“Sorta Spiritual”

Friday, February 12, 2021

Is it possible to be a Catholic… but not too much?  Are there certain "degrees" of being religious?  What do you think of the phrases "I'm a Catholic in my own way" or "I'm a Catholic, but I don't exaggerate"?

Sincerely,
Cath-Light

Dear Cath-Light,

You can be a deeply devoted, strict Catholic or a mild Catholic… but we recommend neither.  Catholicism places the pope as the head of the church; Christianity places Christ as the head of the church (Eph 5:23).  All Catholic practices exist because the papal hierarchy believes them to be right; sometimes those beliefs agree with the Bible, but many times they don’t.  Catholicism tells priests to not marry, and it forbids certain foods – practices specifically condemned by Paul as false teaching (1 Tim 4:1-3).  Catholics are taught to call their religious leaders ‘Father’, but the Bible says that is wrong (Matt 23:9).  Catholic practices like infant baptism (and the teaching that children are born sinful), Vatican councils, cardinal vs. venial sins, etc. have no foundation in the Bible.  We derive our authority from the Bible, and that is where faith starts (Rom 10:17).

You want to be a Christian – someone who gets all of their practices and beliefs from the Bible and nowhere else.  Sticking to the Bible is the only way you can have confidence in your salvation.  After all, salvation is from God – we don’t get to decide which way we want to be saved.  If you would like help finding a congregation in your area that uses only the Bible as their guide, we would be happy to help you find one.  Simply e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org.

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