Tag Archives: Evangelism

C’mon, Jesus, Cut To The Chase!

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The Gospel is simple, right?  Just believe in Jesus and you will be saved.  Well, it may be simple, but it’s not simplistic.  After all, Jesus spent three years teaching His disciples what He wanted them to teach us.  Then, the Apostles spent years teaching others through oral Tradition and written letters.  So, there must be more to learn and do.  The new birth is just that…a birth.  After birth comes growing and learning.  In other words, maturing in the Faith is just as important as being born into it.  Having the faith of a child is not the same thing as remaining immature and ignorant.  Childlike faith is not childish faith.

It seems many folks leave Catholicism (or avoid converting to it) because they are turned off by the complexity of it.  They want to “simply believe” without all the “extra stuff” that seems to complicate matters.  Imagine the Apostles saying to Jesus, “Umm, Master, can you just cut to the chase, please?  Why is it taking you years to tell us what we need to know?  Isn’t it enough that we believe in you?”  Yes, it was a “simple” step to drop everything and follow Jesus.  No, it was not “simplistic” in the sense that nothing else would need to be learned or accomplished after that initial step.  As Paul said, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)

Take, for example, how Jesus healed a certain blind man.  The man believed Jesus could do it.  The faith was there.  Jesus could have simply said, “You’re healed.”  Instead, Jesus spit on the ground, made some clay, rubbed it in the man’s eyes and told him to go wash it off (John Chapter 9).  After following Jesus’ directions, the man was healed.  For some reason, Jesus “complicated” things.  Notice, the blind man did not object and say, “Forget all this mud and washing business!  Why are you making me jump through all these hoops?  Just heal me, for crying out loud!”  The blind man did not insist on simplicity at the expense of heeding Christ’s words.

Catholicism is about following the directions of Christ in some very particular ways that go beyond the initial step of the new birth.  If you are avoiding the Church because of “all the rules and extra stuff” what you are actually doing is dismissing the directions of Christ.  What the Apostles learned from Christ and handed on to us is filled with depth and richness.  It has also matured over 2000 years.  It takes a lifetime to scratch the surface.

Nevertheless, if you insist on focusing on simplicity, even Catholicism offers that.  Believe in Christ and then, like the blind man, “do whatever He tells you” (as Mary said in John 2:5).  In other words, go to Mass.  Go to confession.  Partake of the Sacraments that Jesus gave us.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  It’s really not so complicated after all.  Yet, at the same time, it is extremely deep and complex.  We just have to stop the excuses and all the attempts to practice Christianity on our own terms.  Let’s be honest.  Sometimes we demand simplicity because we are simply being lazy.

And The Truth Will…Make You Feel Good?

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There is, as far as I can tell, no “great commission” to spread the New Age message.  There was no single founder of the New Age movement that said, “Go into all the world making New Age disciples of all nations.”  Thus, it seems ironic to me that there are so many people willing to “spread the New Age word” by posting messages on social media and the bumpers of their cars.  The Disciples of Christ spread the Gospel not simply to voice their beliefs, express their opinions or make people feel good, but because Jesus commanded them to do so.  They also mostly died in the process.

We now live in a world of relativism where “truth” is subject to the individual’s whim.  People no longer want to seek the truth, find it and die for it.  Rather, people want to believe whatever feels best to them and call it truth.  Then they seek validation of that truth from others who also feel good about it.  One can post a New Age quote or sentiment on Facebook, for example, and the more “likes” it receives the more “true” it must be.  This is truth based on feelings and popular concenses, not divine revelation.

There are elements of truth sprinkled throughout different religions and philosophies.  One of the beautiful things about Catholicism is its ability to assimilate these truths and include them within the deposit of divine revelation.  Hence, Catholicism is not one belief pitted against all other beliefs, but an inclusive Faith that recognizes truth, filters it and places it in its proper order.

Ultimately, truth is not a feeling or a philosophy but the person, Jesus Christ.  The world has largely “domesticated” Jesus and turned Him into just another feel-good, New Age, religious guru who taught some nice stuff.  But, that is not the radical, subversive, divine Jesus that was killed for all the trouble He stirred up.  That is not the Jesus that the Apostles died following.  They knew Him best.  They knew the Truth.  Truth doesn’t always “feel” good.  There is suffering involved at some point.  People want Jesus, but not His cross.

Before you post some “spiritual truth” on social media, you might ask yourself, “Am I willing to die for what I’m about to post?”  Is it really the Way the Truth and the Life?  Or, is it just a way to make me feel good?

