The Church and God and Man

I generally don’t enter into any deep or sensational blog posts regarding world religions and Faith beliefs, and maybe I could as a long certified religious education teacher, but I will say just a few things… (and then you can follow the links to the further information on the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings regarding the couple areas I’m addressing briefly). 

I am in much appreciation and  greatly admire the  Roman Catholic faith/church that has stood the test of time, (good and bad, mind you, because anything with longevity is going to have some ugly histories as well), but “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…”(Matt 16:18). As we approach Pentecost Sunday, and reflect on the gift of the Holy Spirit, given among us, signifying the birth of the Church, I am in even more awe and gratefulness for a church that remains unModern and non-politically correct, if I may say so, and yet up to snuff on current issues. 

Yes, it seems a contradiction in some ways, but not all modernism nor secularism is healthy or good for the people of God….no revelation there, eh?  If you just look around yourself with your Christian eyeglasses on at the media, writing, cultural trends…it’s so obvious that we as professed practicing Christians are at odds with our very environment.  Romans 12:2, John 17:15-17

After extensively studying Rome and Greece in our home schooling, in a cyclical manner as classical education calls for, we become more fully aware of the paganism and the gods and the One True God-lessness, we still have among us. Even Christians can thoughtlessly have their own gods; they can be the “things” of this world, we attach ourselves to all too strongly placing them first before God (idol worshipping)…..and just not acknowledging God as the one true God, and Jesus as His son, our Lord and Savior….well, some things don’t change, and here we are as Christians among it.

So, while I am not a theologian and don’t wish to pontificate in the least to you my readers, I will say this:  again, I am grateful for my particular strain of Christianity which is broad and guiding, not narrow minded but rather, firm in its stance against offences that destroy the dignity of man and God’s plan.

I direct your attention to other religions of the world that the Catholic Church believes and teaches and acknowledges “all that is good, and true and noble” in any Faiths; as they contain some of the Truth.  Or that they worship the same one true God; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob…..as we do. 

And in regard to Creationism and Evolution, the church very eloquently and intelligently, does not hold a Catholic to one or the other.   The Church does not claim to know the entire truth of the origins of man, or the earth or it’s length of existence in time and eternity, however, the Church does distinctly say that however the earth and man and all creation came to be, GOD’s hand was in it…..He is the Almighty Creator. re: Evolution, again,  that if this was how God chose to create man in his likeness and image, HIS HAND was in it, infusing a soul in man (being the operative area of thought). We do not take God out of anything …He is the creator, the Almighty.  We are honest in admitting to both science and sometimes the word of God, that we don’t know it all.  There are those that claim they know it all.  but I am thankful as Catholics we are left to consider and discern these areas for ourselves, and be humbled by the fact, again, ONLY GOD KNOWS THE FULL TRUTH, we do not, and there is a tremendous area of TRUST in God, that is unfolded in the “not knowing.”

So, without further ado, I give you the more articulate and eloquent voice of the Church universal: 

Truth Cannot Contradict Truth: (full discourse by clicking on title)

excerpt: “In his encyclical Humani Generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did not lose sight of several indisputable points.”

Vatican Council And Papal Statements On Islam (click on title for full discourse)

excerpt: “But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place among whom are the Muslims: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”