Apostolic Authority and Baptism…

Given some of the discussions between Protestants and Catholics on the forum I frequent, I found the Mass readings for tomorrow (heard at Vigil this evening) to be very interesting. So often the Catholics are told that the sacrament of baptism is only symbolic and imparts no grace, does not forgive sin, etc.  We are also criticized for saying that baptism only in the name of Jesus is not enough, but must be done with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy  Spirit. Not only that, but apostolic authority is always an issue in such discussions… and even that is supported in this reading.  So much in such a small reading.

The first reading from Cycle A, the 6th Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2008.

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

5 Thus Philip went down to (the) city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.

6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

7 For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.

8 There was great joy in that city.

14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,

15 who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit,

16 for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁵

17 Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.

Scripture continues to live and breathe since my conversion to Catholicism.  It makes so much sense.  I find that instead of my scripture readings leaving me with more questions than answers, I’m finding that connections leap off the page and I walk away with more illumination, understanding, and meaning from much smaller portions than I had ever seen before.  Awesome.

 

Who Hates Whom?

Still revisiting the recent exchanges and pulling out bits as they jump out at me… I found this interesting considering both James and I replied charitably, never giving Fisher reason to make any such assertation…

Weekend Fisher:

I look at this (post and comments) and I just want to talk to you two as people, not as “Roman Catholics who hate my stinkin’ Lutheran guts”, y’know.

James H:

In the end all we can do is keep doing what we are doing. Pope John II Apologizes to the Church in the East for Events that happen 1000 years ago and the response is nothing but stony silence from the East. Ditto for the Reformation and everything else.

Catholics dialogue with Lutherans and what is the response. Well, one of the major Lutheran Synods in the United States still says the Pope is the Anti Christ:
____________
“43. As to the Antichrist we teach that the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18, have been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome and his dominion. All the features of the Antichrist as drawn in these prophecies, including the most abominable and horrible ones, for example, that the Antichrist “as God sitteth in the temple of God,” 2 Thess. 2:4; that he anathematizes the very heart of the Gospel of Christ, that is, the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by grace alone, for Christ’s sake alone, through faith alone, without any merit or worthiness in man (Rom. 3:20-28; Gal. 2:16); that he recognizes only those as members of the Christian Church who bow to his authority; and that, like a deluge, he had inundated the whole Church with his antichristian doctrines till God revealed him through the Reformation — these very features are the outstanding characteristics of the Papacy. (Cf. Smalcald Articles, Triglot, p. 515, Paragraphs 39-41; p. 401, Paragraph 45; M. pp. 336, 258.) Hence we subscribe to the statement of our Confessions that the Pope is “the very Antichrist.” (Smalcald Articles, Triglot, p. 475, Paragraph 10; M., p. 308″

Uh, as to the first bolded segment, nooooooooooo this isn’t the case.  The Pope recognizes, as do all Catholics who are in agreement with the Magisterium etc, that our separated brothers and sisters in Christ are just that, brothers and sisters in Christ. 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

 847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.337

They are even considered Catholic, though in imperfect union with the Church.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

836 “All men are called to this catholic unity of the People of God. . . . And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation.”³²⁰

838 “The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.”³²² Those “who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.”³²³ With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound “that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist.”³²⁴

The second bolded segment is also complete error.  The doctrines of the Church are in keeping with the teaching of Christ and the apostles. It was the fathers of the reformation who rebelled against the authority placed over them and removed themselves from fellowship with the Church. Who embraced antiChristian doctrines, rejecting the teachings passed down to us from Christ and the apostles down through the Early Church Fathers throughout the ages.  

As to yet another charge… the Pope does not claim to be God, but the servant of God and the Servant of His people, the Vicar of Christ, the steward left to care for the Kingdom until Christ returns. 

 As to forgiveness, Christ never said through grace alone or faith alone… Here’s what Christ DID say…

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

and…

Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following, in absolute accord with sacred scripture:

 977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”⁵²¹ Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that “we too might walk in newness of life.”⁵²²

The rest is just as specious as the bits addressed, yet we are the ones accused of hate?

Speak It, Live it… or Not…

Had a little chat with the Pastoral Associate in our parish today.  We ended up talking about recent events on the homeschool forums I frequent, specifically the anti-Roman Catholic vitriol and blasphemy that included calling Mary, the Mother of our Lord, a demon goddess and all Catholics (with specific attention to the Irish Catholic populace) as idolatrous.  (Blasphemy not for what they said about Mary, but because they called evil that which the Holy Spirit (through Elizabeth) testified to.)*  

I mentioned to her that I was stunned to find (after two years of repeated and intense discussions and debates with protestants of all flavors) that the one thing that unifies ALL protestants (and atheists etc et al) is a hatred of the Roman Catholic Church.  She said something then that struck me and I’ve been thinking on it all day… while speaking about how the Catholic Church sees protestants as our separated brothers and sisters in Christ, and yet they do not view us similarly, she brought up baptism. The Catholic Church recognizes the baptisms of most protestant churches… given than they are done in the triune formula and with water as sacred scripture specifies.  They believe and LIVE ONE baptism so truly that even letters from witnesses will be taken as evidence if the church itself did not keep records. 

