth. So, Catholics do not distinguish...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	19.1.2023
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Christentum
ISBN-10	1-63582-317-X / 163582317X
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-317-2 / 9781635823172

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