A few months back we got a new Pope. I say “we” in the sense of the global community. Pope Francis I is, after all, just a man. He has no special powers. If he is closer to God than anyone else, it’s only because he has sought to be closer an others have not. When Jesus Christ gave His life on the Cross, it was as much for me as it was for Pope Francis.
Let’s get some things out of the way, first. Since this is my first “religious” piece in a while, I figure laying out the groundwork is a necessity. I disagree with a very large amount of what Catholicism teaches. I will be writing these religious pieces from my perspective, so I’m not going to sugarcoat my beliefs and try to leave doors open for every other belief out there. This is how I see it. If you see it differently, then good on you. Thank God, in this country at least, we’re allowed to disagree with each other on matters of faith.
I don’t agree with confession to a priest. There is no prayer or work that a priest could tell me that would absolve me of my sins. However, when Christ died, there was that little matter of God reaching down from Heaven and tearing the Veil of the Temple in two. The thickness of the Veil notwithstanding, the symbolism of the act is what we find important. This was God’s symbol to man that an intermediary between the carnal and the divine was no longer necessary. As Christians, this act gave opened two avenues for us. The first was that Christ’s death had paved a way for man to approach God for himself; to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling, as stated in Philippians 2:12 “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The second was that we could approach God for every need, as Paul wrote to the Hebrews (4:16) “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
I don’t agree with the Catholic version of Communion. Some say that the bread and wine become the physical body and blood of Christ, respectively, through the miraculous act of transubstantiation. Others acknowledge it for the symbolic representation that it is. Either way, the thoughts of the people on what happens to the Communion bread and wine is not where I fall out with Catholicism. It is the seemingly flippant attitude that the church carries in the act. We, as Christians, are instructed to examine ourselves deeply and spiritually prior to taking Communion (I Corinthians 11:23-30).
I have spoken with Catholic co-workers and friends, especially while in college, and none of them gave much thought to the idea of salvation. There seemed to be a common ideal among them that going to church and partaking in sacraments like Communion and Baptism was enough to count as salvation. As mentioned early, Paul stated for the church at Philippi to work out their individual salvations with “fear and trembling.” The notion of God’s convicting power drawing a sinner to an altar of repentance was foreign to those I spoke with. When I said that taking Communion and being Baptized imparted no saving grace, they looked at me as though I were crazy.
Yet I feel more than justified in those statements, as I feel Scripture backs up my points. Baptism was only offered to someone after they professed a hope in Christ. For that cause, I cannot hold to the idea of infant baptism. How can an infant profess a hope in Christ? Furthermore, how can an infant be held accountable for any sin? In my study, and in what I know God has revealed to me, infants and children are free from the condemnation of sin until the time in which the Lord reveals to them their standing as a free moral agent. Communion is only to be available to the believer, and it is a symbol of the sacrifice of Christ.
“But couldn’t God just never reveal it to them and save everybody?” Yes, He could. But ask yourself this: is it truly a loving God that doesn’t even give you a choice in where you stand. Man is a sinful being, whether we like it or not. When God reveals that to us, He does so in a way that presents to us Christ as a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, as a sacrifice needed for all mankind. In effect, God chooses us, and it then falls on us to choose Him in return. But, as I said, we are free moral agents. We can freely accept or reject the gift of God, which is salvation.
And Salvation, once accepted, is eternal. You aren’t saved because you are a good person. You aren’t saved because you do great works. The Bible clearly states that men will stand before God in judgment and try to impress the sovereign Creator with their own works, only to be dismissed from the presence of God. You are saved because God loves you. The saving power of God is eternal, and the only thing man can miss out on after salvation is the blessings that God has in store.
Something most people miss, or are misled to believe by certain other churches, is that the life of a Christian is not an easy one, nor is it ever promised to be. With the exception of John, who died of natural causes after exile on the Isle of Patmos, all those who expressly followed Christ in the Bible met with grisly ends. Some were crucified, some beheaded, some flayed then crucified. Paul was stoned and flogged many times. But they understood that this life was a temporary thing anyway, and that Christ had already sealed them forever. A little suffering here was nothing compared to the glory that awaits us all on the other side.
So, that aside out of the way, let’s return to the discussion of pope Francis I.
See, Pope Francis has dropped some comments that don’t really sit too well with the church establishment. I don’t recall the church ever “redacting” a statement by Pope Benedict, but Francis has been redacted at least once already. Francis delivered a homily on May 22, in which he said that even atheists who do good can be redeemed. The next day, Vatican spokesman Rev. Thomas Rosica offered up a statement quoting the Catholic Catechism saying that those who reject the teachings of Jesus cannot attain salvation.
They’re both wrong. I hate to break it to the Pope, but “doing good” is not going to get anyone to Heaven. The Bible makes that very clear. Salvation is not “of works,” because that would lead to prideful boasting by people. The Vatican spokesman issued a statement that, if taken inversely, seems to imply that simply accepting the teachings of Jesus is enough to grant salvation. Again, this is not actually correct. When we stand before God in judgment, there will be many people there who actually “followed” the teachings of Jesus, but they never accepted Him as the sacrifice required. Salvation comes from God, freely offered, and no work of man or woman can grant salvation.
I’m sure this post will offend. I’m sure someone will be mad, and may never talk to me again. But I can’t sugarcoat the religious posts on here. I’m just going to tell it like it is, come what may.
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