|
|
|
|
|
There is a big gap that exists between what churches think their members know about their faith and what they actually know. This isn't just an issue at St. John's. It isn't even just a Catholic issue. This is true in churches everywhere.
To see this "gap," look at these statistics gleaned from several polls by the Barna Research Group (www.barna.org):
L 73% of Catholics say the devil is nonexistent and only a symbol of evil.
L 73% of Catholics are "more likely than others to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit as a living entity."
L Only 40% of Catholics believe that Jesus lived without sin.
L Less than one-half of 1% of Catholics have a Biblical
worldview (model their lives on the teachings of Jesus).
L 84% of Catholics do not believe in absolute truth.
IT ISN'T JUST POLLS THAT SAY THIS
Remember the Sunday sermon when our former associate pastor, Father Michael Keating, divided us into three groups? I don't have his exact words, but he said something like this:
The first group - a very small percentage - are those who truly understand what Christianity is about and are living their faith.
The next group - larger than the first - is made up of those who are beginning to suspect that there's more to the Christian walk than they had always thought. The third group is made up of the vast majority. These Christians have virtually no clue and are simply going through the motions. (I was in this group well into my adult life, attending Mass to get my "church checkmark.")
Father John Corapi, in one of his Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) broadcasts, admitted that the Catholic Church has done a very poor job of educating its members.
In the August 2006 issue of The Forerunner, Father Skluzáček said, "...over the last 40 years, since the Second Vatican Council, we have not done a good job of faith formation. They [fallen away Catholics] don't know what they are falling away from."
In a recent Catholic Spirit article about the Church's teaching on salvation, Father John Catoir expressed concern over non-Catholic Christians who seem to think that once they've accepted Christ, they can coast through life. He went on to write: "Some compound their error by saying that Catholics believe they are saved by their works. The Church has never believed or taught that." True, but that's not what people think. If you ask people how one gets to Heaven, nearly all claim it's by being a good person and doing good works.
LET'S GET PERSONAL
If you're thinking, "I knew that," in reference to the preceding anecdotes, let me ask you something very fundamental. Everyone should be able to answer this:
You've seen the logo, "Building Faith, Weaving Justice," in St. John's bulletins and other publications, right? If we were talking together, could you give me a working definition of the word "faith?" Do you know the Biblical references about what faith is and where faith comes from? By way of application, do you know how faith is made stronger in real life? And while we're on the subject, have you ever taken a real step of faith? Have you ever stepped out in faith in a way that was so big... that success was impossible... and failure was guaranteed... if God did not come through as He promised to do? What I've found in asking that question is this -- although nearly everyone claims to trust God, in practice, almost nobody does.
HOW DID WE GET THIS WAY?
We tend to "compartmentalize" our lives. We profess a Christian worldview when we're in church on Sunday, but then we live the rest of the week using the same faulty worldview as the secular society around us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Author Nancy Pearcey expresses this idea eloquently in her book Total Truth: "Across the board, Christians have been taught... to keep their faith in one pocket and their work in the other pocket. Many have accepted the idea that the secularized concepts in their field really do constitute neutral knowledge, requiring no Biblical critique. Faith is often reduced to a separate add-on for personal and private life -- on the order of a private indulgence, like a weakness for chocolates -- and not an appropriate topic in the public arena."
That is exactly how I used to live. The tragedy for many in our society, both Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, is that we live like, dress like, and 'do life' using the same worldview as those who disavow God or whose "god" is their "stuff."
WHAT TO DO?
First, we need to acknowledge who the real culprit is: Satan and his demons. Do you remember the homily when former pastor, Father Bill Murtaugh, told us how every week people came to him suffering from fear and panic? Fear is one of Satan's favorite weapons. He has too many of God's people tied in knots of fear. But Satan's works are always built on lies, and thus the antidote is the Truth of God's Word. That's why in SJB Men's Fellowship, we recently had a 10-week series of Scripture-based messages on spiritual warfare. Truth unties the knots of fear. To underscore this, some of us heard Father Skluzáček, speaking at a "Men on a Mission" breakfast meeting, say that we are at war with a deadly enemy who is out to destroy us. All of us, as in, all of us!, are soldiers in Jesus Christ's army.
Secondly, we need to realize that we are living in a post-Christian era. Our country, founded upon Christian principles, is now in the hands of those who have driven God out of our schools and out of our government. In New Age religions, they've even driven God out of their churches. They have a worldview which disavows Christ, denies truth, and mocks those who believe in a God who created the universe, who gave us a moral code, and to Whom all will be accountable.
Third, we need disciplining - intense, on-going teaching beginning with God's Word, the basics of the Christian worldview, and what the Church teaches. Jesus said, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) What food is to our bodies, God's Word is to our spirits. If you feed your spirit once a week, you'll be just as weak spiritually as you would be physically if you ate only once a week.
AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK?
If you think reversing this ungodly trend seems impossible, I agree. (Are you surprised that I said that?) Yet truly it is impossible, if we think we have to fix it ourselves. But as the Bible reminds us over and over, the battle is the Lord's. Our adversary is Satan, and our Savior has already defeated him. Satan knows he and his demons are doomed, and now they are working very hard to take as many of God's children to Hell with them as they can.
That doesn't have to happen. Satan is powerful, but God can handle him with His feet up! All He needs are believers willing to turn their lives over to Him and to allow Him to do His kingdom work through us. Then, like Peter walking on the water, we'll do the impossible if we focus our attention on Christ.
A FINAL THOUGHT
Just as sitting in the stands at a Twins' game doesn't make you a baseball player, neither does just sitting in a pew on Sunday make you a Christian. To be a player on a baseball team, or on God's team, you have to get in the game! Don't be a "spectator" Christian. By the way, this is the kind of stuff we talk about every Thursday at 6:30 a.m. at SJB Men's Fellowship, (651) 636-7736...
|
|
|
|
|
