As I’ve been getting more and more committed to my faith and having more frequent conversations with other religious people something that’s came up repeatedly is people trying to debate/argue with me about the best way believe in Jesus.
I’ve taken people to Catholic church with me only to have them say afterwards that they’re going to take me to a, “real church”.
So first, my personal way of thinking about this topic is and will always be that if you’re in a religion that is centered around Jesus you’re on the right track.
Further, while I am interested about the ins and outs of your religion, at the end of the day I don’t care which, “brand of Jesus” you subscribe to.
What’s more important to me is if I look into someone’s eyes while they talk about religion and can tell they’re sincere in their faith and actually believe what they say they do.
My point is that I don’t think God is concerned with what, “brand of Jesus” you subscribe to as long as your faith in him is sincere and therefor I don’t care either.
I don’t know enough about the other religions that are based around Jesus such as Baptist, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, (shoutout to Roosh) So this post isn’t about comparing them and trying to figure out which one is the most Biblically accurate way to go.
Instead, I’m just going to go over and give my opinion on some of the points I’ve heard brought up repeatedly about being Catholic.
The Church Service isn’t dynamic and is to robotic – While I do see the point people are making let me explain to you how I view this.
I like the structure within the mass because I’m interested in going to church and doing it the right way and just…. making sure that I do all the things I’m supposed to once a week.
I think that the way Catholic mass is fairly regimented and the same week to week allows me to go home feeling that I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do while at church. Knowing that I’m checking off all the required boxes.
I do enjoy and want to have more free form and dynamic conversations about religion but feel as if these type of conversations can happen outside of the church service itself. Ways to do this include
-Going to a Bible Study
-Talk to people at a coffee and donuts event after church
-visit a church during off hours and have a conversation with a priest or fellow parishioner
All the Catholic priests are p3dos as well as the pope- Alright look, I’ve said before that there is a cult and I think the pope could very well be part of it
I think this video might be a moment where the pope’s true character comes out.
I also have seen the film Spotlight which is about this issue coming up in America.
However, if you want to say that every Catholic priest is a pedophile you’re displaying an unbelievable amount of arrogance and neglecting using your brain.
I’ve been blessed to have a devote Catholic priest in my extended family as well as being around a number of equally devoted priests while growing up going to a Franciscan Catholic school.
To make a blanket statement like this would be like me saying that anyone who made the mistake of voting for Joe Biden voted in favor of pedophilia.
I’ve seen Catholic priests that have a genuine and strong devotion to God and it’s wrong to ignore their contributions to the spread of Jesus’ message.
Note – I’ve wondered about the reasoning & biblical support for a Catholic priest not having a family. I know that the reasoning given is that priests are supposed to be married to the church. However, I think that a priest having a family is a way for them to be a teacher other than by just holding mass. If a priest had family he would be able to guide men in the parish as to how to properly raise their children in the church and his family would be a way for people to judge the priest’s character as they can see what type of people the priest is raising his children to be.
Catholic people view the Eucharist and wine as the literal body and blood of Jesus –
I grew up being taught that the bread and wine were a representation of Jesus’ body and blood after being blessed the proper way by a priest.
Nobody I’ve been around or spoken to has ever thought they’re literally gnawing off a chunk of Jesus’ skin or drinking his blood like a vampire.
That’s weird.
Something is wrong with the church labeling people at saints–
The argument people are essentially making is that the catholic church is making false idols out of men and women.
I don’t agree with this for a few reasons I feel are strong.
The person being called a saint is never alive when they are given this title – From what I know you can’t be canonized as a saint for something like 100 years after your death.
Therefor, the person being called a saint and any family or friends that personally knew them would be long gone before this title is given to someone. Because of this there is really no risk of people feeling as if they know a false idol or of the saint themselves being propped up in this sort of way.
People need role models to look up to – How I was taught to view what a saint is is someone who was an A student of religion and a person whose life you can use as a blueprint for how to live your own.
I think this is important. Just as people need leaders and role models in the world we need examples to follow of past faithful individuals.
I think creating a category to put exemplary people of the past into is a good thing.
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I hope some of the information in this can explain to others why I’m Catholic and don’t feel the need to chance the religion I grew up in as well as explore some other topics involving the church.
As I said previously, I care about if people are sincere in their faith and not which Jesus based religion they subscribe to.
That being said, I would be very interested in learning about other Jesus based religions or going to mass at different churches and understanding how they benefit the faith of the parishioners there, just not in the form of a debate where someone is trying to convert me.
It’s not that I’m unwilling to become Lutheran or some other religion based on Jesus, but at this point I feel the most comfortable sticking with what I was raised as.
-Kyle
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p.s. I’m not a religious teacher, the only qualification I’ll ever claim to have regarding being religious is that I can confidently say I am 100% committed to my faith in God for life.
This doesn’t mean I’ll never mess up & it certainly doesn’t make me an infallible source of knowledge.
If I ever start seeming not sincerely religious or to have permanently backslid into a life of degeneracy and sin please stop consuming any content I release.