A few questions

I received a few questions passed on from a Catholic friend of mine who was asked:

1. “The Catholic Church is outdated. It needs to get up to date because people have changed over time. My church has a pastor who actually ‘teaches’ us and applies Jesus’ teachings to the people of today.”
2. “The problem with the Catholic Church is that they teach people to fear God and they make people feel guilty and scared about sinning.”
3. “People in the Catholic Church spend all their time saying the same prayers over and over again and it has no meaning. When you say a rosary, you really only get the meaning out of the first few prayers and after that it’s just words that you say just ‘to get through it’.”


The problem with many americans’ view on religion is that it is an emotional view, often influenced by the idea of moral relativism. People sacrifice the idea of objective truth for good feelings and some motivation. This is no way to treat religion. Religion is the search for spiritual truth. Though religion can be emotional, it cannot be judged based on emotion. Truth is absolute. Emotions can change due to an exponential amount of factors.

The flaw with these questions isn’t doctrinally based; rather, it is in what the asker assumes about religion and truth.


For the first question, the Catholic Church is up to date... As much as it morally can be. There may be certain clergy who are “stuck in the stone age,” or so to speak, but the Church as a whole is modern, without sacrificing the truth which comes with sacred Tradition. For example, the Church has taken a stand on five non-negotiable issues prevalent to today’s times. Issues which would not even be a question if the Church was out of date. These are Abortion, cloning, stem cell research, euthanasia, and the sanctity of the sacrament of marriage. Stem cell research and cloning are two examples of how the Church has had to update her teachings with new and upcoming technologies. On a lighter note, there are several iPhone and Android smartphone applications which assist in Catholic worship, research, and accessibility.

The allegation that the Church is outdated is very emotional. The asker isn’t really looking for objective truth, rather, he/she is looking for someone to be a modern motivational speaker who can make them feel good about God and their religion.


The second question is very similar in nature and motivation. The asker is not truly concerned with his/her eternal salvation. He or she doesn’t want to be guilty if [s]he does something wrong. The fact is, guilt (shame) comes with sin (See Genesis 3:1-15). People are not so much “guilted” as they ask for guilt by their actions.

And as far as the Catholic Church’s teaching to fear God, thats not a tradition of the Catholic Church, it is deeply rooted in ancient Judaism and Christian Scripture.
Deuteronomy 8:6
Proverbs 15:16
Matthew 10:28
Its a blessing to fear the Lord. It shows a healthy amount of humility and respect for how almighty He is.



For question three, the asker is making a judgement which exceeds his or her pay-grade. The Bible says only God knows the hearts of all men. You can’t say the prayers have no meaning, or the the Catholic is “just trying to get through it” because you don’t know their hearts. Granted, there are undoubtedly Catholics who don’t understand what’s going on at mass, or they rattle through their rosary mindlessly just repeating words. But that does not AT ALL take away from what the truth is: that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, or that Mary intercedes for us and prays for us when we ask her. You can’t worry about whether the Jones’ really mean what they say to God, we have to worry about our own relationship with Him, and spread His word so that maybe the Jones’ will have a change of heart and begin to actually pray with their hearts.

In short, just check out 1 Corinthians 4:5.

As always I LOVE receiving questions!
lambssupper@gmail.com

I hope this answers sufficiently!
God Bless!
Luke