Conservative vs. Liberal Christians

Here we are. A society that defines itself either liberal as opposed to conservative, right verses left, far left verses far right or independent. We classify ourselves this way in all aspects of life but in this case we will refer strictly to our Christian faith and most especially our Catholic faith.

We boast of our advanced intelligence and express our “modern philosophies” but are we all that modern? No, not at all. Our society has digressed to a level of permissiveness that is perverse while we strive to redefine what we know is truth to conform it to fit what is most self indulging. In fact, today our social standards and permissiveness mirror that of the Caligula society during the first century. We’ve explained this in previous articles so we will not repeat the distorted elements or lack of morality that conform us to that era again here.  

In Christianity there is a call to faith that is expressed by a way of life of which we are taught by Jesus Christ. Scripture and the Church together teach that way of life and the moral values that are intrinsic to live as true Christians. Scripture does not teach a conservative way of Christian life or a liberal way of Christian life. It does not teach us we can selectively defy the teachings of Christ in our faith determined by what is most convenient or self gratifying to us as individuals. It does not teach us we can manipulate our conscience to serve our greater desires within a particular culture. The cultural elements of any given society are after all, nothing more than the adopted practices of the majority based on opinions. Opinions change based on what one considers as advantageous to the individual within that culture or period.

But God does not change; neither does moral values or truth change, but rather are respected or rejected. Principles of faith are either abided by or ignored. There are no conservative or liberal versions of Christian faith; we invented these categories to serve our own interests. We must be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with others. Many of us ignore our call to worship the Lord even one day a week. We claim sin is not sin, sexual promiscuity is not lacking in self respect or respect toward others, pregnancy to a single parent or outside of a marital commitment is acceptable and does not deprive a child of the benefits of a loving parental commitment or the influence of being raised by a father and mother during the growth of a child, divorce is as valid as marriage, abortion is not murder of human life, homosexual relationships are not adverse to nature, science, morality or the will of God, marriage is merely a civil agreement between any two people and is not a covenant intended strictly between one man and one woman but whoever chooses to enter into it including those of the same sex.

The fact is, if one believes in God and the judgment each of us will one day face, we must turn back to recognizing reality and stop kidding ourselves by claiming to be conservative or liberal in matters of living our faith. We must realize that claiming our conscience is good with the choices we make even when defiant of scripture and the Church either reflects an ill-informed conscience or a conscience that we have distorted for self-gratification. Is it difficult to live a truly Christian life? Not if you know your faith well enough to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. As in any loving relationship, self control and moral values are expressed willingly in the desire to preserve a loving relationship. Truth: there is no conservative Christian faith. In matters of faith, those considered conservative are actually striving to live their faith properly and “liberal” is living faith by convenience. Will we be judged on our choosing to live a truly Christian life or liberal way of life? The answer is in the following verse from Revelations, by which one can judge for them self the eternity they choose for them self. 

 "I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,' and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold (grace) refined by fire (purified by perseverance in faith) so that you may be rich (righteous), and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.”  (Revelations CH3: vs15-18)

Catholic - Abusing the Term

“Woe to those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity, and at sin as if with cart ropes! …Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own sight, and prudent in their own esteem!” (Isaiah CH5: v18, and vs20-21)

Recently I have been made aware of public comments made from independent groups that designate themselves as “Catholic” in their organization’s name but oppose Catholic principles or legal actions filed by the Catholic Church in defense of our constitutional rights under the first amendment. Usually I disregard such groups because they are obviously looking for recognition by showing their diversion against the Church. But this time I feel the obvious should be pointed out to show the absurdity in groups such as these.

Groups who promote themselves as Catholic such as “Catholics for Choice” for instance, a pro-choice organization (in favor of abortion or the murder of innocent preborn human beings usually performed by physically shredding them apart) prove themselves by the abuse of the reference “Catholic” to be hypocrites at best who obviously have no valid knowledge of scripture, Catholicism or man’s relationship with God. Yes, this is what they express of themselves by relating their organization’s mission to Catholicism. In fact, their referring themselves as promoters of the right to kill preborn human beings while referring to themselves as being of the Catholic Faith is misleading to non-Catholics and demeaning against faithful Catholic Christians who believe and strive to live in accordance with the calling of Christian life. As such they should be recognized for the hypocrisy expressed by their adopted title and the reflection of their ignorance in their knowledge of the faith they claim to belong. The promoting of abortion results in self-excommunication. What they do represent is dissention from faith, not the faith.

Another group, “Catholics United” has expressed their own ignorance by suggesting the Catholic Church must have some “secret agenda” for filing the law suits it has recently filed in seeking defense under the first amendment rights of religious freedom. Let me initially respond by pointing out that numerous religious groups, Christian and non-Christian alike are uniting in their opposition against the HHS mandate which is the primary element of this issue. I would be more inclined to believe it is “Catholics United” who may have their own personal agenda for opposing the lawsuits rather than the Catholic Church filing for surreptitious reasons.

Suggesting this legal defense filed by the Catholic Church under the constitution in some way opposes charitable acts is a perverted play on conscience. The Catholic Church provides charitable services throughout the world including all over the United States. These services include providing food to the hungry, shelters for the homeless, schools for the unfortunate, medical services to the ill, the suffering and the dying, and no one in need is denied regardless of their religious beliefs. That is Charity. The Obama administration by their own law insists the Catholic Church NOT provide these services to anyone other than Catholics and not hire anyone except Catholics if the Catholic Church wants to stay in conformity to its religious principles.  In other words, Obama would have all those who are hungry, homeless, uneducated in poverty, ill, suffering, and dying be turned away from the charitable works of mercy offered by Catholicism, AND all those who are currently employed by Catholic institutions be removed from their jobs and replaced by Catholics only. Now who is it that is denying charity to the needy?

