I was not in class on Friday, so I am not going to be entertaining and write a story. Julia emailed me all of the things that were in the envelope that you could draw, but it would not be fair if I got to choose my things. It also would not be as fun.
This weekend I travelled to Indianapolis for a conference about ministry in Greek life. It was about a nine-hour drive on very windy roads. Guess who found out that she gets carsick? Anyway, it was a very good experience. I was raised Catholic, but once I kind of started to think about it on my own, I started seeing things in the church that just did not make any sense to me. These are all, of course, my own thoughts, so please do not take offence if you are Catholic.
One major thing that bothered me was that the church, well the whole faith really, is supposed to be all-inclusive—letting everyone in. It seems as if this is the goal of the church—to get as many people into the faith as possible. It did not make any sense, to me, that the Catholic church does not allow anyone but Catholics take communion. If Jesus died on the cross for us, forgave us of all of our past, present, and future sin, so that we are hidden in Him, why are we not allowed to share His body with others?
So with this realization, I felt a renewed urge to strive for a deeper relationship with Christ, and decided to attend the conference not only for my benefit, but also to teach me how to share my faith with others and lead them to our one true savior. I went to this conference unsure of how everything would happen, and not sure if I would like it or not. The first night, the speaker for the weekend, Roger Hershey, lead us in the bible to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 2:1 states that “And you he made alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sin.” This means that we are spiritually dead when we are not in Christ. Before we have accepted Christ, we are spiritually dead to God. It goes on in verses two and three of how we have walked with society, in the world and were take up by the world instead of walking with God. But in verses four and five, he comforts us, saying “but God, who is rich in mercy , because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” This is such a comforting verse to me. I know that when I accepted Christ as my savior, I was completely saved. I knew God loved, and always had, even when I was not striving for him. I was not doing anything to reach out to him, which took away everything he craves. He desperately wants a deep relationship with all of us, and when I realized that, I was so happy and comforted.
Thanks for sharing your intimate spiritual thoughts with us, Sarah. It sounds like you have a very renewing experience, which is wonderful. That's a good point about that contradiction in the Catholic church, which I have a lot of respect for because of its humanitarian work, -- the word "Catholic" itself means universal, but in many ways the Catholic church excludes people. But doesn't the idea that you are spiritually dead without Christ also sound exclusionary to you? How do you reconcile those conflicting values?
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to hear your religious views about Catholicism. I am not a very strong believer in a higher power or frequent at the Catholic church, but for my family members I often have the same debate with them as you had with yourself.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm a fellow Catholic, I'm ashamed to say that I don't think about these views about Catholicism as you do. Though I was raised Catholic, my family and I don't attend church anymore, even during Easter and Christmas this past year. However in some instances, particularly by great grandmother's death, I will attend church because I feel the need to. It's good to hear that you're able to find time to think about deep thoughts such as these.
ReplyDeleteEveryone who does not have Christ in their heart is spiritually dead in God's eyes. Yes it is ecluding people from Him, but he give everyone the choose to follow Him and not be spiritually dead. Just because the Catholic churhc exclueds people from the church or does not believe that none Catholics should be able to take communion does not mean that God agrees with it or isn't disappointed with it. I am sure He is. There is no church that is without sin. It is not far to ask how do you reconcile with the two conflicting values. She said that she did not agree with everything the Catholic church practices. There is nothing to reconcile. The fact is if you are not a Christain and do not have Jesus Christ in your heart and believe He died for you and rose again in three days then you are not going to Heaven. Yes that is excluding people who do not believe in God, but like I said He gives us the choose to follow Him. It is more like we are excluding ourselves from Him than Him Exluding us from Him.
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