{"id":4161,"date":"2015-05-12T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?p=4161"},"modified":"2015-05-10T13:23:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-10T18:23:28","slug":"whats-the-good-of-christianity-and-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2015\/05\/whats-the-good-of-christianity-and-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the Good of Christianity? And Does it Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Mother<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter a bit whether religion (in the broader sense) is good for anything if it isn\u2019t true.\u00a0 If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doesn\u2019t 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.\u00a0 Any good that it does is in spite of itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One commenter added,<\/p>\n

Agreed! I marvel at the many Christian posts that go on and on about what good Christianity does without acknowledging this fundamental fact.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, the good that Christians (and more specifically Catholics) do is not irrelevant to the discussion of the truth claims of Christianity.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 What do Christians say about Man?\u00a0 That he is a sinner, ever falling short of the glory of God; and that each of us should love his neighbor as himself.<\/p>\n

And so one can ask, do Catholics and the Catholic Church in fact reflect these beliefs?\u00a0 Are these beliefs consistent with the reality of the Church?<\/p>\n

Do we love God?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 (And many Catholics attend mass every day.)\u00a0 And further, we spend time in prayer and study outside of mass.<\/p>\n

Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?\u00a0 We Catholics build and fund and support a vast number of hospitals, schools, orphanages, humanitarian relief organizations, and so forth.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Do we sin?\u00a0 Oh boy, do we.\u00a0 We sin a lot.\u00a0 We are none of us angels, and far too few of us are saints.\u00a0 All too often we fail in love, and treat others badly.\u00a0 Of course we do; it\u2019s not what we should be, but it\u2019s exactly what doctrine says we are without God\u2019s help and lots of hard work.<\/p>\n

Do our sins negate our beliefs?\u00a0 Alas, no, our sins confirm our beliefs.\u00a0 And though our good works as a church do not prove that our beliefs are true, at least they show that, en masse<\/i>, we make an effort to do as we believe God command us.\u00a0 We are frail, and fall short; but as a group are actions show that at least we are not hypocrites.<\/p>\n

____
\nphoto credit: Mother-Teresa-collage<\/a> via photopin<\/a> (license)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t matter a bit whether religion (in the broader sense) is good for anything if it isn\u2019t true.\u00a0 If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1131,"featured_media":4163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,20],"tags":[323],"class_list":["post-4161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-the-dogmat","category-christian-living","tag-apologetics"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's the Good of Christianity? And Does it Matter?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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. 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