Catholic Relevance

As a way of expanding my religious exposure and knowledge, I've been listening to a national Roman Catholic radio station, broadcast here in the cities as WLOL 1330 Relevant Radio, "Bridging the gap between faith and everyday life", the Twin City's home of Catholic radio.

I've learned a few interesting things about Roman Catholic Christianity that I think you all might find interesting too.

Firstly, they deserve credit for helping the poor and disabled far more than I've known Protestant churches to. They have extra religious services for those with disabilities, extra accommodation and service to widows and orphans. They have seemingly perpetual food drives, shelters, ministering and missions to the poor.

It reminds me of something from the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) book of Ya'akov (James):

Religion that God our Abba accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

They have a strong stand for preservation of life that is not tied to any political party, which differs from much of Protestant Christianity. Whether that stance be on abortion, embryonic stem cell research, the death penalty, or elderly euthanization, they stand almost unbudgingly for preservation of life.

I've also found them to be inundated in ritual religion: Mass, Rosary, Eucharist, Confession, Adoration, and other man-made rituals make up most of the conversational topics, if not lives, of practicing Catholics.

Unlike Protestants, there is a unified theology with little room for budging in the form of the Roman Catholic Catechism. As the Talmud and Oral Law is to some Jews, the Catechism defines what it means to be Catholic. Without it, one may as well be a Protestant.

There are also some negatives I've discovered with Roman Catholicism. The deep ties to ritual religion and ceremony have lead to some ignorance of Scripture. For example, as I listened to "Searching the Word" show yesterday, a caller said he felt his family was being attacked spiritually. I was stunned to hear the guest archdiocese tell us how to ward off spiritual attacks against your family,

"Holy water. Sprinkle it around your house. Also, holy salt will do it too. Place piles of holy salt around the 4 corners of your house. I'd even sprinkle some in your food as you cook it."

Needless to say, this has no foundation in Scripture: there is no such thing as "holy water", nor "holy salt" in Scripture. It's entirely a man-made religious ritual.

So despite the show being called, "Searching the Word", I found it sad that the Word wasn't searched in this instance.

I've also noticed the Roman Catholics have inherited and are proclaiming hand-me-downs from pagan religions, just as they have handed us Tammuz Weeping Day/Lent, Ishtar Day/Easter, Nimrod's Birthday/Christmas, and other goodies. For example, a talk show host was speaking of the wonders of the heavens, when a caller phoned to inform the host of the apparent Roman Catholic background of the recent Perseid Meteor shower,

"Did you know that the Perseid Meteor shower is actually a feast day of St. Lawrence? The meteors are actually the Tears of St. Lawrence."

Did I mention there's much near-deification of saints? :)

Let's realize St. Lawrence is not mentioned in Scripture. His tears don't exist, the guy's dead. It's a little tongue-in-cheek to pass on this rather goofy likening of meteor showers to St. Lawrence, especially when, like many of the Roman Catholic-sponsored holidays, it is rooted in pagan mythology and relabeled as Christian by the Roman Catholic Church.

Finally, I notice a lot of debate over minutia. Much like how the Pharisees would argue over whether it's lawful for a man to eat bread cooked in an oven built with a brick laid on Sabbath (there's a mouthful!), I've heard Roman Catholics debating over minutia in Catechism and Roman Catholic dogma. For example, yesterday I heard a debate over whether is it lawful for a bishop to appoint, without papal approval, a new priest or bishop in the event of an emergency such as a war. Sheesh.

And of course, the major shocking thing is, they believe a certain man is infallible and is, more or less, Jesus Christ on earth. I am speaking of the Holy Father, the Pope, of course.

In all these things, I draw correlations to the ancient Pharisees. I say that with all due respect for Catholics, but there remains correlations between Catholicism and ancient Pharisaical Judaism nonetheless:

• They are devoutly religious.


• They are recognized as ambassadors of God's true religion.


• They are flooded with rituals and man-made religion.


• They make new rulings that are equal to or override Scripture. (The Pope is infallible, Sabbath is Sunday, to name a few.)


• They've added their writings to Scripture.


• Their rituals are taking precedence over Scripture.


• Their devout religion may be mostly outward, as is evidenced by the recent molestation scandals.


• Their own dogma is so important, that without it, one cannot be considered a member of the body of God.

If Messiah came back today -- in all his Hebrew garb, as the triumphant son of David, Torah-observant restorer of Israel -- I am convinced He would appear totally foreign and too radical for Roman Catholics.

It makes me wonder if Roman Catholics will be the Pharisees of the second coming of Messiah. Hopefully all of us will be correctable when He comes; I suspect we all have some theological and general life issues in need of Messiah's correction.