“The religion of complete grace is an irresponsible cop-out, and it is why I will never become a born-again Christian.”
Those words were uttered by Chris Castaldo before he left the Catholic Church. He admitted that as a Catholic he was very ignorant of what Protestants actually believe. In this chapter he shares his personal testimony of how he came to saving faith when a co-worker invited him to attend church and he heard the Word of God explained clearly. He explains this experience similar to the words penned by Charles Wesley’s “And Can it Be”
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature’s light;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee
What was it exactly that freed Castaldo? He explains that his Catholic experience like many others were beset by work and rules. He recalls his interviews with ex-Catholics who share this experience as well and define their Catholic experience as an “array of rules” which was imposed upon them. Things like the doctrine of Limbo (recently nixed by the RCC), eating meat on Fridays during Lent, confessing to priests, assertions of Rome of who is in mortal sin and who is in the state of grace.
In stark contrast, Evangelicals observe the experience of direct relationship with Jesus Christ as described in Scripture. In the words of Christ, “Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you my friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15
Reflecting on this it appears that the Roman Catholic Church devotes herself to a relationship with the church rather than Christ. I understand Catholics would never say this but if you consider how that relationship with Jesus is cultivated in the RCC. It is always through the church, the relationship is not directly with Christ but mediated by the Church.
It is like a relationship to a King whom you never see, never hear from, never speak to because all your correspondence is managed by the King’s ambassador. Your relationship grows more with the ambassador than your King.
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Tagged with catholic, Holy Ground Book.
Earlier we looked at a major between Catholics and Protestants by how they display their allegiance to Christ. The difference lies in the source of authority. For Catholics the Authority is not the Scriptures but Sacred Tradition. For Protestants authority rests in the Scriptures alone.
In today’s post we’ll examine Castaldo’s first of five reasons why believers have left the Catholic church. He begins by explaining God’s purpose for the creation of man is to reflect God’s image. To represent God’s image on earth (Gen 1:26, Psalm 8). Again Catholics would agree at this point. However the difference is how that representation or ambassadorship occurs.
Catholics have established a formal clerical priesthood while Evangelicals have a priesthood of believers. According to the Catechism of the Catholic church,
“The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the ‘common priesthood of the faithful.’ Based on this common priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where the task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ the Head in the midst of the community.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1591-92)
Castaldo explains that the Catholic Church provides a two-tiered system where there is clergy and laity and as a Catholic you will be in one category or the other. So as a Catholic church-goer you are “limited” in what you are able to do in your representation of Christ. You don’t participate in ministry that the NT calls every believer to do (Eph 4:7-13). To be fair, Vaitcan II addresses this issue however in the majority of parishes there still remains this two-tiered clergy-laity disjunction.
As a former Catholic this is exactly the life I experienced in the Catholic church. We attended Sunday Mass and that was it. The one-another ministry was merely the “peace be with you” and that was the extent of our talking with other people in the church (unless of course we already knew them through school or family parties). The only other time anything spiritual took place would be at the observance of Catholic Sacraments like CCD or Confirmation or funerals.
The “spiritual life” was part-time and practiced only on Sundays and other rare occassions. It is no surprise that the former Catholics in Castaldo’s survey felt like they could not fully be ambassadors for Christ (2Cor 5:20) in the Catholic church. In short they sought after a faith that was full-time and wanted to live the fullness of life that God has called all of His people.
I appreciated this chapter since it does discuss something exactly how the differences are experienced. However I do hope that in later chapters Castaldo will explain more fully at why the experiences are different. Specifically with an explanation of the new birth and the new heart that now wants to serve Christ.
Holy Ground: Introduction
Holy Ground: Fundamental Differences
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In the opening chapter of Holy Ground Chris Castaldo recalls a story of how as a boy he first understood what Catholics truly believe. He begins by saying how both faiths began from a common bible (almost common since the Catholic bible includes the deuter-canonical books) and common creeds like the Apostles and Nicene creeds. However like two sets of dominoes that run in parallel begin to diverge after that point. What is the cause of this divergence?
The cause of this divergence comes down to a different interpretation of how the revelation and authority of Jesus extends to the church, and by extension into the world.
Catholics understand the incarnated presence of Jesus to be in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. This is why the church was understood by Catholics to have divine authority over God’s people.
Catholics believe that revelation and authority fall into the hands of the church through apostolic succession while Evangelicals see Jesus’ infallible revelation to consist of Scripture alone. Castaldo shows this by saying how through scripture:
God grants new life (John 5:24, Rom 10:8-10; Eph 1:13; James 1:18; Heb 4:12)
Reveals his will (Matt 4:4; Matt 7:21; 1Tim 3:6-16; 2Tim 2:15; 2Tim 3:16-17; Heb 1:2)
Rules over his people (John 17:17; 1Cor 14:37; Phil 2:16; 1Tim 5:17)
Evangelicals see the scripture as the sole infallible guide for salvation and stands alone as the supreme source of authority upon which the Christian faith is based. Catholics understand Sacred Tradition to be equally authoritative as Scripture.
So it can be said that the major difference boils down to authority. What is the authority that defines and directs one’s faith? One way to think of it is also allegiance. If you’re a Catholic or Protestant how is your allegiance to Christ defined? Catholics can be seen as having an allegiance to Christ through the Catholic church. Protestants have allegiance to Christ through personal faith in Christ.
