stubbornkelly
New Member
Many moons ago when I was an 8th grader in Sunday School, I brought a Catholic friend with me. When asked, she said she was Catholic, and most people in the class treated her as though she weren't Christian. A big deal was made about the use of the word "saved." One of the girls made a whole comparison between wanting a friend to come over to your house, cleaning your room and waiting for them to come, yet you never invited them to come, which was a great analogy -- for someone who had not asked Christ to be part of their lives. This was not the case for my friend. She was saved, but because didn't use that word to explain it, in their minds she was unsaved.
It became embarassing for me to sit there and listen to her tell them that yes, she believed in Jesus' death for her sins and yes, she had asked Jesus to be in her heart and believed he was. She just didn't use the word. They went the rounds on this, and by the end she was crying.
Now, part of this story is about an insensitive group of 13 year olds and a SS teacher who would not intervene, but the greater part is about a girl who was saved, but as a Catholic, didn't hear that word used to describe it, thus didn't know what to call it to make the Baptists happy. And so we really want to propagate that? That you can only be saved if you use that particular word? I think that's rather arrogant, and focuses more on language and semantics (which I do value) than on committment and faith.
In my mind, it is essential, before assuming Catholics, as a rule, are not saved, to talk to some of them about their beliefs. You may be surprised at what you find.
Just as there are unsaved church-goers, there are unsaved mass-goers, but be careful not to lump all Catholics in as non-believers because they use different language.
I think, too, that Catholicism is a cultural identity as well as a religion. I know many lapsed Catholics or recovering Catholics or however you want to describe them who still refer to themselves as Catholic, because it is their cultural identity.
I recall a friend who had been raised Jewish deciding to reject Judaism as his religious faith. He told people that no, he wasn't Jewish. He was Semitic. People told him that of course he was Jewish, he would always be Jewish, which really infuriated him. Yes, he was Semitic by race and Jewish by culture and birth, but he did not practice Judaism. Therefore, he was not Jewish. There were several at our school like him, yet he was one of the few people who was able to separate religion from culture and reject the religion while still understanding he was part of the culture. Catholicism is very similar in that way. It is very much a mark of cultural identity.
All I'm saying is that there are likely many saved Catholics who don't use the "right" language, and that there are probably many others who aren't religiously Catholic, yet call themselves Catholic as part of their cultural identity. The latter may be considered a mission field, but the former, I think, should not.
[ July 25, 2002, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: stubbornkelly ]
It became embarassing for me to sit there and listen to her tell them that yes, she believed in Jesus' death for her sins and yes, she had asked Jesus to be in her heart and believed he was. She just didn't use the word. They went the rounds on this, and by the end she was crying.
Now, part of this story is about an insensitive group of 13 year olds and a SS teacher who would not intervene, but the greater part is about a girl who was saved, but as a Catholic, didn't hear that word used to describe it, thus didn't know what to call it to make the Baptists happy. And so we really want to propagate that? That you can only be saved if you use that particular word? I think that's rather arrogant, and focuses more on language and semantics (which I do value) than on committment and faith.
In my mind, it is essential, before assuming Catholics, as a rule, are not saved, to talk to some of them about their beliefs. You may be surprised at what you find.
Just as there are unsaved church-goers, there are unsaved mass-goers, but be careful not to lump all Catholics in as non-believers because they use different language.
I think, too, that Catholicism is a cultural identity as well as a religion. I know many lapsed Catholics or recovering Catholics or however you want to describe them who still refer to themselves as Catholic, because it is their cultural identity.
I recall a friend who had been raised Jewish deciding to reject Judaism as his religious faith. He told people that no, he wasn't Jewish. He was Semitic. People told him that of course he was Jewish, he would always be Jewish, which really infuriated him. Yes, he was Semitic by race and Jewish by culture and birth, but he did not practice Judaism. Therefore, he was not Jewish. There were several at our school like him, yet he was one of the few people who was able to separate religion from culture and reject the religion while still understanding he was part of the culture. Catholicism is very similar in that way. It is very much a mark of cultural identity.
All I'm saying is that there are likely many saved Catholics who don't use the "right" language, and that there are probably many others who aren't religiously Catholic, yet call themselves Catholic as part of their cultural identity. The latter may be considered a mission field, but the former, I think, should not.
[ July 25, 2002, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: stubbornkelly ]
