Does the Catholic Church Still Teach...

by Mad Dawg 17 Replies latest social current

• 

  MarcusScriptus

  Catholics, like most Protestants, believe that people are saved not by works or by faith but by God’s grace.

  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification” and “justification [being ‘declared righteous’ in Jehovah’s Witness terms] comes from the grace of God.” They define “grace” or “underserved kindness” as something more specific than the Watchtower does, a literal saving action on God’s behalf, not merely “favor” but “the free and underserved help that God gives.”—CCC 1996, 2010.

  Catholic apologist Amy Welborn in her “Prove It” series for young Catholics states: “The Catholic Church teaches that, yes, we are saved by grace alone, but we’re not saved by faith alone.” She states that Catholics don’t believe that they can be unresponsive to God’s grace or help, but need to “cooperate with that grace…to grow in holiness and become more like that Divine Image” found in Christ.—Prove It! Church by Amy Welborn, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, ISBN 0-87973-981-9.

  So Catholics don’t believe that one can work to gain God’s grace. They believe one must respond to it in faith, true, just as a starving person must eat if brought food to survive, but they don't believe they can save themselves, even by their actions. Even works of merit, such as the “faith without works is dead” of the book of James is seen only possible by God’s saving help or “grace.” As one of their saints, Augustine of Hippo, wrote: “Man does not work any good things apart from God, since it is from God man receives the power to do the good things he does.”—Two Letters Against the Pelagians.

  However, one does sin if they are free to observe a Church law on abstaining or a law on fasting and they refuse to do so because such laws are only active on days when the entire Church is in a formal state of penance (such as on Good Friday). Only health considerations, old age, or the lack of any other type of food or some like emergency excuses a Catholic in such situations.

  A bishop may make an exception during Lent for Catholics to observe a feast day of a saint, which is supposed to be a day of celebrating Christ’s victory over evil in the example of his faithful servants. St. Patrick’s Day is such a popular feast day that always lands during Lent (the 40 days of Church-wide penance, minus Sundays, prior to Easter). Such an exemption is based on local popularity of the saint and thus at the discretion of the bishop over an area.

  Certain days of the Catholic liturgical calendar should never be days of fasting or abstinence, even if they occur during formal penance times such as Lent. Solemnities such as Sabbaths (Sundays, the days of Easter and the first eight of the “twelve days” of Christmas, All Saints Day, etc.) and certain other feasts fall under such days where penance is contrary to the law to celebrate.—See Nehemiah 8:9-12.
• 

  Mad Dawg

  Marc, thank you for your input. It is most appreciated. According to Catholic doctrine, does man have a will with which to accept or reject God's grace? Or, is the Church more Calvinist in its perspective? Does She teach that works are an extension of salvation - evidence of spiritual growth - or that works are a necessary part of obtaining salvation?
• 

  GLTirebiter

  The Church teaches that man does have free will. From article 1730 of the Catechism (vatican.va):

  God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."

  The Church doesn't view grace and works as being opposites, rather that works are the outward signs of having accepted God's grace and allowing it to work in our lives. Wherever you have one you also find the other. From article 2003 (emphasis added):

  Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church.
• 

  Mad Dawg

  How do Last Rites benefit a person?
• 

  MarcusScriptus

  The sacrament, known as the “Anointing of the Sick,” is often called ‘last rites’ when it is administered to someone who is dying. In that case, it just means that the Anointing of the Sick is the final rite a Catholic receives before death. It's not actually reserved for the final moments of a person's life. But how does this or any rite help someone either at death or any other time?

  Catholics believe in the principle of “sacramentality.” While having faith that God bestows his grace upon us spiritually, they also believe that God’s grace can actually be administered or received through certain physical actions or objects. This goes back to Biblical times, a specific example recorded at Acts 5:14-16 where physical contact with Peter’s shadow was the administrative conduit for God’s grace of healing for many. There’s also the case where Paul performed the rite of exorcism by distributing material cloths he wore on his person at Acts 19:11-12. A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible grace or helpful gift from God. By means of sacraments God distributes grace by physical contact with the corporeal. In the Roman Catholic Church there are seven of such sacraments.

  The Anointing of the Sick is one of the first sacraments for which specific details as to its administration and effects were recorded, so early in Christian history in fact that this sacrament is detailed in the New Testament. At James 5:14-16 we read of where God’s grace of healing, both physical and spiritual, is said to be administered by human prayer, anointing with oil, and by the physical touch of hands. Since the inspired text mentions that sins can be forgiven by means of this sacrament, it has a great benefit for one who is near death and has need for repenting from freely committed sins. If possible, as became the custom later in history, Holy Communion is also administered to the ailing one at this time.

  However, it's no longer referred to as "Last Rites" in any formal sense. This sacrament may be requested and administered by any of God’s ministers when serious illness occurs, ebut specially the type that threatens life. While in some cases literal healing occurs, more often the individual is strengthened by God’s grace to see their suffering as a sharing in the passion of Christ.

