Kwan and Jwan

Saint Philomena (sp?) was venerated on the basis of her intercession alone. I know that most of the people who read this are protestant and don't appreciate, nor accept, the intercession of the faithful who have already died. I have a favor to ask just listen.

The last several weeks Jennifer and I have been asking for the intercession of a great prayer, person not act. Her name was Mary. Several times we have asked Mary to pray for a friend of ours. We will call her Kwanva. The first two initials may have something to do with the name. I use the funny name because you never know who might read this. Anyway...Kwanva had confided in Jennifer and I several weeks ago that she had a hard time conceiving. That is getting pregnant, when you want to. She is married to a good man who I know would be a good father.

This may seem out of line but please follow me here. A couple of nights ago Jennifer and I learned about St. Philomena. She is the only saint to have been inducted on the basis of her intercession alone. In other words lots of people prayed to her and the prayers were answered. Thus the induction into sainthood. I thought I would ask her to pray for Kwanva. We, Jennifer and I, still regularly ask Mary to pray to our Lord for Kwanva's most intimate desire; to have a child.

We had supper with Kwanva and Jwanva, her husband...duh, tonight. We found out she is pregnant.

I write this for two reasons. One, because blogging about my prayer life helps me remember that it actually is a worthy cause. Second, to let everyone know that Kwan and Jwan will prayerfully be parents.

Praise God. Thank God. Thank you Mary and Philomena for your prayers.

The idea of a teaching authority in the Catholic Church used to make me indignant. I really do mean indignant. My view about the Catholic church was formed by people who knew little, if anything, about the real teachings of the church. This is usually the basis for all bigotry and close-minded prejudice. As I began, 4 years ago now, objectively studying the history of Christianity I realized that all of Christianity had a teaching and final authority up to the time of the reformation in the late 1500s. Where does this come from?

I think Sacred Scripture speaks much more powerfully to this than I can. Jesus tells Peter that upon "this rock" He would build the church. Matthew 16, whole chapter. Jesus doesn't say "upon this confession." Then in John 20-21 he was given the great responsibility of feeding the followers and binding and loosing forgiveness to those followers who would come from the Great Event in chapter 20.

I have been reading "Coming Home" lately. It is a book about former protestant ministers who became Catholic. (There are tons of ministers who have done this.) I was reading the other day about a fundamentalist preacher. I think he was Baptist. It was a great story. The analogy he made really stuck out; paraphrased "in observance of the law in the constitution it is clear that we need a legal authority like the supreme court to uphold the law contained therein....likewise there is a need for a qualified ecclesial body to guide us into all truth."

What if you don't agree with the words of Christ? What if you disagree with the analogy or many others? Well, I feel ya because I used to hear those very things and still thought "nay nay sir."

In all honesty what has the absence of a teaching authority done for protestant Christianity, with thousands of people interpreting scriptures for themselves? Some believe that homosexuality, abortion and adultery are OK. This may repulse those with more traditional senses. You know what the big scandals were after Luther? Two big ones. First, some were teaching Christ wasn't present in the Eucharist (Lord's Supper). Second, that Mary wasn't actually the Mother of the Church. Wow!

Jump forward 500 years....Now most protestant church reject both of the above and many accept those things I mentioned first. What in the world happened? It wasn't a lack of faith. It wasn't a lack of sincerity. That is for sure. It was the inevitable misdirection that takes place when you don't have a final authority to guide you. It is the church which is the pillar and foundation of all truth. When the church ceases to be this for the members you have 33000 different divisions.

There are now 33000 different denominations. What happened? What makes your view any more valid than someone else who proof-texts their way to their conclusion?

I am so thankful for my brothers in protestant churches. Acknowledging the fact that some of them don't accept my faith as valid Christianity I irrespectively am grateful for what God has done in their respective tradition(s). However, I will admit I want everyone to come to fullness of the faith which was and always has been in the one true Apostolic Church.

Please support the culture of life.

Please support the culture of life.

End abortion.

Spiritual Anarchy

When I was little kid my cousin was "punk." Not like you may think. He was actually was part of a subculture that was born out of late 70s and early 80s music by people like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. It was America's response to the heavy metal-in your face- music revolution across the pond. I love many different types of music but must admit I never cared for punk, even now and I like everything. I remember he had a jacket with an anarchy symbol on it. It looked neat and at the time I thought he was telling someone they were a real "A." Well my bleached blonde leather-bound punk cousin tried to explain to an 8yo Eben Wyatt what anarchy was. I don't remember much about the conversation. It sounded like "blah blah blah Billy Idol has great hair blah blah blah." "Do you understand Eben Wyatt?" I responded "yes, you too have great hair....white wedding." When I got a little older, and semantics actually started to mean something, I wanted to learn what it meant. Anarchy, in a very simple sense, means no ruler or enforced authority. This seems to be any church without a living authority.

The protestant authority idea was born with Luther in the 16th century "Sola Scriptura" the Bible alone. If this is actually a viable platform for the church why, since the reformation, have 33,000+ denominations sprung up? The initial desire of Luther was noble and much needed. However, years later it has evolved into spiritual anarchy. If people don't agree with the preacher or get anything out of the service they leave. If the church they are attending offends them they leave and find one that wont. If they can't find one, no problem, just start your own. Paul said something about gathering teachers who said what you wanted to hear. I used to think this applied to Catholics. I now realize this applies to the whole of protestant Christianity. Paul said the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth was the House of God. 1Tim 3. There has to be a living authority. In fact if you accept your New Testament as inspired you have already conceded the authority of the Catholic Church. It was the Catholic Church that decided what would be in it.

Where am I really meaning to go? Simply this...without a living authority, like the one accepted by all of Christianity until the mid 1500s, it is spiritual anarchy. Churches that used to have a Biblical platforms have devolved into accepting homosexual ministers, abortion and any number of things. Why wouldn't they though, there is no ultimate authority.

I know many will disagree. However, it is clear that sola scriptura, while noble, has devolved into spiritual anarchy.

What would you do if your church taught something you disagreed with? What if they used the same Bible you did to defend their position? Who would be right? How many people have left your church because they disagreed and were ostracized for it? Do you accept the authority of the Catholic church?