Catholics, the Other Christian

Let me preface this right out by saying, that I’m a Protestant Christian. I’m afraid I can’t be any more specific. Not because I want it to remain personal, but because the Church I go to is non-denominational. Whenever I ask my family what denomination we belong to, they usually reply, “We believe in the Word of God, and nothing else!” Ok, that sounds good as a sound bite, but it doesn’t really answer my question.

However, one thing I definitely knew was that we weren’t Catholics. Having never experienced it first hand, I was always taught that Catholics… weren’t really Christians. Sure they believe in God, but everything was so soulless, so ritual. I was taught that they believed in a form of idolatry because they prayed to other people other than God. That most of the people who go are Christians in name only, not deeds. They were corrupt, worldly, and they make the pope more than what he is, a man. As a result, I never considered them Christians, putting them more akin to the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Then I went to a Catholic High School. And the world of religion opened up to me. Coming from a family church, I never really thought about the philosophy or psychology behind the Christian religion. I was always taught to just read the Bible and accept it at face value. But I really learned a lot about the human work of the Bible. I learned about the synods where the early Christians discussed what to include in the Bible, the subject of Trinity, and the existence of the Holy Spirit. All these things I just took for granted, and it always seemed self-evident to me. After all, the Bible clearly talks about it. But then, we have an advantage that early Christians didn’t… the Bible.

It’s true what people say. “You can never know a person until you walk a mile in his shoes.” Now I appreciate what the Catholic faith tried to do and how hard it was for them to really define the tenets of the Christian faith. Sure, they have rituals but they still share the same core beliefs as Protestants. And it is these core beliefs that separate Christianity from all other world religions, even its predecessor, Judaism. And when you look at the entire history of Christianity, you begin to appreciate the Catholic rituals. I mean, right now, Catholic priests are performing the exact same ritual that they did over a thousand, even 2 thousand years ago. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. Have you ever played phone charades? Messages get garbled within 5 minutes of the original message. Imagine propagating that message, unchanged over thousands of years! The only way the Church could do this was to follow the explicit written instructions of the rites. The downside, everything is formulaic. Well, I guess it all comes down to what you want, something freeflowing, with the high potential of having something missing or something accurate with the high potential of being soulless. It’s a tough dilemma.

After my experience with high school, I have a newfound respect for Catholics. Some of the stuff they do, I still disagree with, but I still ultimately lump them with the rest of us Christians, you know, the people who are going to heaven. =P It’s a joke! Anyway, Catholics have a lot of different questions than Protestants, and hopefully I will have a chance to bring some of those issues to you guys, provided I haven’t bored you away.