With this fundamental difference Castaldo shares 5 major reasons why Catholics have departed their Catholic backgrounds and moved towards the Evangelical tradition.
1. Every believer is called to full-time ministry
2. Relationship with Christ must take precedence over rules-keeping
3. We enjoy direct access to God in Christ
4. There is only one proper object of devotion - Jesus the Savior
5. God’s children should be motivated by grace instead of guilt
He has gathered this information from surveys, focus-groups, and interviews. Those five major reasons are also the next five chapters in the book which we’ll look at next one chapter at a time.
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Well as promised the book I’ve chosen for the task ahead is Holy Ground by Chris Castaldo. I picked up this book for two main reasons. It addresses something of great interest to me which is Catholicism, the religion I was raised in, and secondly the book was recommended by men I highly respect such as D.A. Carson and J.I. Packer.
Chris Castaldo was a Catholic who grew up in Long Island, New York and worked full-time in the Catholic church. His book is a personal testimony of his journey from the Catholic faith to the Evangelical faith. He speaks with pastoral care and balance knowing where he came from and where he now is. This book is part testimony, focus-group research, theological study, and just excellent discernment in addressing the major differences between Evangelicals and Catholics.
Normally I’m not very comfortable with words like journey and pilgrimage because my theology of God’s sovereignty and election. Why is this? It’s because I can at times have an imbalanced perspective on doctrine and people. That is to say, I tend to look only at the doctrinal issues instead of the person whom I’m talking to! Castaldo attempts to address this very issue. He says,
When we communicate the gospel to Catholics we often make the mistake of thinking that our conversations should directly address doctrinal issues. This is not only incorrect, it is impossible. When speaking to a friend about faith, we don’t speak directly to his religious beliefs; we speak to a person who holds religious beliefs. This is a crucial, overlooked distinction.
Castaldo divides the book into two major parts. The first part discusses five major reasons why followers of Christ have left the Catholic church. The second part is concerned with how one is to naturally and winsomely emulate Jesus among Catholic loved ones and friends. This book is somewhat unique in that he intermingles a lot of personal testimony throughout. It helps for a very interesting and fascinating read. The effect is like when you’re listening to a preacher speak and your attention is piqued when he delves into an illustration or story that draws out a particular truth.
I hope that you’ll follow along with me and be encouraged as I am as we read through this book!
Posted in Books, Main, christianity, resources.
Tagged with catholic, evangelism, Holy Ground Book.
Over the holidays we saw the movie Julia and Julia and I was surprisingly entertained. Who didn’t watch Julia Childs as a kid?! As you’ve seen in the commercials the premise of the movie is how a girl named Julia creates a blog about her favorite cook: Julia Childs. She blogs through all the recipes in her book and finds herself immersed in the life, mind, and cooking of Julia Childs.
How original is this: I think I will blog through a book! OK, that’s the easy part. Now which book? I suppose something like this would help kickstart this blog again. While looking over the blog I realized the subtitle for my blog is “Gospel, Culture, Missions, Internet, Technology.” I would like to read a book about something that my wife and I are going through right now and that is sharing the Gospel. In particular sharing the Gospel with Catholic friends. Yup, I think that’s the topic for the next book.
I’ve said enough for now. The next post will probably be the start of what I hope will be a helpful and interesting series. Now hold me to it!
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Tagged with catholic, gospel.
Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.
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I’ve often wondered when I would starting posting entries on the blog again. The reason for the absence has been primarily Facebook. I’ll admit it - I like Facebook! It seemed silly that I would try to update 2 places about the ins/outs of my life. So I’m at the point of possibly shutting down the blog and just stick to social networking venues like Facebook and Twitter.
Or maybe the lapse in blogging just needed a jump start on what to write again. Who knows.. in any case if you’ve wondered what I’ve been up to it’s far easier to join me on Facebook and/or twitter.
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President Obama announced that he will be selecting Sonia Sotomayor as Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Souter. Obama based his selection of Sotomayor by describing her as having a “rigorous intellect” and further saying, “I share the view that the proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting the Constitution and acts of Congress, not legislating from the bench” … in other news Sotomayor on video jokingly says that laws are made from the bench.
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Tagged with obama, supreme court.
I hope everyone had a great 3-day weekend. As for me and my household we spent a good portion of our weekend shopping for Christmas gifts. Consider us odd, but spring/summer is the best time to shop for Christmas.
In the 3 shopping areas we went to I couldn’t help but notice how many people were out and about shopping. “But I thought we were in a recession? Aren’t people out of work? Aren’t people trying to save their money?” It dawned on me that the perfect way to stimulate the economy is not bailouts or reducing taxes, but increase America’s days off!
It seems to me that when people are not working they tend to spend money. Yes we try to save money but even in our attempt to save money we are spending money. For example many today are trying to save money by reducing the type of vacations they are taking. Trips to Europe or Hawaii may no longer be the norm but instead folks take less expensive vacations, but they still spending money. Most people on their days off will work on their home. Working on their home requires supplies which need to be purchased. Others may work on their yard, again requiring supplies. Still there are others who will look for bargains in order to “save money” yet spend money.
Dear, Mr. president,
I suggest that you give us more holidays in order to stimulate our economy.
Sincerely,
Patrick Lacson
Posted in society.
Tagged with economy, money.
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