Yet, I remember that my father, godly man though he is, did not acknowledge my husband’s baptism and considered him an unbeliever despite evidence in his life to the contrary until he was ‘rebaptized’ in a Baptist Church. Not believing in infant baptism at the time, I am guilty of trying to persuade my husband to do this, God forgive me, and just as guilty of persuading him as if my words had done so.  As I have been exposed to more protestants and the wide variety of belief that entails, it has been proven true over and over again.  Despite claiming to affirm ONE baptism, they do not. They require  things that God did not and do not recognize baptisms done according to scripture if they are not done in the way that particular protestant organization prescribes.

I love the church of my youth. I love the people who helped teach me to love the Lord… and yet as God continues to renew my mind and teach me, bringing me more in line with the fullness of Truth… I become more and more aware just how flawed the doctrines, teachings, etc are that I’ve been called out of.  The more I become aware of this, unpleasant though it is, the more I am shown just how dangerous these faith traditions are when carried to their logical conclusion. It is truly a frightening and humbling experience because there but for the grace of God… I would still be.  I did not become Catholic because it made sense to me, or because it was logical (though it does and is now).  I became Catholic because God made me. Oh sure, I had a choice… follow Him into the Catholic Church or turn my back on Him.  What kind of a choice is that….  but I am forever grateful that He loved me enough to chastise me…

ETA: Evidently, null and void baptisms are part of a long tradition of setting aside that which God has done.

An excerpt from Irish Penal Law…

19 Geo II c.13 (1745):
An Act for annulling all Marriages to be celebrated by any Popish Priest between Protestant and Protestant, or between Protestant and Papist, …

Sec. 1. Every marriage celebrated after the 1st day of May, 1746, between a papist and any person who has been a protestant within twelve months before such celebration of marriage, or between two protestants if celebrated by a popish priest, shall be absolutely null and void.

*My characterization of the content of opinion expressed about Catholicism on this Protestant homeschooling forum, represents a conglomeration of commentary by a few particularly vocal posters who also look with disfavor upon the honor Catholics give Mary.  The commentary on Mary, the Mother of our Lord (and hence, Queen of Heaven as seen in Rev 12) to which I refer was thanks to one of those posters in particular.  Evidently, this poster was perusing the blog and disagreed with my characterization of the slander of Mary, the Mother of God, as blasphemy (among other things).  In all fairness, so that readers may assess at least one of the primary posts on this topic for themselves, I include here the exact wording of the post which caused me to come to such a conclusion.

Yes, (name of another forum user, not me), I do believe that behind the worship of Mary is a

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is a powerful demonic goddess called the Queen of Heaven. She has had many incarnations over time and manifests in many different religions, cultures and countries, often as an appealing virgin or the mother figure.

I have done an in-depth study on the subject put together by a group of intercessors/spiritual historians who have been working on this topic for many years. It is fascinating. The mother-figure worship is not new – the Queen of Heaven demon goddess has been luring people into this since shortly after Satan did his work in the Garden of Eden: there is evidence to suggest that in some ancient religions/supertitions Eve was first worshipped as the Mother.

The Queen of Heaven is one of Satan’s most powerful demons. She is behind any religion, belief or superstition that involves moon worship. She works hand-in-hand with her male counterpart, Baal, who is responsible for any worship or belief involving the sun. Jeremiah vociferously warned God’s people against having anything to do with the Queen of Heaven.

As I said, it has been an enormously fascinating field of study for me especially understanding what is behind the Mother Mary worship that I witness here – she is even very often called the Queen of Heaven! Also, when I go to Catholic masses, or family weddings, funerals etc. it has been interesting to identify a lot of symbols, icons that I have learned about – images and symbols that originate in very ancient Queen of Heaven worship.

It is a powerful demonic deception, but praise God, Jesus can set anyone free. I have had Catholic people tell me how they used to worship and pray to Mary, now they are free to love and worship Jesus alone.

Jesus had an earthly, physical mother. God used her to bring the Redeemer into the world, she was obedient and she was blessed, but there is no mother or queen in heaven. God is complete. He has many names and encompasses all the qualities of a mother and a father (El-Shaddai means literally ‘full-breasted One’).

The Bible tells us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher or our faith. So if He started writing my life story and is going to finish writing my life story, why focus on anyone else?

Bless you.