Critical Thinking Versus Being Critical

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I was taught to use critical thinking skills.  I’m not always good at it, but I do try to see all sides of issues, and I try to avoid being duped.  Critical thinkers should be able to step back and see potential problems within their own conclusions as well as the conclusions of others.  No one can be right about everything all of the time.  Nevertheless, we must make conclusions regarding values, principles and morality, especially if we claim to be Christian.  Such conclusions must be based on reason as well as faith.  Pope John Paul II said that faith and reason are the two wings on which the soul takes flight.  Hence, even Christians need critical thinking skills.  Being Christian is an intelligent choice as well as a choice of faith.  Being a critical thinker, however, is not the same as being a critical person, and many folks get the two confused.

Critical people tend to seek out and point out the faults of others.  They will look a person “up and down” in an attempt to spot a blemish or shortcoming.  They also tend to find ways to make “imperfections” known to others.  This is the attitude of the Pharisee whose prayer consisted of thanking God that he was not like the sinners around him.  It is an attitude of superiority which expresses contempt for others while “pumping up” one’s self.  Having a critical attitude is not the same thing as using critical thinking skills to arrive at different conclusions than others.

There are also people that, if disagreed with, will throw out accusations of hatred.  “Since you disagree with my conclusion, you must hate me.”  These people are dismissing the possibility that the conclusion that differs from theirs could have been arrived at through legitimate, critical thinking rather than through hatred.  Using critical thinking skills is not hatred.  In fact, it is a loving thing to do as it attempts to see all sides and operate justly rather than through pure emotion.

As Christians, we are compelled to use critical thinking skills but not to be critical people.   We are to be, as Scripture says, “Wise as serpents but harmless as doves.”  James tells us how difficult it is to “tame the tongue,” yet we must strive to “speak the truth in love.”  As soon as we use truth as a hammer to beat down or insult other human beings, we enter the realm of sin.  We must, at all times and with all people, act with charity (love).  Faith, hope and charity: the greatest of these is charity.  Think critically, but don’t be a critical person.  Critical people tend to attract other critical people, and that is not the mission of the Church.  Criticism doesn’t usually win people over.

Most of us are critical rather than loving at times.  That’s why we have the confessional.  And Jesus waits for us there, not to criticize us, but to love us and to help us think more critically about how we can be more like Him and bring others to Him.

Implicit Faith: Wow, I Never Knew I Was A Catholic!

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One of the things I appreciate about Catholicism is that no one is without hope.  In my journey through non-Catholic Christianity, I encountered individuals and denominations that were very black-and-white in their ideas about salvation.  Either a person “confessed the Lord Jesus as personal Lord and Savior” or they were damned for eternity.  This damnation included people who had never even heard of Jesus.  The urgency of missionary work was fueled by the idea that millions of people were dying and going to Hell because they never heard about Christ.

Ironically, there are those who accuse the Catholic Church of having a similar black-and-white approach.  The Catholic Church has said that there is no salvation outside the Church.  On the surface, this does seem pretty cut and dry.  And there have been many misunderstandings and conflicts about that statement.  However, it does not mean that only people who call themselves Catholic are going to Heaven.  A better way of looking at it is to say that there are lots of people going to Heaven that never knew they were Catholic.  Even those same Christians that call Catholicism non-Christian are considered Christian by the Catholic Church.  They are “separated brethren.”  They are a part of the very Church they abhor.  More irony.

Everyone who is saved is saved by God’s grace through faith.  Catholicism teaches that there is such a thing as implicit faith.  God is love.  Even a person who has never heard of Jesus can respond to and follow ways of love.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except by me.”  What is truth?  Jesus is truth.  A person can respond to, seek out, and love truth without ever hearing the name, “Jesus.”  The more one knows and understands about Jesus, however, the more culpable they become when rejecting him and his message.

So, why even bother spreading the Gospel?  Just let everyone seek his or her own truth and all will be well, right?  Nope.  God loves us and has revealed himself to us in Jesus.  The best way to meet God and to know God is to meet Jesus and to know Jesus.  Jesus told us to spread the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations.  Although God will honor a sincere search for love and truth, what he really desires is an intimate relationship with us, not a meandering quest.  Missionary work is intended to be part of how God reaches out to the world.  Sure, God wants us to seek him.  Even more so, God seeks us.  He is not a distant, higher power.  God is an intimate lover.  That’s what the humanity of Jesus is all about.  That’s what the Church is all about.

Catholics are not “better” than anyone because of the Faith.  We have a greater responsibility than anyone to be true to the Gospel and to be an example for the world.  We need to be the most humble, loving people on the planet.  “To whom much is given, much will be required.”  Catholics need to heed the words spoken at the end of Mass, “Go in peace to love and serve the world.”  That’s when we take the life and love God gives us and distribute it like he does.  We are Christians.  We spread faith, hope and love.  The greatest of these is love.  God is love.