According to the Obama administration, the forced HHS mandate was to serve as a protective measure under commerce to relieve the financial stress and availability of health care but wouldn't that be more relative to say, capping or attempting to control the high cost of gas due to its influence on the economy? Funny that was never mentioned...

These legal actions are a forced response seeking defense and relief from the willful disregard and attempted fragmentation by this President and his administration against the religious rights protected under the constitution; these are the foundation of this country. Failure to protect and defend any constitutional rights once violated can then result in the systematic dissolution of principles previously protected under any article of the constitution. Once a process of diminishing principles of rights under the constitution has been proven effective, groups such as “Catholics United” and others may one day find themselves without a right to free speech, or to assemble at all which incidentally has come under attack in recent years as well.

Sistine Chapel Courtesy the Vatican

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A Catholic Response to the Anti-Catholic Website of the Church of Christ

Recently by way of a dear friend, I became aware of an anti-Catholic website presented by a congregation who claim the name “Church of Christ”, one of a number of faith groups originating from a movement during the early 1900s. At the top of the website they display the deceptive headline, “Roman Catholic Faith Examined!” in large red letters. It is obvious from their accusations that they have no knowledge of the Catholic Faith nor can they claim they examined the Catholic faith as is evidenced by the reference sources they list at the bottom of their web page. In order to examine the Catholic faith they would have had to research, above all, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its supporting resources to claim any justification or credibility. Therefore their claims are deceptive. They have no credibility. This COC (Church of Christ) goes on to make the following allegations:

One Church - One Faith

Posted by an anonymous reader - "Protestants think we are all equal in the church but I know we are not all equal because God does not intrust his word to just anyone and we are told not to cast our pearls amongst swine. If they were all equal then they all would have been bishops right? Please explain this is important to the Protestant beliefs:) They are all leaders of how many churches???? But they close in time or are found  [misleading], sorry but i have found this to be true of many. Blessings and Peace."

In response to the above previously submitted comment offered by an anonymous reader, the following are excerpts from the chapter titled "One Church - One Faith" in my soon to be published Book titled "Christianity In Catholicism".

Simply put, we are all equal as children of God but each person is predisposed to the amount of grace they can receive limited by their own choices in the love of God. People will be judged by God according to the lives they have lived and in comparison to the life we are called to in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are officially representing the church or hold authority within the Church are also held to a higher level of responsibility than those who are lay persons. As scripture says, more will be expected from those who recieve more.
As for the numerous divisions of churches or the number of Christian faiths that exist, there are also numerous verses throughout scripture that clearly proclaim the solidarity all are called to in faith. For example: 

 “God is faithful: by whom you are called unto the fellowship (oneness) of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no schisms (divisions) among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians CH1: vs9-10).

 “…he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he (not man) may hold the primacy: Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; And through him (not man) to reconcile all things unto himself (not to man, but reconciling man to Himself as well), making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven.” (LV Colossians CH1: vs18-20)

[Also refer to (Ephesians CH4: vs11-16)]
“…keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body (one Church) and one Spirit (Holy Spirit); as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Ephesians CH4: vs3-5)

“…you who once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds he has now reconciled in his “fleshly body” through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.” (Colossians CH1: vs21-23)

“They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."(Acts CH14: v22).

The birth of Protestantism and the principle of Sola Scriptura not only defies scripture in its independence and rejection of the teaching authority of the Church, but

Atheist Law Suits

In regard to all the threats and filing of law suits presented by atheist groups who do not want crosses representing faith displayed openly, I have a couple suggested solutions that will quickly relieve you’re suffering from cross exposure that you may not have considered.

Being it is well known that this country was founded upon the beliefs and unalienable rights of man as gifted to each person by and in recognition of God our Creator, one solution you may consider is leaving this country so predisposed to the existance of God and Christian citizenship rather than attempt to take away the rights of Christians who most logically express the principles of an existing God under which it was founded;

Further, recognizing the fact that since the founding of America the great majority of this country has consisted of Christians who display the cross not only as a remembrance of Christ’s passion for us and our calling to live and love one another to the best of our human abilities but also to remind us of those elements of faith we raise each cross in prayer, whether it be for the deceased or those suffering or whatever expression of faith it may be raised, give credit to the cross for your right to express your displeasures without harm.

As an additional solution to your suffering cross exposure while wishing to remain a resident of this country, exercise your free will to walk away from those places where the cross is raised just as others exercise their free will to visit before those crosses.

Whether you realize it or not, your resentment toward those who believe in God is not justifiable grounds for a law suit nor is it justifiable to take away the rights of the majority of citizens who choose to express their recognition of God of which America was founded upon. Your filing suits seeking to have crosses removed from places you never knew they stood and/or where you have no legitimate purpose to visit only because you heard about there existence has proven your filing of such suits to be malicious and contrived serving not to protect yourself from any infringement of rights but only to restrict the rights of the vast majority.

Enjoy the freedoms this country has provided you and walk away from those places you find displeasure… go to those places you enjoy in God’s peace. This we pray for you