Well, I’m back in Houston for a few days to check in with my research committee (and to catch up with friends!). I’ve been meaning to write about coming to embrace the authority of the Catholic Church for some time now, and this is actually a great place to do so! Because this is where I really started to realize the importance of having some sort of body to govern individual churches.
This was my first introduction to non-denominational mega-churches (specifically Joel Osteen, who has no seminary training and no crosses in his NBA-stadium-turned-church). I knew that it was a good thing to reach out to tons of people, but they all just made me feel very wary. I knew there was value in having a denomination, in having a stated set of beliefs that you follow, in having higher powers that the preacher was responsible to. Yes, denominations were important, and non-denominational philosophies seemed almost dangerous to me.
And I loved my denomination! One of the basic tenets of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is that everyone can read and interpret the Bible on their own. I agreed that this was the way to go. I knew that I for one was smart enough to understand the Bible myself, and liked the idea that nobody else could tell me what to believe! (Can you tell I struggle with pride?)
However, I came to recognize there were two big difficulties with this approach. The first is that this is actually a huge responsibility! I’ve had the best of intentions, but I’ve not been able to read the entire Bible (yet). I want to spend more time with Scripture, but in our everyday busyness, it just doesn’t happen. It gets put off, and I think this happens to everyone, no matter how well intentioned they are. (And even more so to those who don’t really have the intention to fulfill this responsibility.) So not only am I not aware of everything that the Bible says, but let’s be honest – I ignore some of what I know it says! I hated that Ephesians 4 passage, so I just disregarded it. How many people are willing to honestly listen to the Scripture passages that are displeasing to them?
The second difficulty is related to the first, and that is the need for expert guidance. I knew that, while I was certainly intelligent enough to understand everything the Bible said (ha!), I didn’t yet know enough to be able to make all the connections. So I counted on study guides and devotionals to help me out. In a similar way, many people count on their preacher to explain to them what they need to know.
Now, using Bible study aides and listening to good sermons is not a bad thing! It’s good and necessary for all Christians. We all need some help from people who have spent more time in prayer and in study, to help us understand this. But that kind of refutes the idea that any one person can understand it all themself. This really opened me up to be able to appreciate the authority of the Catholic Church. After all, the Catholic Church has been providing guidance to laypeople since the Resurrection!
It's crucial to note that accepting the teachings of the Magisterium does not negate the responsibility to read and learn. Really, it just gives me even more to study, what with the encyclicals and catechism and so forth! I think that Catholics have a reputation for never reading the Bible because they’re just told what to do. There certainly are individuals that do that, and perhaps even more who don’t do what they’re “told!” But the fact that every church is made up of sinners is not something to hold against the people in charge.
Now, what about all those stories of the Church not letting laypeople have access to the Bible back in the day? Clearly this is evidence of some devious plot to just teach whatever they want! I will let David Currie’s Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic 1 address this:
“The Catholic Church as a whole has never forbidden reading the Bible, but a small group of bishops in medieval France did. They were trying to curtail heretics (called Cathars or Albigensians) who used the Bible to deny the Incarnation and humanity of Jesus and to teach Manichean dualism... The medieval French bishops forbade the independent reading of Scripture as one way of attacking its misuse by these politically powerful heretics. When the heresy was eliminated, the prohibition was lifted. With the benefit of hindsight, we might argue that the bishops did not use the wisest methods for stamping out this destructive movement, but they did the best they knew how. Remember, no one ever claimed the leaders of the Church would be perfect.
One other historical incident that bothers Evangelicals is that the Catholic Church confiscated Bibles and burned them. Yes, the Church did do this. What seems to be forgotten, however, is the fact that they made replacement Bibles available. Evangelicals forget that the Bibles burned were poor translations. Even the most protestant of churches never refers today to the Tyndale Bible or the Wycliffe Bible. They were poor translations, and the Church was demonstrating her high regard for truth in rooting them out. Perhaps our techniques would be different in twentieth-century America, but one cannot fault the Church of that period. Her motive was to keep the truth pure.”
Her motive is to keep the truth pure. What a beautiful way to express the goal of the Catholic Church. And what a beautiful reason to accept what they teach.
Is keeping the truth pure what motivates your church?
I realized quite quickly that I wouldn’t be able to cover everything I wanted to in a single post. So here’s my blurb to check back for Part Two! Coming soon: Sola Scriptura and Papal Infallibility. Stay tuned!
1 I highly recommend this book. I have never considered myself an Evangelical or a Fundamentalist, but this book still really hits home. He does a much better job than I can to explain authority, along with many other things!