by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
A while back, I read a shared post by a Catholic priest. He was angered by “a sea of stupid articles, idiotic commentary and boneheaded op-eds about the Catholic Church, by people who have no clue what they’re talking about.” He went on to rant about “the number of misinformed articles I’ve read about celibacy, the priesthood, the papacy, the church in this country, the causes of the sexual abuse crisis, church authority, papal infallibility, the role of the magisterium, life in a religious order, the vow of chastity, and Benedict XVI” while suggesting that people who know little or nothing about the Catholic church should refrain from writing about it and especially writing critically about it. He sardonically remarks that in response, he will start writing pieces about quantum physics and other things he knows nothing about.<\/p>\n
He’s wrong, and here’s why.<\/strong><\/p>\n Catholicism is a religious institution that claims to be the<\/strong> true and original Christianity. If so, one would expect to see its laws and practices found in the Bible, specifically in the New Testament, since the New Testament claims authority for all that is practiced in Christ’s religion. Hence, one doesn’t need to know everything, or even very much, about Catholicism -or Protestantism, for that matter. All one needs to know about religion is the Bible and, more specifically, the New Testament to ascertain whether a religious group or practice is correct.<\/p>\n The New Testament says nothing about “celibacy, the papacy, … papal infallibility, the role of the magisterium, life in a religious order, the vow of chastity, and Benedict XVI” (the previous pope), archbishops, cardinals, and popes much less a “conclave” assembled to elect one. So, instead of raging against “misinformed” writers who know nothing about the church, perhaps he should be enraged against “misinformed” religionists like himself who know too little about the Bible.<\/p>\n “All Scriptures is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:16-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores A while back, I read a shared post by a Catholic priest. He was angered by “a sea of stupid articles, idiotic commentary and boneheaded op-eds about the Catholic Church, by people who have no clue what they’re talking about.” He went on to rant about “the number of misinformed articles I’ve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1599],"class_list":["post-68731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18875,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/commenting-on-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":0},"title":"Commenting on the Catholic Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores I recently read a shared post on Facebook written by a Catholic priest who is angered by \"a sea of stupid articles, idiotic commentary and boneheaded op-eds about the Catholic Church, by people who have no clue what they're talking about.\" He goes on to rant about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Second_Vatican_Council_by_Lothar_Wolleh_005-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-know-of-sources-regarding-demon-possession-in-the-middle-ages\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":1},"title":"Do you know of sources regarding “demon possession” in the Middle Ages?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have just read your web site and found it to be both informative and thought-provoking. Currently, I am doing a report for my psychology class on the middle ages and the churches and how they treated those that were afflicted with mental illness. I have taken the position\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-realize-how-uneducated-your-explanation-of-roman-catholicism-sounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":2},"title":"Do you realize how uneducated your explanation of Roman Catholicism sounds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible says that the church is the pillar of truth. Since your church has a lot of different ideas than the Catholic Church that Jesus made Peter the head of. Is the Bible referring to the La Vista church? If so when did the La Vista church start?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-change-in-food-laws-was-an-act-of-the-roman-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":3},"title":"The change in food laws was an act of the Roman Catholic church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading your article you had done concerning\u00a0Animal Rights and the Bible, and upon reading it you stated that the Most High had given Israel food laws, and then stated the Most High changed the food laws in the book of Acts. Sir, that teaching is totally false\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24589,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-mother-church-interpret-the-bible-for-catholics\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":4},"title":"Does the mother church interpret the Bible for Catholics?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am Catholic and was asked why Catholics need the Mother Church as the guardian and interpreter of the Bible. So the church interprets the Bible for you, right? How would one best respond to this? Answer: That is what Roman Catholicism teaches. See: \"Roman Catholic Quotes Regarding the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-understand-the-catholic-churchs-teachings\/","url_meta":{"origin":68731,"position":5},"title":"You don’t understand the Catholic Church’s teachings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I happened on your web site via a friend and read\u00a0the response given to a gentleman about marrying a Catholic woman.\u00a0 I suggest that you click on to\u00a0www.catholic.com\u00a0and search for the correct answers about \u201cLimbo\u201d and \u201cAnnulments in the Catholic Church\u201d. 99% of the people who are not Catholic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}