I got a new car today. It has been lots of fun watching God continue in His unceasing faithfulness to me with regards to transportation. As I mentioned in a previous post, my car was totally destroyed in an accident a couple weeks ago. On the night of the accident I was very close to where I was going, so I got a ride there. When it was time for me to go home that evening, my friend's mom offered me their extra car for a short period of time. It was great driving home that night. A few days later, I found out that I added a rental car to my insurance policy and completely forgot about it. So I was able to get a nice rental car that my insurance policy paid for. I was able to return my friend's car and not worry that it was an inconvenience to them.
A few days later my insurance company called with the very generous settlement for the total loss on my fully covered vehicle. I learned then, that the rental car would no longer be covered by my insurance once the policy was cancelled. I had two more days to keep the rental car. A very close friend of mine was leaving town for two weeks and offered his car while he was out of town.
My accident was on July 13. Today is July 27. I did not go a single day without transportation. This is the sort of thing that God does to provide for me. I have to stay "on my toes," depending on Him, but He provides for me the things I need each day.
"Give us this day our daily Bread."
Some may say that practical necessities are not very spiritual. I say they are. I don't really see a point in separating the practical from the spiritual. I think they are much more closely connected than we realize. God does want us to be able to take care of our practical needs.
The Weekend
Went very well. I went to Confession as planned. It was so good. It is becoming one of my favorite parts of the week. When I hear the priest tell me that I am absolved and forgiven for my sins, it is much more freeing than when I repented privately to God for very non-specific sins as a non-Catholic.
Mass was very interesting. My priest began a three-week series on the Catholic teaching on birth control. Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical called Humanae Vitae, in which he laid out plainly, the Church teaching on birth control. It was very controversial (still is). Many Catholics do not follow the teaching. It is very interesting to me that up until 1930 all Christian churches taught that birth control was a sin. In 1930 a church changed its position on birth control (why? how?) . Shortly after, nearly all mainline Protestant churches gave in, and changed their teaching on this issue. When Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, he warned that if this teaching is ignored, we would see abortion on demand as well as an alarmingly high rate of divorce. The divorce rate amongst Catholic couples who do not use birth control is very low.
While I recognize that these facts do not necessarily validate the Catholic teaching on this issue, I do find them very interesting, nonetheless. Prior to the ascension of Jesus, he promised to send "the Spirit of truth" to the Church. Prior to becoming a Catholic I had the mind that the particular church one went to was not that important as long as you attended a church that was in agreement with the "basics" of Christianity. I took a position of moral relativity, while at the same time, believing that it is absurd to take a moral stance that was morally relative. It was sort of like saying "I'll have Coke, you can have Pepsi." But what about the many issues that are not an "I'll choose Coke, you choose Pepsi" issue, such as homosexuality, abortion, birth control, divorce, salvation doctrine, etc. ?
Salvation doctrines vary from church to church. One church may teach "once saved, always saved." Other churches may disagree with that doctrine. That is definitely not an "I'll choose Coke, you choose Pepsi" issue. It is either true that once one is saved, s/he cannot ever lose salvation, or it is false. As much as Protestants object to the idea that the Pope has teaching authority, each Protestant Pastor is its church's Pope. That Pastor decides for the church what is true and what is false. Sometimes Church councils do this but the point remains the same. We have over 49,000 different Christian denominations with varying doctrinal statements about salvation. If one is a moral relativist, then one can be comfortable with this. I am not comfortable with this, given the fact that Jesus promised "the Spirit of Truth." I'm not accusing my Christian brothers and sisters of not being Christian, but I am saying that there are a lot of Christians who are not living in the fullness of truth, because (unless you are a relativist) every position on salvation doctrine cannot be true since many of these doctrines contradict one another.
Again, this may not convince you that the Catholic position on birth control is true, but it would be difficult to convince you unless you agreed with me that Jesus sent the Spirit of Truth to the Church so that we would know what is true and what is false. Either you accept the teaching authority of the Church that Jesus founded or you don't. If you don't accept it, then its cafeteria Christianity - picking and choosing what you are most comfortable with - and moral relativism. While it is sometimes frightening to trust that the Pope is infallible in matters of faith and morals, it is, to me, more frightening to trust in churches which are changing long-standing moral teachings all the time (ordination of homosexual clergy, abortion, euthanasia, birth control, etc.). God cares about what we do. Being a Christian does not give one license to do as one pleases. Sometimes the things we want are not good for us for various reasons. Out of love for us, God must show us the truth.
To all of my non-Catholic readers: My intention is not to offend anyone, but I do realize that some of my positions may offend some of you. On the one hand, I care about you as an individual, and do not wish to cause you any distress, but on the other hand, Jesus offends many people, and so do I. I guess I'm just trying to say that even though I may offend some of you, I'm not writing these things to be obnoxious and offensive for the sake of being a jerk. I am just sharing what is on my mind. To all my Protestant friends: You are my brothers and sisters in Christ even if we do not agree on issues. I was a Protestant for 34 of my 35 years of life. I value my Protestant tradition and love all that I learned in my churches.
God bless you all.
6 comments:
i appreciate your comments - i wanted to mention something about your thoughts on confession -
"it is much more freeing than when I repented privately to God for very non-specific sins as a non-Catholic"
i read the book "celebration of discipline" by richard foster with a friend of mine (actually jesse's sister) about 2 years ago. he has an awesome chapter on confession. at that time she and i started doing formal confession every 2 weeks - and it is definitely not non-specific sins and definitely not private! it has been an amazing and freeing experience - also very difficult and transforming. to concretely admit your very specific sins to another and follow a format and pray for each other and proclaim the forgiveness of christ has been life-changing! i can really appreciate what you said about feeling the full absolution and realizing what Christ did for us when he died....anyways i am so glad that you have discovered the joy of confession and that it is bringing fruit to your life...i just wanted to share that i think there is a possible balance between non-specific private confession on one hand and the catholic sacrament on the other hand....
Amy, very cool. Glad you are experiencing such transformation and grace. I do not believe that God only works through the sacraments. I believe he does work through them, but also through other means - any means He cares to use. Thank God!
In 1930 the Church of England's Lambeth Confrence allowed contraception for married couples only. It was the first time any Christian community or Church allowed such a practice. Very soon afterwards nearly every Protestant community followed suit. Today we have contraceptives sold at the 7-11 check-out counter next to the gum and baseball cards! The Bishops of Rome, the Popes, have never moved an inch on this fundamental issue. It seem to me that this attests to the Catholic Church's divine origin.
very interesting discussion! i have to say, the catholic church's position on birth control is one where i have a bit of a struggle. from my understanding, birth control is accepted in the catholic church, as long as it's a 'natural' rhythm method, and not artificial. is that correct? if so, the church objects only to the means of contraception, not to contraception itself. also, i'm interested in whether the church would accept the use of condoms in the case where AIDS is rampant (like sub-Saharan Africa), and women often don't know if their husbands are promiscuous? i would have a very hard time as a pastor telling a woman in that situation that she shouldn't ask her husband to use a condom! finally, i think the catholic position on birth control has hurt the pro-life movement, because the two get equated. people think "yeah, first they want to outlaw abortion, then they want to outlaw birth control!" i'd be interested in your thoughts.
and on a more superficial level, what kind of car did you get?
I got a Ford Escape.
Post a Comment