  But why still spoken of as “Last Rites” and usually connected in the public's mind with dark and fearful scenes at candlelit bedsides? We often see it over-dramatized in movies with people on their sick beds at death’s door and their family members hurrying to find a priest before the sick one’s last breath is taken. Is it really like that? As American Catholic.org mentioned in one of its Q & A articles on the subject:

  Although the sacrament began as a ritual of healing, over time the emphasis shifted to the forgiveness of sins on the deathbed, when such forgiveness would be the final preparation for heaven. The Second Vatican Council returned the original meaning to the sacrament by emphasizing that it is not only for those who are at the point of death, but for anyone who is seriously ill, including mental or spiritual illness. It also helped move the Anointing away from a private service and back toward a community-based one.

  Today we are all aware that tensions, fear and anxiety about the future affect not only our mind but our body as well. These illnesses can be serious. They can move us to ask for the healing touch of Christ in the Sacrament of Anointing. Persons with the disease of alcoholism or persons suffering from other addictions can be anointed. So can those who suffer from various mental disorders. The anxiety before exploratory surgery to determine if cancer is present is a situation in which Christ's power can be invoked in the sacrament.

  In these cases the person does not have to wait until the illness is so grave that he or she is in the hospital or institutionalized to celebrate the sacrament. Sacraments, after all, are community celebrations. It is preferable to celebrate them in the context of family and parish even before going to the hospital. The sick person has a better opportunity to appreciate the prayers and symbols of the rite when in her or his customary worshiping community.
• 

  Mad Dawg

  Fascinating. It seems that the difference between the Catholic Church and Protestants is much less than I understood it to be. Aside from the autority of the Pope, what does the Church see as the major differences between Catholic and Protestant doctrine?
• 

  GLTirebiter

  That's a question without a simple answer, because there is no single "Protestant doctrine". The doctrines of the more traditional Protestant churches are close to those of the Catholic church, as you said. That applies even more to the Greek, Russian and other Orthodox churches. Here are some major doctrinal differences I know of, though not all apply to every non-Catholic Christian group:

  Apostolic succession: the leadership and authority of the Christian church has been passed from St. Peter and the other apostles through a chain of bishops, unbroken to this day. The Vatican authority you cited is a large part of this, but the doctrine includes all Bishops, not just the papacy.

  Transubstantiation: the consecrated bread and wine truly become the "body, blood, soul and divinity" of Jesus Christ, so that "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person" (John 6:56)

  Purgatory: a stage in the afterlife where the souls of those who have died in God's grace and are assured of salvation, but are not totally free from sin, will be purged of their remaining sinful nature before spending eternity in God's presence. The Church teaches that we are to pray for the dead, so they may be cleansed and enter paradise (2 Macc 12:43-45 ).

  Prayer to the Saints, especially to Mary: they are not to be prayed to in worship, but rather that they, who are in God's presence, will carry our prayers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and intercede on our behalf. Saints are not treated as gods, but rather well-connected friends in the highest of places!
• 

  MarcusScriptus

  Yes, I myself was more than stunned when I realized that what I had been taught by means of the Watchtower regarding Catholicism and all other forms of religion—even other forms of personal philosophy like atheism and agnosticism—was just like everything else from them…WRONG!

  I can’t speak for others, but I took it for granted that it was just certain doctrines, those “peculiar” ones of the Watchtower that were false. As for other views, such as its general views on God, the Bible, and what it taught about history and religion in general, I felt they were okay.

  But I soon woke up to a reality that had me having to not merely rebuild my belief system, but tear it down and demolish everything, rip up the ground even, and start from scratch. Remember, there are no scholars or scientists or ancient language experts or historians among their Governing Body who now, more than ever, controls and creates the information that gets distributed to all the others. There is no check and balance system beyond itself.

  We have not disposed of Watchtower teachings entirely if we still judge other belief systems and other philosophies and doctrines according to the way the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. Just as an example, I had to ask myself, why don’t I believe in the Trinity? Is it because of what I have been taught by the Witnesses? Do I still trust what they taught me regarding the Trinity so that I believe I have enough valid information regarding that doctrine to make an educated decision on it one way or the other? Why would I trust an anti-trinitarian to fairly teach me all I needed to know to make my own mind up on the Trinity?

  And guess what, regardless of what we come to believe about the Trinity once we leave the Watchtower, you will learn that the Witnesses have never properly explained it. So how can we judge anything if we don’t know anything about it?

  Good rule of thumb I follow: learn what it is first, and then I make up my mind about it. It won’t hurt to learn something, how and why it is believed and/or practiced, even to come out of it not having an opinion on the matter once I’ve done all this.

  But don’t start with what the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. They cleverly work to be accurate only when it comes to their belief system and no one else’s. If you want to know what a fig tastes like, you will never learn by picking fruit from a lemon tree.