{"id":5918,"date":"2016-02-03T12:52:32","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T16:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2017-03-28T12:51:58","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T16:51:58","slug":"personal-relationship-vs-join-the-one-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/02\/personal-relationship-vs-join-the-one-church.html","title":{"rendered":"“Personal Relationship” vs. “Join the One Church”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Jesus20\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Head of Christ<\/em> (c. 1648), by Rembrandt (1606-1669)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

A Protestant in one of the Facebook groups I am part of,\u00a0observed (paraphrased):<\/span><\/p>\n

The emphasis of Catholics is for you to join their church.<\/span><\/p>\n

The emphasis of Protestants is to want others to experience a personal relationship with Jesus.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The question is typical of Protestantism\u2019s characteristic \u201ceither\/or\u201d outlook, or what convert from Lutheranism<\/span> Louis Bouyer<\/a> called \u201cthe dichotomous mindset of Protestantism.\u201d<\/span><\/span>

I freely grant that the observation is true in a very broad way (i.e., true regarding the small number of Protestants who are actually concerned with evangelization and the few Catholics who care whether someone is a Catholic or not).<\/span>

The insinuation is that the Catholic is completely out to sea and misguided in their emphasis, whereas the Protestant is only concerned with high and noble spiritual matters such as relationship with Jesus.<\/span>

But we need not pit the two things against each other. To show why we don\u2019t have to do that, I\u2019d like to offer an analogy. Imagine\u00a0a happy couple,\u00a0not yet engaged.<\/span>

By analogy, the \u201cProtestant\u201d would say to them, \u201cthe most important thing is their relationship of love with each other.\u201d The \u201cCatholic\u201d, by contrast, would say (by analogy), \u201cthe most important thing is that they get married to each other.\u201d<\/span>

Is one better than the other? Well, yes and no. In one sense one<\/em> of them is more important; in another sense the other<\/em> one is more important. Relationship obviously precedes a happy and fruitful marriage. But marriage is where the relationship can best flourish and proceed in a moral way. It\u2019s the natural and necessary \u201chome\u201d of the love and sexual relationship, within the bounds of traditional (Christian) sexual morality.<\/span>

There is no need to dichotomize the two. Both are essential and important. The \u201cProtestant\u201d is emphasizing the primacy of the relationship itself, in its personal, subjective dimension, while the \u201cCatholic\u201d (in this analogy) is emphasizing the supreme importance of marriage, which is more of the institutional and cultural or communitarian dimension: with implications for the larger society.<\/span>

Neither theological \/ spiritual thing (back to the original question) negates the other. Catholics (if we really delve deeply into Catholic teaching) teach relationship with Jesus as strongly as any Protestant does. I\u2019ve compiled a book about Catholic mystics and contemplatives<\/a>, and the \u201cpersonal relationship with Jesus\u201d aspects of these great teachers is more profound than any Protestant reflections on this that I have ever read.<\/span>

A Protestant might want to check out<\/span> The Imitation of Christ<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Thomas\u00a0\u00e0 Kempis: if he or she doubts that Catholicism possesses this outlook.<\/span><\/span>

So relationship with the Lord is great; no one (who knows anything about Catholicism) denies it. Protestants do emphasize it more in \u201ceveryday life\u201d terms, and Catholics would do well to readily agree with that, rather than ever oppose it, since it is our own tradition (deeply understood), too.<\/span>

But there is also<\/em> nothing wrong with a Catholic focusing on others becoming Catholics. We do that because we believe that the Catholic Church possesses the fullness<\/em> of spiritual and theological truth, and is protected by the Holy Spirit from doctrinal or moral error.<\/span>

If<\/em> <\/strong>that is indeed true (as we believe), then it is a loving act to share that news with non-Catholics, so they can share in the blessings. It would indeed be the place where they would be best-positioned for salvation and also for relationship with Jesus. It\u2019s the concrete place and institution on the earth where discipleship can best \u2014 most effectively \u2014 be lived (just as marriage is the best place for a love relationship).<\/span>

There is nothing wrong with this; though we understand that non-Catholics may honestly disagree with us and say we are wrong (as I used to do, in my Protestant evangelical days).\u00a0<\/span>

The Protestant is saying, \u201cHere, let me share with you the glories and joys of a personal relationship with Jesus.\u201d That\u2019s a good motivation, and true message, and God honors it. He shares it out of love for the other and concern for their spiritual well-being.<\/span>

Likewise, the Catholic says, \u201cHere, let me share with you the glories and joys of the fullness of historic Christianity within the Catholic Church.\u201d That\u2019s a good motivation, and true message, and God honors it. He, too, shares it out of love for the other and concern for their spiritual well-being.<\/span>

The only problem here comes with the Protestant denial that the Catholic Church is the \u201cfullness,\u201d whereas Catholics have no essential disagreement with the notion of a personal relationship with Jesus. We receive Him Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity into our mouths and bellies every Sunday. It doesn\u2019t get much more \u201cpersonal\u201d than that.<\/span>

So we are \u201cboth\/and\u201d and the typical Protestant looks at this as an \u201ceither\/or\u201d proposition, and tends to deny that the Church is necessary or even (in some cases) important in the Christian life. This was set in motion as soon as Protestantism at large denied that neither the [historic, Catholic, pope-headed] Church nor sacred tradition was infallible<\/em>; only the Bible was (the doctrine of sola Scriptura<\/em><\/a>: the Protestant rule of faith).\u00a0Protestantism\u00a0tends<\/em> to be (at least in some of its forms) individualistic, subjective, and ahistorical, whereas Catholicism is by nature communal, more objective, and within the historical \/ apostolic succession framework or perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

Catholics gather every Sunday to receive the Holy Eucharist: together, in a group. We do that because this was the essential purpose of church meetings (rather than, primarily, listening to sermons) from the beginning:<\/span><\/p>\n


\nActs 20:7<\/strong>\u00a0(RSV) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to<\/em> break bread<\/em>, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. (cf. 20:11)<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nWe know that<\/span> \u201cbreak bread\u201d is eucharistic terminology<\/a>.\u00a0Protestants will say that one ought to go to church (the great Billy Graham famously urged that at the end of his evangelistic rallies), but it doesn\u2019t hold the necessity<\/em> that it does in Catholicism, where we have the Mass obligation to attend church every Sunday (it being a mortal sin to deliberately miss it without serious reason). Hence, we emphasize \u201cthe Church\u201d far more than Protestants do.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stay in touch! Like Biblical Evidence for Catholicism on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n

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Biblical Evidence for Catholicism<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head of Christ (c. 1648), by Rembrandt (1606-1669) [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * A Protestant in one of the Facebook groups I am part of,\u00a0observed (paraphrased): The emphasis of Catholics is for you to join their church. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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