[Vernon]

Aaron

What do you mean when you write: "Catholicism isn't centred arouind Jesus and what he did. Well, not totally"? First you say that Catholicism is not centred around Jesus, and then you say that it is centred around Jesus, at least partially.

Catholicism is centred around Jesus Christ as being divine, being God, being the Son of God; around Jesus as being fully man, a full human being but not being solely human because he is God as well; around Jesus as being one of the three members of the Trinity, as being the Son of God.

Now, a religion, which does not have that, is not Christian.

So Islam is not Christian! But they have never claimed they are! Judaism is not Christian! Of course, they wouldn't argue with that! Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses are not Christian because, for them, Jesus Christ is not divine, not God in human flesh.

But the Catholic church does believe Jesus is God and Man together. Since Catholicism has identified correctly the person who founded Christianity, then Catholicism is centred around Jesus Christ, whilst Islam, Judaism, Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses are not.

Since Catholicism has identified Christ correctly, why should it not consider itself to be Christian?

After all, Catholicism is using this word Christian according to how it is defined in the dictionary, according to believing or professing the religion of Christ or pertaining to Christ or Christianity. No one would say that Islam or Judaism believe or profess the religion of Christ. No one would agree that Islam or Judaism pertain to Christ.

Why, then, shouldn't Catholicism be allowed to differentiate itself from Islam or Judaism when it is correct about who Jesus Christ is. Jesus was not just a prophet like Mohammed! He was not just a rather clever Jewish rabbi, who got himself killed for undermining Judaism!

No, Catholicism is very clear that Jesus Christ was and still is fully God and fully human, and that, as God the Son, he is a member of the Trinity of Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Many Catholics devote their lives to following the precepts and example of Christ in looking after the poor, caring for the sick, and spreading the Name of Christ within their particular gospel. Surely, to those, who have never heard of Christ previously, the Catholic missionaries will be deemed to be Christians by these primitive people, even if the worship of Mary is included in the Roman Catholic gospel.

Why shouldn't such dedicated Catholic people consider themselves to be Christian, when what they believe and what they do is totally consistent with one or other dictionary definition of the word Christian?





In your reply, you wrote, "If you believe with your heart that Jesus died for your sins and accept him as your Saviour, you are a Christian".

Well, Catholics believe that Jesus was God and a human being; they believe he died on the cross; they believe in sin; they believe that his death on the cross had something to do with sin and with appeasing God for their sin. I suggest that they believe or can believe in all of this.

If they believe in all of this, do you think it is impossible for God to work in a Catholic's heart in such a way that he or she can believe with their heart that Jesus died for their sins and are able to accept him as their Savioiur? The Jew can't do this! The Muslim can't do this! But the Catholic can!

So why can't some Catholics be Christian in the sense you defined as being as simple as this: "If you believe with your heart that Jesus died for your sin and accept him as your Saviour, you are a Christian"?

Sure Catholics worship Mary, and I agree with you that this raises big doubts as to whether they are relying for their salvation on Christ alone by faith in his redeeming work on the cross.

But why can't a Catholic simply go through the motions of Mary worship in public, but privately worship Christ alone with all his or her heart? The Protestant in you and me may well shout out, "Why doesn't he leave the Catholic church?" I suggest that for some people, in certain family, employment and religious circumstances, with an average or less level of intelligence, this may simply not be possible.

And besides, Protestants have an equivalent to Mary worship, don't they?

It is called church membership! What I mean is this that, as Catholics look to Mary for their salvation or to bolster their chances of salvation by Christ, so Protestants look to church membership for their salvation, to bolster their chances of salvation by Christ.

Is a Protestant willing to test his reliance on Christ alone by stopping going to church, say, for a whole year or for five years of his life, and by not taking the bread and wine in his or any other church for the same long period of time?

Can that Protestant get through that year or that five year period without feeling that God has withdrawn the salvation he once had, the salvation he felt sure of when he was attending church regularly?

If he loses his assurance of salvation and sins forgiven, then he was relying on church membership/attendance for salvation in exactly the same way as the Catholic relies on Mary. How, then, can the Protestant say that the Catholic church is not Christian?

He can say this, of course, but I suggest that such a comment arises out of the difference in culture between Protestantism and Catholicism.

To say that Catholicism is not Christian comes from failing to understand that no one, but no one, including the Protestant, stands righteous before God without God taking the initiative first of all.