If you don't have time to click on the links, that's okay. If all you read is this post, that's swell but just don't give up yet. I want to share something with you.
The pursuit of Christ is to pursue the One who was sent, who came in flesh adorning, and established a new kingdom that would open the covenant promises of Abraham unto all peoples. Meditating upon this, our minds should become shocked with the way this reality breaks into the mundanity of our lives and transforms it. God became like us. What?
And yet somehow at some point this story morphed into a type of mythology. What was concrete, incarnate became like ether, a story blowing around in the wind, neither here nor there, up nor down. You might be born into a family that believes he came, but when you look around your lives there is no evidence, no concrete effects of his existence.
I am in no way implying that Christ is a scientific theory that can be proven through empirical methods. However, what I am saying is that God becoming flesh should have a proper effect on humanity, and moreover, that if he created something it should be incarnate like him, something we can find--even if it takes a star in the sky to lead us to their barn.
So we read that God Incarnate said:
"Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." -John 20:21Who are these "sent ones"? Where can we find them?
[Full Stop]
The Catholic Church claims, through an unbroken line of apostolic succession of bishops in union with the Chair of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, that they are the Church that Jesus Christ established.
"He that hears you hears me; and he that rejects you rejects me; and he that rejects me rejects him that sent me." -Luke 10:16
The Father-->Jesus Christ-->The Apostles-->Who They Sent
To reject one is to reject all of them, and rejection doesn't just imply the rejection of their teachings. Rather, as Christ said:
"And whosoever shall (1) not receive you, (2) nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city."-Matthew 10:14-15What do you believe? If for a moment this claim seems plausible or possible you must investigate it if you claim to "follow Christ". I call these "rubber meets the road" moments in your life. It's all good when Christianity can be reduced to a Jars of Clay concert, a bible study and a banner that says, "Jesus Saves", but this is rather messy. This requires more. This means Christianity is bigger than just what's between your ears, or maybe it means nothing at all.
On the last day, when you stand before God, we will all be accountable for our lives. You will be accountable for what you read in this post. I will be accountable for writing it. If you love Jesus, which I know so many of you do, I beg you to lay down your weapons against the Catholic Church and examine and test the spirits to see if they be of God.
If She is the One (Church) Christ sent, then you know what it means to reject Her.
Peace to you on your journey...
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