Tag Archives: Denominations

The Gospel: Simple, Easy Or Both?

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Things that are simple are not always easy.  Eating your favorite ice cream is simple and easy.  Swallowing bitter medicine is simple but not easy.  It can be quite difficult to do some things that are not at all complicated.  In the Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade, there is a scene where Indian Jones has to step out onto a bridge that cannot be seen.  It is essentially a leap of faith.  It is an uncomplicated, simple act.  Just step off of the cliff.  But it is at the same time a very difficult act.  “Simple” does not automatically imply “easy.”

The Gospel is simple.  All one has to do is place faith in Christ.  Doing so has been called by some the simplest yet most difficult thing in the world.  The difficulty arises because in order to place trust in Christ we must let go of whatever else holds our trust (usually our own pride and personal opinions).  It’s really the letting go that causes the difficulty.  It’s like stepping off of the cliff when you can’t see the bridge.

The Bible tells us of the rich, young man that asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved.  He had kept the law and told Jesus so.  “What else do I lack?” he asked.  “Sell everything you have, give it to the poor and come follow me,” Jesus told him.  The young man went away sad because he had many possessions.  Simple, but not easy.  There is always something to let go of.  That’s the hard part.

There are many folks that have left Catholicism in favor of a “simple Gospel.”  I used to be one of those folks.  It took me a while to realize that being Catholic isn’t complicated.  It’s really quite simple.  Just trust Jesus.  He said he would build his Church, so just trust him.  Follow his Church.  He put it there for a reason.  That doesn’t mean it will be “easy.”  There are some teachings of the Church that are not easy to submit to.  But that’s not a problem with the teaching, that’s a problem with me letting go of something (usually my own pride or control).

Lots of people leave Catholicism not because they have discovered a more “simple” Gospel, but because they want an easier Gospel that conforms to their own opinions and lifestyles.  Church teachings can be difficult to submit to.  The same can be said of Christ’s teachings.  Just ask the rich young man.  The problem was within him, not within Christ’s teaching.

Catholicism has 2000 years of depth and richness to explore.  In that sense it is complex and multifaceted.  But it is simultaneously simple.  St. Therese of Lesuix (The Little Flower) spoke of her “little way” of simple faith in Christ.  Yet, she was so deep and profound in her spirituality that she was declared one of only 30 “Doctors of the Church.”  That’s one thing I love about Catholicism.  It is so deep yet so simple.

Being non-Catholic was, in some ways, more complicated with all the differing doctrines and opinions on faith and morals.  It was like being set adrift with no one at the helm.  I found myself looking for a church that aligned with what I believed.  That made me the final authority, not Christ and his Church.  It can be easier to belong to a church that believes everything the way you do (or to belong to no church at all).  But that’s when you create God in your own image.  It’s easier to build a golden calf than to trust God and follow his lead.

The Gospel is very simple.  Just follow Christ and the Church he built for you.  Easy?  Not always.  Simple?  Yes.  Not complicated at all.  It’s a simple leap of faith.  When your feet hit the bridge, that’s when the “yoke is easy and the burden is light.”

Hey, Let’s Go To Church. Ok, Where Is It?

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I’ve been pondering the word “church” today and considering the various ways it is used.  Here are a few examples:  a church building; a denomination; a personal adjective, as in “church lady;” the entire body of Christian believers; an assembly of believers; an event, as in the expression, “Let’s have church.”  The word “church” is used a bit like the word “love.”  So many meanings derived from one single word.  When Jesus said, “I will build my church” what did he mean?

People generally think Jesus meant that he would create a body of Christian believers.  That is true.  The Church is a body of believers.  This is where many folks stop, however.  Ask them to point to the Church that Jesus built and things begin to get murky.  They may respond that the Church built by Jesus can’t be pointed to because it is invisible.  Since only God can see the heart, only God knows who is saved and who is lost.  Therefore, it would be presumptuous to point to any person or any group and say, “There is the Church.”  Or, they may respond that all of the Christian denominations are the Church.  They simply disagree on non-essential issues.  They all believe in Jesus, so, they are all the Church that Christ founded.

I used to hold to an opinion that combined the two views.  I decided that no one knows who is lost or saved, and every church was a mixture of saved and lost people (the wheat and the tares).  There is some truth to that, but if someone were to ask me to point to the Church that Jesus Christ built I would essentially have to say, “Take your pick.”  Eventually, I ran into some problems with my perspective.

First of all, if the Church is completely invisible, how can anyone find it?  How can an invisible Church be a light for the world?  The “invisible Church” idea sounds more like a Church “hidden under a bushel.”  It is true that only God knows the heart, but it is also true that Jesus started a visible organization and placed men in specific offices within that organization.  The apostles were left in charge of the organization, and they passed their offices on to their successors (i.e. the bishops).  What Jesus started was an organized religion.

Furthermore, Jesus said he would always be with the Church and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.  The Church would remain an organized religion with Jesus at the head and the successors of the apostles in charge until the end of time.  Modern day Christendom with its thousands of denominations and conflicting doctrines does not fit the model of what Jesus said he would build.  Jesus prayed for his believers, “That they all would be one as you and I, Father, are one.” (John 17:21)  Can Jesus and the Father have conflicting doctrines?  No.  The Church was to be a visible, organized religion with a hierarchy of leadership and unity of doctrine.

