I was speaking to a pseudo Catholic today, and she was very clear in telling me she doesn't agree with several things in the church, but she does agree with some things. The aspects she doesn't like are why she no longer attends church. Sensing I would love to delve in to this, she announced she is still a Catholic and will always be a Catholic. I said nothing.
I know this is not a rare story. And it is one reason I'm passionate about reaching Catholics with the saving gospel. Religions that are steeped in family tradition, guilt, ritual, and anything else other than the Word of God entrap people and inoculate them against the gospel. Just as today's social-justice/gospel churches, people in the Catholic church hear some of the truth, so they think they have heard all of the truth.
People who have heard it all do not need any new information.
Do you see how this inoculates against the truth?
We are all most open to information when we are pretty sure we do not know anything about the subject matter, but on topics we think we are well versed in, we can only listen politely for a short time.
False churches do not make the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ tantamount. They do not uphold the Bible as the book the faithful ought to shape their lives around. If people were always taught that, they would seek out a place of worship that pointed them to God and Christ, and of course that would mean they would eventually see the falsehood in their religious institution, which surely has its reasons for carefully designed methods of keeping people from leaving. While Catholic mass isn't held in Latin everywhere anymore, it sure was used for a long time. 1 Cor 14?
How to identify a true church amongst all of the false churches?
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-294/7-Foundational-Elements-of-a-True-Church-Part-1 you can read or listen
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-295/7-Foundational-Elements-of-a-True-Church-Part-2?Term=7%20Foundational%20Elements%20of%20a%20True%20Church you can read or listen
~Ann
If you think Catholics are out of the straight and narrow, have you seen some of the things the Presbyterian Church USA gets up to?
ReplyDeleteSadly, many churches that were once sound have gone a bad way...even those bearing the name of the type I attend. Orthodoxy can't be counted upon until entering and hearing.
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