Posts Tagged: "Catholic"

finding god in the quiet

Advent Day 11: Finding God In The Quiet

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

There is a time for everything. A time to be silent, and a time to break the silence. —Ecclesiastes 3.1, 7

I suspect we are addicted to filling all the spaces with noise. And when I say “we,” I mean us Charismatic Christians – including Pentecostals (who are the worst about this).

Please don’t think I’m attempting to throw someone else under the bus. If anything, I’m throwing myself under the bus. I am both a Charismatic and a Pentecostal (although I prefer the Charismatic label, and would like to add a couple descriptors like “gangsta” and “who loves Catholics”).

I am constantly working to fill all the spaces with noise – background music, words, videos, more words, and more music.

In a recent conversation about a Sunday service at our church, a friend said:

“This could be taken the wrong way, but my favorite part of the baby dedication was when you guys were all done saying stuff and just stood there for a while holding and looking at her.”

Funny how his favorite part was the one without any noise.

Maybe we need less cacophony and more opportunities to, as Depeche Mode put it, “Enjoy The Silence.”

I do think we need some holy… Read More

God's Mercy post

We Must Not Spend God’s Mercy, As If It Were Ours To Spend

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

The real meaning of mercy is that it can look on failure and still see a future. —John Claypool

 Catholic theologian Ronald Rolheiser has written…

Shortly after ordination, I found myself working in a church with a saintly old priest. He was over eighty, nearly blind, but widely sought out and respected, especially as a confessor. One night, alone with him, I asked him this question: “If you had your priesthood to live over again, would you do anything differently?” From a man so full of integrity, I had fully expected that there would be no regrets. So his answer surprised me. Yes, he did have a regret, a major one, he said: “If I had my priesthood to do over again, I would… Read More

protest ants

I Don’t Want To Be A Protest Ant

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

I’m a protestant (which means I’m part of that “branch” of Christianity that isn’t the Roman Catholic church). It’s rather embarrassing to admit that I didn’t even understand that Catholics are Christians until a few years ago. I wrote about this at length in my post “Stuff I Don’t Believe Anymore.”

The word protestant comes from the root protest. That’s what Martin Luther did in 1517. He took issue with the policies, practices, and beliefs of the Catholic church. And when his points weren’t received, he started creating a new church.

I’m beginning to wonder if it’s deep in our protestant DNA to protest; to be protest ants… Read More

stuff I dont believe anymore king kong

Catholics Aren’t Christian

- - Life With God, Popular, Uncategorized

Growing up in Pentecostal church, I picked up on this idea: Catholics aren’t Christians. The typical charges against them were things like praying to Mary, worshiping the Pope, praying to the saints, and elevating the teachings of saints and church leaders to the same level as Scripture. They also had cool necklaces – and I wanted to wear one.

And then there were the wild accusations from the end-times obsessed folks, claiming the current Pope is most definitely, 100% for sure, obviously THE Antichrist (these guys are still doing this too).

I was smart enough to detect the crazy on the doomsday prophets, but the underlying message “Catholics aren’t Christians” stuck with me. When you hear something enough times, you just begin to believe it.

So I believed Catholics aren’t Christians… Read More