Another problem I ran into was the take-it-to-the-Church concept.  Believers are told that if there is a conflict that can’t be worked out in private, “…take it to the Church.”  If the offending party won’t listen even to the Church, then they are to be treated as a heathen (Matt 18:17).  This simply cannot operate in the modern, multi-denomination world we have today.  One can find YouTube videos galore of different denominations debating various essential topics of Christian doctrine.  For instance, when a Church of Christ believer says that baptism is necessary for salvation, and a non-denominational believer disagrees, how can they resolve their dispute?  Which “church” do they take it to?  All they can do is debate each other endlessly.  They have no final authority to call the shots.  They are both appealing to the Bible as the final authority, yet the Bible is telling them to take their dispute to the Church, something they cannot do.  In other words, the Bible points to the Church as the final authority and the “pillar of truth.” (1Tim 3:15)  But, which church?

Jesus built a Church that is a visible body of believers, has offices with a hierarchy of apostolic successors and functions as the final authority in disputes between believers.  There’s really only one Church that fits that model consistently since the time of Christ.  That’s one of the main reasons I went back to Catholicism.  Submission to the Church built by Christ is submission to Christ.  The two are inseparable.  The final authority for faith and morals is no longer my personal opinion or even my pastor’s opinion.  The authority rests squarely where Christ placed it 2000 years ago, even before there was a Bible.  Like it or not, the authority rests within the Catholic Church.  This is not arrogance.  It doesn’t mean all the people in the Church are perfect.  Far from it.  If not for the Holy Spirit, the Church would have imploded centuries ago.  It’s still here because it’s Christ’s Church.  He started it and he holds it together even when we try to tear it apart.

Some Things Are Hard To Understand

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When I was studying for the ministry I came across things in the Bible that were hard to understand.  No surprise there.  Undaunted, I soldiered on trusting that my education and the guidance of the Holy Spirit would clear things up well enough.  Gradually, I became more unsettled by the realization that different people were teaching different things about the Bible.  “All of them claim to be led by the Holy Spirit,” I thought.  “All of them are highly educated.  Which one is correct?  Am I being taught the right things?  Will I teach the right things when I’m a minister?”  These questions lingered in the back of my mind as I did my best to follow Christ and his calling.

When I read passages like 2Peter 3:16 and Acts 8:30-31 my concerns grew.  Scripture is hard to understand.  Who would be my Phillip?  Who were the ignorant and unstable ones that twist the Scriptures to their own destruction and teach error?  There were so many choices, they could not all be right.  If the Bible is the authority for the Christian, who has the final say on matters of interpretation?  There is much disagreement, even on basic questions like, “How does one become saved?”  For example, is baptism necessary for salvation?  Nowhere in the Bible does it say “Accept Jesus into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior.”  Is salvation something a person can lose once they have it?  Are good works necessary for salvation?  Was the Holy Spirit giving people different answers to these important questions?  Why so many denominations with different answers?

I would hear people say, “I don’t believe it unless the Bible says it!”  But, where is that teaching found in the Bible?  Where does the Bible say that only those things found explicitly in the Bible are true?  It’s not in there.

One day I was introduced to some Scripture verses I had never noticed before.  1Tim 3:15 says that the Church of the living God is the pillar and bulwark of truth.  Matt 18:15-17 says to take disagreements to the Church.  Here we see the final authority.  The Bible says that the final authority is the Church, not the Bible.  Nowhere does the Bible claim itself to be the final authority.  It points us to the Church.  But, which church?  What if a Baptist and a Presbyterian and a Methodist have a disagreement?  Which “church” do they take it to?  There are literally thousands of denominations or “churches.”

The only Church that can historically document its existence back to Christ is the Catholic Church.  266 Popes can be counted all the way back to Peter.  Jesus said, “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  He told his apostles, “He who hears you hears me.”  He gave his authority to his Church before the New Testament was even written.  The authority of the Bible comes from Jesus through the Church that assembled it.  The Catholic Church has the final say.  Do other churches teach things that are true about Jesus?  Yes.  But the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth.  It is the whole package Christ wants us to have.  It is the Church established by Christ.  The Bible is one part of the treasure and authority given to the Catholic Church, the “pillar and bulwark of truth.”

I no longer worry if I’m in the “right denomination.”  Catholicism isn’t really a “denomination” anyway.  That’s a bit like calling the trunk of a tree a “branch.”  Whatever life is in the branches (denominations) comes from the trunk.  Catholicism is simply the Church.  Always has been, always will be.  I am humbled to be part of the Catholic Church and its 2000 years of experience and wisdom.  The Church has outlived every empire.  It has survived every attack from within and from without.  If it was just a human organization it would have imploded long ago.  It is an organism with Jesus Christ as the head and king, and the Pope as his prime minister.  Scandals have not destroyed it, wars have not demolished it, rebellions have not diffused it and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.  It’s Christ’s Church.  He builds it.  The Holy Spirit guides it.  To love Jesus is to love his Church.  It is, after all, his Body.  It’s good to be home.