Uriah the Hittite and The Church.
What does Uriah the Old Testament misanthrope who was so poorly treated by King David have to do with the Catholic Church? Prodigal Daughter came up with this idea so she is partly responsible for this post.
Catholics are often asked how we can believe in the validity of the Church in light of the bad popes, corrupt bishops, bad priests, (sinful bloggers) etc and the recent abuse scandal.
Would Uriah the Hittite have accepted what came to be the Word of God if he knew that the man destined to write a portion of it (Psalms) fornicated with his wife and sent him into battle to die? The Jewish people as well as early Christians accepted the Old Testament as God's Word despite the fact that adulterers, polygamists and murderers wrote fairly large portions of it, including Moses, David and King Solomon. We don't believe the sinful actions of these men affected the truth God inspired them to write.
Many of us have no qualms about trusting the Bible as the Word of God despite the many flawed lives God used to write it. (Remember it was not magically dictated through their hands while they were in a trance-like state, nor did it fall out of the sky or was dug up in a field) We trust that the Holy Spirit guided the writers despite their many human imperfections.
In the same way, Catholics believe that Christ promised to lead us in all truth through His Church, which Scripture refers to as "the pillar and foundation of truth."(1 Tim 3:15)
Catholics trust that the same God that used imperfect men to give us His Word is the same God that uses imperfect men (The Church) to continue to lead and guide us in all Truth. Despite imperfect sinful men, God ensures that the deposit of faith (Scripture and Sacred Tradition) remains to this day to guide and speak to His people. The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church despite the sinfulness and scandal of the lives of those in the Church, including its leaders at times.
So the next time someone asks you how can you trust a Catholic Church with such scandal, tell them the same way they trust that the book of Psalms is the inspired word of God.
"The validity of a religion can't be judged based on the lives of those who don't practice it. (Prod Daughter, 2005)"
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 11:05 PM
4 Comments:
Amen!...sounds similar to a post of mine a while back, bro! : )
GOOD ONE PD. It's a great 'come back' for the tedious and cliche questions of those "hell bent" on finding and or denouncing the Catholic Church as the "whore of Babylon."
As we know, the Church that Jesus Himself began (then fell apart due to corruption because only being the Son of God he couldn't hold it together with the Holy Spirit's help...???) Then, along comes "Joe Blow" and his Schofield bible or Thompson chain reference and he "starts" or plants a "church" in 2007 and voila! NOW we're like the "EARLY CHURCH again!" And eventhough there's still disputes, well, they will be "washed out" during that great big Laundry Day in the Sky, and 33,000 denoms will be snug as bugs in a rug in Heaven. How totally hunky and positively dory!
I'm no longer blogging, but I still read 'em and enjoy commenting. I guess this turned into a post. It's a blogger's habit that will DIE HARD!
Thanks TJ and PD. I'll be checking in on your blog always. I can't help it....
susie
This post was loosely inspired by an e-mail I just received from a member of an evangelical church I had played at before and where my kids went to Wednesday night pioneer club at and my late wife participated in bible studies.
About a year after my conversion I got an e-mail from this gentleman with links to sites about the "whore of babylon". I kindly wrote to him 7 ways in which Jesus has changed my life and made me closer to Him through the Church .
I never heard from him again until a week ago when he sent me an e mail requesting me to send him my conversion testimony. I obliged and the next thing he sends me is a e mail called "speaking of Hell" referring to a site implying that modern churches don't talk about hell, but are going there. I assume he was hoping I would make the connection that the Catholic Church is a "modern" Church going to hell.
I didn't make the connection. I wrote to him kindly explaining the Fatima Prayer and how Catholics are keenly aware of the reality of Hell and do their darnedest to avoid it and help others not go there.
So once again , I was reminded of the lack of understanding folks have about the Church, some of which is sadly rooted in years of mistrust due to scandal. Yet these same folks maligning the Church, accept the Scripture that was written by scandalous humans as well, but inspired by God.
we will miss your blog Susie, and I am considering the same at some point.
God bless
Brilliant connection. What a great post! And what bad news! No more ReCon? And maybe no more Crossed the Tiber?
If you don't mind, I'm going to shamelessly use your comment place to ask your other readers to visit my blog and read my last post. It's not 'about me' but about my dear friend, the late Fr. Kevin Fete. I'd appreciate y'all taking a look and maybe "buying the book."
PAX
susie
Post a Comment
Home