Two posts in one day?! I know it is a rarity, but I am
having some crazy explosive thoughts. I would
really appreciate the chance to have people who know
and care about me read the thoughts I'm having, both
so that they may be aware, and so that, if they think I'm
going off the deep end, they might be able to steer me
back on course or express concerns.

I am meeting with my Pastor Bill tomorrow to discuss
some of these thoughts as well, so rest assured that I
am actively seeking guidance for these newfound thoughts.

OK, so here they are as they stand today.

In my initial assessment of Catholicism, one of my main
concerns was the fact that it seemed to be very limiting
of God. It seemed to me that the traditions that they
required their constituents to adhere to were very binding
and that their exclusion of other denominations because
they did not have these same traditions (the specific way
they conduct the Eucharist, as well as the belief they have
that it is the real body and blood of Christ, miraculously,
as well as things like confession) was also limiting, and
even heretical.

However, after talking to one real, live Catholic Priest, I
have come to find that the current Catholic stance is not
that Protestants do not have real, saving faith, but that they
are not experiencing the fullness of Christianity, by rejecting
many Holy traditions handed down from the early church
fathers, which are vehicles of God's grace. They do not claim
that these vehicles are necessary for salvation, for they do not
presume to know how God's grace is applied to the world, they
only hold that one can experience the fullness of Christianity
through the Catholic church's teachings and traditions.

I am not going to say I agree with the above paragraph, because
I have only just begun this quest, and I know many non-Catholic
Christians who I believe are experiencing a very full Christianity,
to the best of my understanding, myself included. But I will say
that I am beginning to consider their claims in a new light.

What if it is not necessarily the Catholic church that is the more
limiting institution, but it is my upbringing that is more limiting,
with its insistence that the whole of Truth is contained in the
pages of the Bible, and any additional instructions or structures
that were held by the early church and were modified and
codified through many centuries by faithful Christians are not
only unnecessary, but detrimental to one's understanding of God?

Is it not limiting of an incomprehensible God to say what He can
and cannot use and what the vehicles of His Grace can and
cannot be? Can "through faith in Christ" be expressed just as
fully by partaking of Eucharistic bread and believing in the
indwelling power of Christ in that moment and beyond as when
it is expressed by a Protestant's more generalized belief that
Christ dwells within?

There are many forms and theologies surrounding Christianity.
Is it not limiting of God when one encounters true believers
of a different form or theology who show the fruit of hearts
that confess Jesus as Lord to dismiss the fact that God very well
may be working in their lives through a different vehicle of the
same, transforming Grace?

I am not claiming one vehicle's effectiveness over another, I am
only wondering whether or not God may credit the faith of a
Catholic when he partakes of the Eucharist or when he confesses
his sins to a Priest (not to receive the free forgiveness of God,
but to acknowledge the fact of his sin's effect on the other
people in his church body), as righteousness, just as he did to
Abraham, and just as he does for me when I believe in my heart
that God forgives me in Christ and I seek to restore my relationships.

I am wondering about this: if both Catholics and Protestants put
their utmost faith in Christ to bridge the gap between them and the
Father, and both seek Spirit-filled communities where not only
is the Word of God heard and expounded upon and bread is
broken together, but also real life sharing and fellowship takes
place, then do the different outward expressions of that same
faith in Christ really cause us to have a different standing before
God?

If indeed Catholics place Holy Scriptures higher than Holy Traditions
of the church, in light of the fact that those traditions were formed
in order to complement and implement the very truths of Scripture,
then are not Catholics and Protestants more alike then some of us
would like to admit?

I know some of these may seem like big "ifs" to those who have
negative impressions of the Catholic church, just as some
Catholics are skeptical of the Protestant's lack of faith in the
miraculous mystery that takes place when one partakes of the
communion bread, but I share these thoughts because, after
talking with a Catholic Priest at length and asking questions, I
have found those "ifs" becoming less and less weighty in my mind.

I am finding that the Catholic expression of faith looks different
from my own, but it is, I believe, essentially the same faith. Those
forms and traditions which I had been told were binding and
enslaving, I am coming to find from the mouths of Bible believing,
Christ centered Catholics, are not enslaving, but are freeing and
liberating to the Catholic who understands them accurately.

If those forms and traditions accentuate the truths of Scripture
to those who correctly understand them, is it not limiting of me
to doubt God's ability to powerfully use the vehicle of the Catholic
church to train up committed followers of Christ?

These are all thoughts and questions I am grappling with. It is my
greatest desire not to be blinded or led into error, but to be receptive
to Truth and upholding of God's glory. I pray that He will work in me
and in my thoughts. I would appreciate any comments or concerns
that anyone feels led to share with me, especially the comments of
those who have ever had significant encounters with Catholicism as
it exists today. I think a lot of things can vary from church to church,
but I want to try and understand the tenants of their beliefs as well as
the hearts and lives of specific Catholics.

Whew! Crazy stuff. I never would have guessed a year ago that I would
be on this track AT ALL. But, despite the unsettling nature of it at times,
I am glad to be here.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost
all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found
in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes
from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection
from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made
perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me."

--Philippians 3:8-12