The Keys, Oh Please!

I was born and raised Roman Catholic, became an agnostic while in high school, was an atheist throughout my four years at Aquinas College, asked Jesus into my heart and was baptized in the Holy Spirit 6 months after graduation, worshiped as a Catholic for the next 10 years while helping lead a charismatic prayer group that met at a Catholic church for most of that time and have spent the last 30 years worshiping outside the Roman Catholic tradition.

I know how it felt growing up as a faith minority in a largely Protestant town. I remember that leaving Catholicism was difficult for my parents to understand and almost impossible for us to talk about. I had left a faith culture handed down thru my father's family for centuries and one chosen by my mother, and had crossed over to the dark side. My parents still loved me and we got along great as long as we didn't talk theology.

I married a Catholic girl whose faith in Jesus as her Lord and Savior was solid for as long as she can remember. She was baptized in the the Holy Spirit while I was still an atheist in college but made a risky move and married me right after graduation. Jackie's parents were both Catholic the same as mine, one the continuation of generations and the other by choice. Her father, the one by choice, was my mentor in learning how to study the Bible and how to compare scripture to scripture. He readily understood our eventual decision but it was and still is difficult for her mother to accept.

I know what Catholics believe, how they look at what their church teaches and why they can feel comfortable ignoring certain church teachings and still feel themselves to be fully Catholic. I understand, probably much better than most of you reading this, what the doctrines of the Catholic Church are and the logic that ties all the parts together. I own and have studied Roman Catholic catechisms printed before and after Vatican II and have made an effort to study church history as well.

I know people still in the Catholic Church who have a personal relationship with Jesus although I believe this comes about mostly despite and not because of Catholic doctrines and practices. I use to know a lot more but it seems that most have done what Jackie and I have. If you go to almost any large non-denominational church you will find that a significant percentage of their members are ex-Catholics. Most didn't leave because they had a bad priest or inadequate religious training. Some who left were searching to fill a spiritual void in their lives. Some like Jackie and I left, first - because of the growing conflict between our interpretation of Sacred Scripture and official Catholic teaching and second - because the Holy Spirit finally said to us - Now is the time.

God will find an open heart where ever it is and will move in the life of that person, spirit, soul and body, without regard to the theological knowledge or the religious practices of that person. Every person needs new life to become acceptable to the Father and that life must come through faith alone. Faith that Jesus died for me (you) personally. Faith that His death and resurrection have taken away the punishment that we deserve for our sins. Faith that He has made us a part of his family, his church, his eternal plan for redemption. And faith that God rewards those who honestly seek Him.

Religion however seems to do an awful good job of confusing the simple truth of the gospel. It's their business after all to make sure the faithful live out their salvation. The problem though is when the living out becomes the means to.

This difference is what should make Christianity altogether unique from every other religion. Salvation, harmony or whatever else you want to call it does not come from sacred acts or good and noble intentions. There is no scale that weighs out good verses bad and tilts the scale toward Heaven. Our sinful hearts are separated from The Father and they need to be reborn to fellowship with Him. This rebirth happens through repentance and faith.

Everyone first needs to repent of their rebellion toward God. The good news of Christianity is that God loved us even before we repented. He sent His only Son at a particular point in history to suffer and die for each of us, because we all fall far short of His will no matter how much effort we put into being righteous. He wants us to come to Him in humility, not based on any thing we bring to the table except the simple faith that leads us to confess that He died for us. He wants us to proclaim Jesus as our Lord and has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us in the life that we live in Him. And He will provide us with a community of other believers to help us in our lives.

My favorite scripture verse has always been Romans 8:1-2.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

If I had a chance to preach only one sermon it would be based on this verse and I would call it "The freedom we have in Jesus".  Like everyone I mess up and fall short of what my Lord desires for me. This may for a time affect my fellowship with Him but it in no way condemns me or in anyway changes my relationship with Him. My relationship makes me hungry to be close to Him. I live a life secure in the knowledge that He loves me and I love Him and there is wonderful, wonderful freedom in that. The veil in the Jewish Temple that hung before the most Holy Place, that separated man from God, was torn in two at Jesus death. There is no longer any need to make continual sacrifices by a priesthood to appease for sins. Jesus, our high priest, has already done it, once, for all.

My prayer for my Catholic friends is that you can experience that same freedom. It's not enough that you believe in God if that belief hasn't led you to surrender your heart to Jesus. And if you have surrendered your heart you are being robbed of great joy in your life if you think you need to pray and do religious acts to pay for a debt you do not owe.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared the year beginning in October 2012 as “The Year of Faith”. In honor of The Year of Faith he will grant plenary indulgences (time off of Purgatory because he's got the keys man) to those who perform four different “faith-related” activities. The activities include attending a certain number of sermons or lessons on Vatican II documents, visit a papal basilica or other designated site and while there pray certain designated prayers, make a pious visit to the place one received the sacrament of baptism and while there renew one's baptismal promises, or participate in a celebration of the Mass at any designated sacred place, adding a profession of faith in any legitimate form.

If you spend the entire year doing as much of the above as possible you will, in Catholic teaching, reduce yours or Aunt Minnie's stay in Purgatory by X amount of time to take care of Y amount of punishment (unspecified of course), and you are still left with an undetermined number of days of future suffering before you would be allowed the fellowship of Heaven after death.

Or - you can find a quiet place now and take an hour to examine your heart, confess your sins, ask Jesus to forgive you, promise that from now on you will try to the best of your ability to follow His will, and then ask Jesus to come into your heart to be your Lord and Savior. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and tell Him you are open to receiving any of His good gifts. Then tell someone about what you did.  You've now got the rest of the year free to praise Him from the overflow of His grace.