You need to really study the Catholic Church before making incorrect statements on your website

Question:

I converted from the church of Christ over 40 years ago and have been a member of the Catholic Church since then. Your online article is totally incorrect in almost all areas. Examples are you say we worship statues and idols. Totally incorrect! They are only there for reminders of Christ's sacrifice and his saving grace. There are no Roman Catholic Churches in the US that support abortion. You need to really study the Catholic Church before making incorrect statements on your website.

Many of the Church of Christ congregations are losing members at a high rate. As for modern-day changes, I have discovered that the church of Christ also has made many modifications to their beliefs and acceptance. One great example is a church of Christ college I attended in the mid-1960s. At that time, women and men wearing shorts were strictly prohibited. Even the tennis team wore long pants. Now that same church of Christ supported college allows shorts on all women and men sports teams and even Bermuda shorts on campus. I thought wearing shorts was enabling “lust of the flesh”? Did someone change the Bible to allow this? I was taught there that the Bible was constant and never changed. I guess it does if you want to increase student enrollment.   

Answer:

I suppose you are referring to What is wrong with Catholicism? In that answer, I mentioned:

"To focus the mind, Catholics make numerous images of those to whom they will be praying. All Catholics deny that these images are idols. They do not believe that the saint is physically there. Yet, it is really a matter of semantics. Idol worshipers also claim that their idols are merely representations and not the real thing. The fact is that many Catholics take their images and saints to a superstitious level. A statue of Mary or St. Joseph is supposed to keep your house in good order. Medallions of St. Christopher is supposed to prevent injuries. Other than terminology, how does the veneration of saints differ from idolatry?"

Another article, Innocent Statues or Idolatry?  addresses this point in greater detail. Like most devout Catholics, you like to play word games. You claim you are not worshiping any statute, you are venerating what the statue represents. (Notice that you did in your objection exactly as I stated Roman Catholics tend to do.) Of course, the words "worship" and "venerate" are synonyms, but what you miss is that you are expecting humans who have died to somehow aid you in this life. This violates God's teaching that the dead have no involvement in life. "For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).

The only mention of abortion in that answer said:

"And since change is accepted by the Catholic Church, you find continual disagreement over a wide variety of issues. Today there are Catholics calling for the acceptance of abortion, priest marrying, and women being allowed to enter the priesthood. When these issues are eventually accepted, others will take their place and the departure from the truth will continue."

You reworded this statement to say that no Roman Catholic Church accepts abortion. That is a different point than the one I made. "National polls have consistently shown that a majority of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in at least some cases" [Sylvia Poggioli, "Vatican Warns U.S. Bishops About Denying Communion To Supporters Of Abortion Rights," NPR, 11 May 2021]. You can also view "Abortion - Catholics for Choice." These are not the Roman Catholic Church's current stance, but they do show the pressure building for change in the Roman Catholic Church.

Your further arguments are poor ones. Pointing out problems in other groups does not justify Roman Catholic practice.

There has been a decline in church membership in the United States, regardless of belief. "The poll's findings show that the number of Catholics belonging to a parish dropped from 76% in 2000 to 58% in 2020. Among Protestants, the membership decline in the same period was smaller — from 73% to 64%" [Dennis Sadowski, "Poll: Church membership continues to decline in 21st century," National Catholic Reporter, 1 April 2021.] The last poll I have on those calling themselves "churches of Christ" shows a decline of 10.7% from 2000 to 2018. The attendance of those claiming to be members of a church of Christ changed from 77% in 2000 to 78% in 2018. I believe this is more an indication of an overall problem in society than in any one particular set of beliefs.

The change in accepted dress standards on college campuses is the same. I doubt you'll find significant differences between colleges run by those who say they are members of a church of Christ and those run by the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, both sets of colleges probably have better-dressed students overall than the state universities. I do wish to mention that there are actually no colleges run by the churches of Christ. There are some colleges that accept funding from individual congregations. I'm not a part of that persuasion. The churches I'm associated with do not use church funds to support human institutions, such as colleges.

A separate discussion would be needed to consider whether knee-length garments (whether shorts or dresses) are acceptably modest attire. However, may I point out that the Bible has not changed. There is no passage that states men are to wear long pants or that shorts are forbidden. There are passages that give guidance in how to determine what is acceptable or unacceptable attire, but one particular style of clothing is not advocated. See Modest Apparel. By the way, have you considered that the frequent references in the Bible to "girding up your loins" for activity results in an outfit that is essentially shorts?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email