If you wanted to destroy Christianity,
Nothing would work better than the Protestant Reformation. There is no question that there was stupidity going on in the clergy, but we must remember, the clergy is not the church. And while the clergy can (And Lord knows does) lay claim to some measure of divine direction, they are in fact men,human beings. Therefore fallible. Peter, the man who Jesus himself chose as the foundation of his church on earth, denied Christ three times while he was still alive. So I tend not to listen too carefully to the words of men, and those worst of things that have happened to Christianity have been due to the words of men.
The issue always lies in “Interpretation” There is a certain type of person who will tell you that the Bible is not open to interpretation and it’s message is clear; and these are the very worst of people who call themselves Christian. The moment that someone says they have the secret decoder ring and they know what the “true” meaning of Scripture is, run. Run far away. They only seek to control you and nothing else, they are not interested in being a Christian, they only want to gather a herd of sheep for themselves to fleece.
No, there are any number of ways to interpret any number of bible passages and at the root of this is the fact that ordinary, fallible humans wrote Scripture, or recorded it from oral history. So we can’t even be absolutely sure that they got it right either. A lot of times they were describing things they could not possibly understand.
In Luke 9: 28, one of the classic Lenten gospels, Jesus takes Peter, John, and James up a mountain and is transfigured. Peter demonstrates that he is frightened out of his wits and says they should put up tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Moses and Elijah died centuries earlier, how did Peter recognize them? Did they have nametags? I have seen and heard pastors from a dozen different denominations explain this situation as if they held the answer, and each one was different. And I don’t have a clue, unless it is this:
The Scripture is less about answers than it is about questions.
For all I know the people who claim to have all the answers do. And they have it all figured out, and they are headed straight for the pearly gates and I’m not. But I kind of doubt it, because just about everyone I have ever known declare they have all the answers will contradict themselves from time to time. So which answer is the correct one?
I have watched with interest as Christianity has become more and more fragmented, even during the course of my lifetime. I have honest to G-d seen half of a congregation walk away from a church because of a dispute over the type of music that some people considered “Inappropriate”. And the “new” split adopted “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen as one of their main songs. No clue, at all. So while we have gone from “Christianity” as a mostly monolithic group to literally thousands of individual groups, each claiming to have the correct interpretation of Scripture and the perfect plan for living, Christianity itself suffers.
But it cannot be destroyed. And it is evident where Christians put aside their dogmatic differences and do things because they are Christian things to do. I saw Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Jehovah’s Witnesses working together in Africa as if they were a coherent task force. And they did this because they shared a goal. So even in the face of the clear (To me) satanic origins of the increasingly fractal fragmentation of Christianity,Christianity still flourishes. THAT is it’s strength, that no matter what any man or woman tells you about what the correct way is to be a Christian, once it’s in your heart, we are closer to one another than people would let you think. And that is the real strength of our faith. May you all be blessed at Easter.
I haven’t been inside of a church this decade, but I have a surirpingly thorough background in Catholic theology,and your opening paragraph reminded me of something about the FORM of Catholic sacraments: They teach that if the form is correct, then nothing else really matters.
This notion started because you had so many really awful priests. But even if the priest were a raving sinful lunatic, if the form of the baptism were correct, then you were really baptized.
In fact, you’re baptized as a Christian so far as the Catholics are concerned even if the minister is some weird denominaiton. You don’t need to be “rebaptized” if you convert to Catholicism.
So far as Scriptural inspiration goes… I too have a tough time with notions that somehow every word is the literal perfect word of God. It’s easier to blindly state that than to do research and give more complex answers.
Belief is hard, and it’s made seemingly “easier” if you stick with some easy answer like “It’s all the perfect word of God and requires no interpretation.”
I’ve recently started attending a southern Baptist Church after years of non attendance. I’m a Catholic. Wife is non denominational. I really resent the constant assertion from people that Catholics aren’t Christians. I like the pastor and the people in the congregation as a whole. But even being in a majority Catholic area there are some massively intolerant individuals. Amazing how many wrong ways there are to be a Christian.
The old testament was the prediction of Jesus. The new testament is the story of his life and the foundation of the faith that bears his name. All christian faith are derived from that. Even Catholicism.
We follow the only person to claim he would come back from the dead. and by all accounts he did just that.
He said Follow me. And who he helped where the have not’s and loser’s of his milieu.
We should do the same in his name.
When I left the LDS church in the 50s, I had to be rebabtized. After many years in Roman Catholic practice and education, I fell away in Juneau, Alaska, although, for some reason, I made sure my son was baptized in the Church. “The Lord moves…,” etc. It was the era of hippies, flower children, and Jesus Freaks. Time and trial will teach you many things, and one of the things I learned was that my faith isn’t in a book, a pulpit, or a person (except Himself, of course.)
I still recognize Benedict as a valid pontiff, and I don’t think Francis is priestly, pious, or pure. But he IS occupying Peter’s throne right now, so he gets the prayers. Who knows..?
The Church has survived bad popes repeatedly through her history, and this present trial is a challenge to the faithful, who trust the truth the Church teaches, and don’t rely on whoever is trying to talk around the foot in their mouths, regardless of the color of his cassock.
The Church has more than 20 valid and recognized rites. The shift I made in order to reclaim some reverence, ceremony, praise, and beauty was to the East.
The Byzantine Catholic Church celebrates the ancient Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, with the Liturgy of St. Basil used the Paschal season.
What can I say? We stand for 2 hours, everybody sings, and we sing the whole thing. The church is tiny, but full to bursting with babies, children, and young couples with families in mind. New members are joining continually. Maybe their souls recognize where they won’t be abused spiritually.
If you feel battered by pronouncements that undercut the foundation of the Church, and are discouraged and sad to see the fragmentation of the Catholic Church brought about by know-it-all heirarchies out thrashing around in the ecclesiastical tall grass, stop by and check out an Eastern Rite.
Incidentally, we pray for whoever is on the throne of St. Peter by name 3 times during every service.
We also pray numerous times “Lord, have Mercy!” throughout. No organ, no guitars, no tambourines, no dancers, no EMs but priests and deacons, no altar girls, no MIDI, no instruments but our voices.
Smells and bells…
As I meditated on this thread this morning, I realized something about the destruction of Christianity. It’s always been obvious that the left doesn’t want ANY rules that might possibly come from the Ten Commandments or anything to do with Judeo-Christian legality. In their scorched-earth atheism,they cover themselves in the curse of the first rebel, Lucifer, which was pride.
The Catholic Church cut her nose off to spite her face in Vatican II, because the snippers were the heirarchy, and they weren’t about to continue to allow anything that would express faith in anything or anyone but themselves.
It obviously wasn’t the liturgy that needed changing, but that’s what we got. What needed adjustment were the hearts of the heirarchy, but in their arrogance, everything that didn’t support their power had to be destroyed. Taking a napalm-equipped bulldozer to the way Catholics worshipped was just the first step.
(Sorry, Og… Realized the first comment didn’t really address the questions you raised in your original post.)
Yes, the loss of the tridentine mass was a big hit. On the other hand, a few of the church fathers stopped it from being banned outright, so there are still enclaves of “old school” Catholicism.
Sometimes I think perhaps the idea of reverence, praise, and sacramental beauty was anathema to the wrecking crew.
Michael Rose wrote a couple of books about the destruction. One was called, “Ugly As Sin,” and it was a real eye-opener. He wrote “Goodbye, Good Men,” too. How Liberals brought Corruption to the Catholic Church.
It’s sad to see how far the Church has let itself fall. All I can think of is, “God has a plan.”
Indeed he does.But as usual, we have to return to Isaiah 55: 8-13