Holy Ground: Personal Relationship with Jesus

“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.