Tag Archives: catholic

Jesus and Church

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Jesus and the Church

It has become common to hear people proudly announce, ” I believe in Jesus but not in any church or religion.” or “I am a follower of Jesus but reject religion.” There exists other similar exhortations, which proclaim a belief in Jesus Christ, but a rejection of any religion or church. Thus a person who states a preference for Jesus can create his or her own system of beliefs on what and who Jesus is and taught. Consequently in addition to approximately 40, 000 christian denominations in the world, there are any number of one off belief systems developed by individuals. In this instance there is a church for each person. It is difficult to imagine that this is the condition Jesus envisioned when he created the Church….yes Jesus created His church, not your church or my church.

While it understandable that there are many individuals who are upset, even very angry, at some of the actions of the representatives and members of the church, it is not valid to cast aside the church, while at the same time proclaiming an allegiance to Jesus. It is very clear that Jesus intended to found a church….a church which he fully supported and continues to act within. In Chapter 16 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus strongly proclaimed, ” And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” There was no equivocation in Jesus’ command to Peter. Peter and the apostles were ordered to found and lead the church, with His help and guidance. Their successors would follow in the footsteps of Peter and the apostles.The personal failures and limitations of the church’s representatives and members throughout the centuries would not diminish the role or importance of the Church. It is the Catholic Church that traces its root to Jesus through Peter , the apostles and their successors.

Jesus noted that He is the body of the Church and each member is part of that body, not to be separated from Him. In the famous scene in the Acts of the Apostles when Saul, later known as Paul, encounters Jesus on the road to Damacus as Saul is hurrying to persecute the Church, Jesus asks, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” Note Jesus is unequivocally identifying himself with the members of the church when he asks, “Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus and the Church are one.

If one truly believes that Jesus Christ is who he says he is, that is, the Son of God and that He founded the Catholic Church, then to reject the Church is to reject Him.

No Chance

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The Hurricane violently crashed into the Gulf coast cities, shredding all of man’s designed structures and possessions. All was rubble and chaos; what life remained was battered and stunned into disbelief. The tsunamis in Asia, the tornados in the central U.S., the earthquakes in many parts of the world all leave the physical results of man’s intelligence and design in utter ruin. Little is left. The order in man’s physical life has been obliterated. The forces of nature eliminated the work of the intelligence and the design of man.

Nature by itself designs nothing; it exists for an intelligent being to do the designing. Yet some humans will strongly contend that the universe itself occurred by accident, by chance, without a designer, without an intellect. Contrary to some theories, science, rather than providing proof that the universe and nature are the result of chance, is leading man to realize that chance is not a viable explanation for the creation of the universe. Some recent studies theorize that, even before the beginning of the universe, information existed. Whatever theories may be contemplated in the future, it is becoming increasingly clear that the universe was not created by chance, by some unintelligible forces, controlled by nothing. Would anyone accept the notion that forces of nature, such as hurricanes or tsunamis, through their random tossing and churning of nature could ever produce a computer or an automobile…or any complex item. Of course not! Yet there are those who propose that the universe and nature, with all of their unique and intricate complexities and orderliness, are a product of chance; the product of the churning and tossing of various forces without any intelligence involved.

The chances of the earth being the right size, the proper distance away from the sun, containing water, and the innumerable other conditions for life are extremely minute. The mathematical odds that all of these and other essential conditions happened by chance are astronomical–beyond billions to one!The fact is that the universe is orderly and reliable, indicating an intelligence behind it. Albert Einstein, one of the most acclaimed scientists in history, noted,” “I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.” Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, “Why nature is mathematical is a mystery…The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle.”Once one accepts that rules exist, then intelligence must precede the rules. The order in the universe contrasts very vividly with the chaos and destruction evident in the randomness of hurricanes and other natural disasters. If the universe was not designed with intelligence, then one would expect the chaos of unintelligible randomness, but the universe does follow rules and is orderly.

One wonders why many non-believers argue with such disdain against the logic of intelligent design for the universe. Robert Laidlaw’s answer to this question is very perceptive, “God exists whether or not men may choose to believe in Him. The reason why many people do not believe in God is not so much that it is intellectually impossible to believe in God, but because belief in God forces that thoughtful person to face the fact that he is accountable to such a God.” Man does not want to face the fact of his accountability to God.

Some suggested readings;

“Faith and Certitude”, by Thomas Dubay. Fr.Dubay writes a powerful and readable commentary on faith, included within the commentary is a discussion about whether the universe could be a product of chance.

“The Devil’s Delusion, Atheism and its Scientific Pretentions”, by David Berlinksi, who is an agnostic secular Jew. Mr. Berlinski received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He has written several books on mathematics and has taught at universities in the U.S. and France. In “The Devil’s Delusion”, with humor and cogent arguments, Berlinksi notes there is nothing in science proper that undermines religion, that most of the new atheists badly misunderstand even the most rudimentary arguments of theology and are not logically consistent, and finally that much of science has become rather dogmatic, like a new religion.

“From Atheism to Catholicism”, by Kevin Vost, who is a clinical psychologist and a member of Mensa. Mr.Vost subtitled his book, “How scientists and philosophers led me to Truth.”