What’s the Good of Christianity? And Does it Matter?

Last week I opined that the question of what religion is good for is the wrong question; the question is whether a religion is true or not.

It doesn’t matter a bit whether religion (in the broader sense) is good for anything if it isn’t true.  If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doesn’t exist, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is a lie and a sham and unworthy of practice, and ought to be shunned by all good men.  Any good that it does is in spite of itself.

One commenter added,

Agreed! I marvel at the many Christian posts that go on and on about what good Christianity does without acknowledging this fundamental fact.

However, the good that Christians (and more specifically Catholics) do is not irrelevant to the discussion of the truth claims of Christianity.

What do Christians say about God? That He is the creator of the universe, and that each of us should love Him with all of his mind, soul, body, and strength.  What do Christians say about Man?  That he is a sinner, ever falling short of the glory of God; and that each of us should love his neighbor as himself.

And so one can ask, do Catholics and the Catholic Church in fact reflect these beliefs?  Are these beliefs consistent with the reality of the Church?

Do we love God?  We love him sufficiently that we build buildings, often of great beauty and often at great expense, in which to worship Him, and we do so at least once a week.  (And many Catholics attend mass every day.)  And further, we spend time in prayer and study outside of mass.

Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?  We Catholics build and fund and support a vast number of hospitals, schools, orphanages, humanitarian relief organizations, and so forth.  As a rule, we serve not only Catholics but anyone in need, and we make neither conversion nor instruction in the Faith a precondition for aid.

Do we sin?  Oh boy, do we.  We sin a lot.  We are none of us angels, and far too few of us are saints.  All too often we fail in love, and treat others badly.  Of course we do; it’s not what we should be, but it’s exactly what doctrine says we are without God’s help and lots of hard work.

Do our sins negate our beliefs?  Alas, no, our sins confirm our beliefs.  And though our good works as a church do not prove that our beliefs are true, at least they show that, en masse, we make an effort to do as we believe God command us.  We are frail, and fall short; but as a group are actions show that at least we are not hypocrites.

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