(Update: This post came from a thread on the Coming Home Network forum, as Tiber Jumper indicated in his comment below. The specific post in the thread is here.)
I'll keep this short and sweet, because my wife is already in bed (sleeping, no doubt) and my sister (visiting for the weekend) is trying to sleep on the couch downstairs, and I'm sure this typing isn't helping.
A lot of non-Catholics argue that the Catholic Church "adds" things to Jesus. It's not just faith in Jesus Christ, it's faith, and works, and the sacraments, and the Pope, and Mary, and this and that...
I disagree. Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, it therefore follows that there are works, and sacraments, and a visible leadership (the Pope), and role models (like Paul and Mary).
They say Catholics add to Jesus. No: Catholics get more out of Jesus.
Update: Weekend Fisher posted a response on her blog. This is the beginning of a diablog.
6 comments:
Excellent point. So many Protestants base their arguments on false dichotomies. Do you believe in Jesus or the Pope? I should ask them, do you believe in Jesus or the Bible? Do you believe the sun exists or do you believe the moon exists?
The things aren't mutually exclusive! You can easily believe in both!
great post on CHF BTW. It inspired Prodigal Daughter's post which I lifted for my blog because it was so good. You and GFF are Catholic blogosphereic spark plugs.
Keep up the Good works ;)
Excellent post!
"We get more out of Jesus" that's great!
Tim
Y'know, trying a polite disagreement from the other side of the fence here ... I 100% believe that you mean what you say. It's just not what the Council of Trent says, not quite what certain papal bulls say, etc.
Weekend Fisher: I'm sure there are some things shared between Catholicism and Lutheranism that other denominations of Christianity would see as "extra" or "adding to Jesus". For example, Lutherans have a liturgy and believe in consubstantiation. There also may still be some adherence to particular Marian beliefs; I don't know if Luther changed his mind about those.
So what I mean to ask is, is Lutheranism "adding" to Jesus as well, or does it see its elements as being necessary to a proper interpretation of Scripture and a proper adherence to the precepts of Christ?
I was filling up the comment box excessively so I decided to cross-link and post. It's over at my blog. Let's see if we can keep from getting blogswarmed by trolls for discussing something this volatile, but I think we're in a peaceful-enough corner of the blogosphere to give it a try.
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