The other day, I made the mistake of sneaking a peek at one of the “discussions” on the religion/Christianity forum at Amazon. Not sure why I did it, for I knew what I would find.
Somebody (we’ll call him Truth-Seeker) began the thread with a seemingly innocuous question about why there are so many Christian churches. His essential question was, “If there are so many differing ideas about Christianity, is there anyplace where I can find the actual Truth?”
The first person to post a reply was a well-meaning Catholic, informing him that there is a church where one can find the actual Truth. He went on to cite the story of Jesus founding the Church on the Rock of Peter (“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”) and said, of course, that the Catholic Church is this place of Truth. He was very nice about it.
Then someone else (Protestant Guy) posted to inform Truth-Seeker that Catholic Guy’s position is malarkey. He seemed to be a genial fellow. He just disagreed.
Neither one of them bothered to encourage Truth-Seeker in his journey, to suggest that most important is that he give his heart to the Lord every day, spend time in prayer and in Scripture reading, seeking God’s will for his life as he reads various doctrines and tries to discern where he ought to go.
Protestant Guy #2 joined the discussion, and it was all downhill from there.
Christians of every stripe jumped in—even an Eastern Orthodox and a Mormon. Everyone involved started out being very nice. There was one lady (Protestant Gal) whose initial post to the discussion really warmed my heart. She was so very kind and caring—she, I think, was the first to truly encourage Truth-Seeker in the way he needed to be encouraged.
And yet….
As Catholic Guy and Protestant Guys #1 and #2 bickered back and forth about the papacy (I couldn’t read a lot of their stuff as it was so incredibly repetitive and snarky—one Protestant kept referring to the Catholic Church as “mary’s church”), everyone else was jumping in with their two cents on the matter, and things got uglier and uglier with each fresh page I clicked on. (The entire discussion was some 30-pages long; I only got through about 1/4th of it, if that. I can only imagine how vicious it got farther along.) Even seemingly-sweet Protestant Gal eventually bared her claws when someone questioned whether her particular denomination was truly Biblical or right for everyone (as she had asserted it was).
It was a mess, folks. Quite honestly, it made me feel sick to my stomach and sick at heart. Aside from a couple of people who dropped into the conversation for the primary purpose of pointing out that this is why there is no Christian unity, almost every single one of those people was being hostile towards their fellow believers. It became Catholic vs. Protestant and Catholic vs. Orthodox and Protestant Denomination #1 vs. Protestant Denomination #2 and Mormon vs. Everybody Else. (Please don’t tell me that Mormons aren’t Christians. I don’t want to hear it right now.)
Some of the attitudes expressed were downright hateful. And we wonder why Christianity has such a violent and bloody history? Ever since Cain murdered Abel, people have struggled with the urge to destroy anyone who makes them angry, who gets in the way of their goals. We don’t all physically kill, but we commit murder in our hearts when we fail to love our neighbors as ourselves. The days of pillaging, torture, and burning at the stake are history; but now we sharpen our knives at our computer keyboards.
Indeed, we are meant to be warriors for Christ. But not like that. I feel pretty confident that Truth-Seeker was not helped by that discussion. More than likely, he went away thinking, “Forget it. Maybe I’ll just go and be a Buddhist.” Or something like that.
* * * * *
I recently read an interview Lynn Nordhagen did with Catholic convert and scholar Kenneth Howell, in her book When Only One Converts. Putting the information gleaned from that interview with some things I read the same day in Father John Hardon’s The Catholic Catechism, here is what I was able to conclude….
First, the good stuff:
- Christ only founded one Church, and anybody who is a Christian is in it, like it or not.
- This Church is catholic, meaning “universal.” That means anybody can be in it.
- The Church is holy, meaning “set apart” for God’s glory.
- The Church is apostolic, referring to the fact that Christ gave His authority to His apostles to spread the Good News far and wide—to the ends of the earth.
- Our Christian unity is meant to be two-fold: Unity in faith (wherein we all believe in Jesus as our Savior) and unity in communion (wherein we all accept the same doctrines and practices). That is the ideal; that is perfection, like how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are in perfect unity.
And now, for the sad news:
- Because of our fallen nature, Christians are never able (this side of heaven) to be perfectly unified with each other, not even in that most intimate of relationships—marriage.
- Because of our fallen nature, humans are never able (this side of heaven) to perfectly understand Truth.
Well. That just explains it all, doesn’t it?!
* * * * *
So here we are in our fallen world, with a Roman Catholic Church, an Eastern Orthodox Church, and some 30,000 different Protestant denominations—not to mention a Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-Day Saints (Mormons), and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and who knows what else—and all of them recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Savior of the world. (Presumably; they all consider themselves as Christian churches, I assume; correct me if I’m wrong, but be nice about it.)
How, then, shall we live?
* * * * *
I’m not a priest, pastor, preacher, prophet, or apologist of any sort, but I propose this:
What matters most is not what corner of Christianity you’re tucked into, but rather, as Marianne said to Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, “Where is your heart?”
Where is your heart?
If you aim to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; if you give your heart to Him every day; if you pay attention to the words in your Bible; if you seek to attain true holiness (“What would Jesus DO,” not “What would Jesus ‘tolerate’” or “What would Jesus forgive a person anyway for doing”); if you ask Him to guide you and show you His ways (which are not our ways); if you continually seek the grace to love others as Christ loves them……
Well then.
If you do those things, you can be sure that God will put you right where he wants you. Living in faith is a journey. Wherever you are, you are there for a reason—the most likely one being that God put you there Himself; or perhaps He’s allowing you your time there for a season so that you might learn and grow.
Wherever you are, whatever you call yourself…..don’t you long to live our your faith with joy and simplicity? I sure do. I am a Catholic. I am a Catholic because I believe what the Catholic Church teaches and because I felt the Lord calling me to become a Catholic—not because I was brought up that way or because I resignedly followed a family member into Catholicism or because I fear I will not be “saved” if I cease being one. No. I am happy to be a Catholic, and I intend to live out my faith joyfully. I have the Lord’s permission to do so. (Laugh if you will, but it’s true.)
This is what we ought to do—live out our faith with joy. Be a joyful Whatever-You-Are. Be grateful for the gift of faith God has given you. Thank Him for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and don’t belittle others for being where they are in their walk.
I’m not saying it doesn’t matter where you go to church. It does. Especially, there are certain moral absolutes that we are obligated as believers to correct each other on. But always we must do so with love. Not with venomous words. This is so hard. I know how difficult it is. But we must.
Have I given you a sermon? I’m sorry. But this has been something I’ve felt compelled to share.
Live our your faith with joy. Speak the truth in love. And if you just can’t do it, follow the advice of the old adage: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
(Oh, and stay away from the Amazon Christianity forum!) :-p
