The girlfriend and I went to my old church today. I had taken her to the church I was attending while still living in Chesterton and she absolutely fell in love with it. I wanted to take her to another church with similar if not exactly the same ideals but a much higher budget so she could see where I wanted to see my church someday. It went rather well. She wasn't as stoked about today's church but the trip served it's purpose to show her what can be done aesthetically with the right amount of pocket change. To read her full interpretation of the day, click here.
Well, on the way back home we started talking about the ideas behind the Christian faith. She was raised Catholic. I absolutely cannot stand Catholicism. There's just too many things that don't make sense or add up to something completely unrelated to Christianity. The main principle behind the faith is that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. He died upon a cross as a sacrifice for our sins. The only way to the father (meaning God) is through him. (John 14:6) This is the main ideal. This is the key to everything. Now there are "rules" to Christianity. They're not necessarily rules that have any religiously based consequences here on earth. They're more like (for lack of a better term) strong moral suggestions. They are just things that any good person would normally abide by regardless of their religious intent. There's 10 of them that can really be summed up by an 11th. These are known as the 10 Commandments. Everyone has heard of them. Even if you're not religious. All of these can be summed up by what's known as the "Golden Rule". Treat your neighbor as yourself. If you treat everyone the way you would want to be treated, then nothing would ever be wrong and the world would be a perfect place. Would you want someone to steal from you, be unfaithful in a relationship with you, or murder you? I'm going to assume the answer here is no. So just treat everyone with dignity and respect and ultimately don't do anything to them that you would not want them to do to you. These two facts are the basics of Christianity. There you go. Christianity 101. And they said I could never be a college professor...
Now this is the part that is really gonna piss some people off. This is some of the things that I really just cannot stand about Catholicism One of the main problems is praying to the saints. Now there are many reasons that people practice this. I'll us Saint Mary as an example here. In the Catholic faith, people pray to Jesus through Mary. Now the wording there is very important. They are not praying to Mary, that would be considered idolatry. Reference for this is here. However, I believe this is commonly forgotten and is actually used as idolatry instead of a medium to get to Christ. Well, now that I have defended this belief, I'm going to break it down.
Christianity is not a religion, but a lifestyle. It is something that consumes your whole being. It is brought on by a personal relationship with the Creator. If you have a personal relationship with someone, you talk to them right? So how can you have a relationship with God if you don't talk with him? Here is a link to an Our Daily Bread page. Great organization. It will explain the personal relationship with God better than I can. So now if God wants to have a personal relationship with us and we with him, then we must talk to him.
The idea of talking to God through a saint is a little tough for me. How can I have a relationship with someone by talking through someone else. It's like one big long Chinese telephone and you're supposed to be dating the girl at the other end. Besides that, 1 Timothy 2:5 says "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus." So in the bible it says that the only way to God is through his son, Jesus Christ, and that there is only one mediator to God, known as Jesus Christ. So, I'm sorry if I fail to see where praying to God through Saint Mary is an acceptable thing. Regardless of the potential misconception of idolatry, it's still not right.
And besides, who has decided who is considered a saint? There is a lengthy process involved. First, a person must be declared venerable by the Vatican. This means that a deceased person led a more virtuous life than the standard person. Then there is Beatification, this comes from the latin "beatus" meaning blessed and "facere" meaning to make or do so. So, the Vatican decides if a person is eligible to be considered blessed. Then the third and final step is cannonization. This involves a ceremony, a papal bull, and setting a feast day. There can now be shrines built in honor of this person and this person can be the Patron Saint of somewhere. So in summary here, the Pope decides if you become a Saint. Well, in the Richard Catholic (rather than Roman Catholic) faith I am the Pope and I decide that I will be a Saint when I die. My secretary will be pushing the paperwork through later. Feel free to begin constructing shrines in my honor. The feast will be set for March 3rd the year after I die...
Now as for the other problems I have, they have to do not so much with the beliefs but the hierarchy and attitude. The feeling I've gotten from the various catholic churches I have attended was that the whole faith is about politics and who is "holier" than who. I hate that. If we are respectful towards others then there should be no "I'm holier than you because I do more at the church". That idea is complete and utter bullshit. It's a game of favorites. The people who do more in the church are seen as "better" than those who don't. How does participating in a church more make you any closer to God? What do your actions for people who are already attending a church as saved Christians have anything to do with it? What about that guy who doesn't do anything with the church because he is spending more time preaching the good word on the streets or attempting to convince friends and family to attend? I would dare to say that the man who is out spreading the word about our savior is better than the people who spend their entire lives doing things for the church at the church. However, I would be wrong in that aspect too. No one is "better" or "holier" than anyone else. We are all saved just the same. Now some are more educated about the bible than others, that's why they teach it. I haven't been to seminary and I haven't devoted my whole life to learning and teaching the word of God to others. Sorry, I have a job to do and bills to pay and that's just not my calling. Everyone is called to do something. Not everyone is called to spend their lives inside the church. But everyone has a little piece of the puzzle that brings the whole thing together. So no, just because you're there more or do more there, you are NOT better than anyone else.
The people who spend the most time in the church are obviously the teachers. Those employed by the Church. These are known as Priests in the Catholic faith. Even within these leaders, there is a hierarchy of who is "holier". There is a definite hierarchy of who is better or holier than those below them. This is illustrated below...
Why the lesson on government? Let me bring this all full circle for you. In order to be a Priest, you must attend schooling for it. There are all kinds of rules and regulations to it and not everyone wants to do it. However, in order to become a bishop you must first be a Priest. In order to become an Archbishop, you must first be a Bishop. In order to become a Cardinal, you must first be an Archbishop. In order to become the Pope, you must first be a Cardinal. Now, who decides if you get to become a Priest? The teachers in Seminary. Who decides who becomes a Bishop? People already among a higher level of the hierarchy I'll save the BS and jump to the end of this. To reach the next level, you must be voted upon by those in your level and those higher than you while the ultimate decision remains with the Pope. So the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is decided by those already inside that hierarchy. How does this represent the one person who attends and is a confirmed Catholic? It doesn't. I don't know about you but I don't trust anyone to make decisions in my life without my input of who it is. Now the argument I can see coming is "But Rich, these are holy men. They have devoted their lives to serving God and doing what is right for Christians." And I'll rebut with "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Everyone makes mistakes, we're human. That's just how it works. I can't trust that there has been no influence on a human other than the will of God. It's not always going to work that way.
Now it also says that an Archbishop is responsible for making sure that Bishops follow the church "rules". I'm going to go ahead and just refer you to my last 2 paragraphs stating that these rules are created by a self-elected and self-service government. These rules apply to Bishops and everyone below them in the hierarchy.
Has anyone noticed that the higher you get into the hierarchy, the bigger and more flamboyant your hat gets?
God must be up there wearing a freakin sombrero or something...
Ok well, that's all for now before I piss off too many people. Remember, these are just my opinions on the subject. No need to go get all butt hurt about things. It's not just Catholicism that bothers me either. I don't understand the purpose of the various denominations of Protestantism. But that'll be for tomorrow. If you have legitimate concerns or a legitimate rebuttal to this. Shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you! You can reach me here. Tune in tomorrow to get more pissed off!
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