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Christian Copycat

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In Bible Study last week we just finished up our study of St. Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. During our time together, it struck me how many times the subject of “imitation” is raised in the letter. In this post I’d like to take a brief survey of these references.

Likeness in Jesus Alone?

The first example of imitation and mimicry appears in the very first chapter of the epistle:

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit… – 1 Thessalonians 1:6

This is typically the verse that I reach for when speaking with Christians who object to the Catholic devotion to Saints, and who tell me that “The only person we need to imitate is Jesus”. Clearly, this wasn’t the opinion of St. Paul, who speaks proudly of how his fledgling congregation imitates, not only Lord, but also the senders of this letter (Paul, Timothy and Silas).

In that first chapter Paul describes himself as a nursing mother and a loving father:

But we were gentle… among you, like a nurse taking care of her children… for you know how, like a father with his children – 1 1 Thessalonians 2:7,11

Given these loving parental terms, it’s hardly surprising that the Thessalonians began to imitate the evangelists.

Mimics

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Sitting down with a Jehovah’s Witness

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So, as many of you know, a couple of weeks ago I had Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) scheduled to visit my home. I had already received two rounds of visits from them but had not yet managed to get them across my threshold. However, on their previous visit they had promised that next time they would have time to come in and have a proper chat.

I had received my first visit about a month earlier when two female JWs had called. During our discussion on the doorstep, I had spoken a little bit about my reversion to Catholicism and about how the question of the canon had played an important part in my return, being rather unimpressed with the various Protestant explanations as to the Bible’s Table Of Contents. Since JWs are distinctly set apart from Protestants, I asked the ladies on my doorstep how they would justify the contents of the Biblical canon. They had no explanation, but said that they would find out and get back to me.

Several weeks later, two gentlemen rang my doorbell, saying that they had heard from their associates that I was interested in knowing about the “hidden” books of the Bible. I explained that my question was not about the deuterocanon/apocrypha per se, but rather about the Biblical canon as a whole. How did they know the right books were in the Bible? How did they know that there were no wrong ones included and no books missed out? Unfortunately, they said that they didn’t have time to talk with me there and then, but they booked an appointment for the following week.

In today’s blog post I’d like to explain what happened on this next visit and the rather interesting turn of events towards the end…

Tea_Feature

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Before 300: Pre-Constantinian Christianity

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It is often asserted that the Catholic Church was founded by the Constantine, who was Emperor of the Roman Empire from AD 306-337. A couple of weeks ago, a lady named Monica made such an assertion and in earlier post I pointed out some of the problems with such a theory.

However, today I would like to do something a little different… In this post I would like to set forth the positive historical case for the existence of the Catholic Faith in the generations prior to Constantine. I will show how twenty-one different Catholic doctrines were taught long before Constantine rose to power:

  1. The Church is Catholic
  2. The Church has a three-fold structure of leadership
  3. There is unity through episcopal authority and schism is evil
  4. Sacred Tradition is authoritative
  5. Worship is liturgical
  6. There is Apostolic Succession
  7. Peter has Primacy
  8. The Eucharist is a Sacrifice
  9. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist
  10. The Eucharist is taken to the sick
  11. Infants are to be baptized
  12. Baptism actually washes away sin
  13. Priests forgive sins
  14. Works are involved in salvation
  15. Prayers are said for the dead
  16. There is purgation after death
  17. Relics are venerated and Saints are celebrated
  18. Mary is the New Eve
  19. Mary was a perpetual virgin
  20. Mary is the Mother of God
  21. Prayers are made and songs are sung to Mary

I will demonstrate these early Christian belief by looking at primary sources alone and restricting myself to writings produced prior to AD 300.

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Lazarus Come Forth!

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I was back at a Roman Rite parish today to cover the music ministry. The Gospel Reading this week was the episode where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

A while back my work colleague, Thomas, told me about the Christian music he listened to growing up and he sent me a link to “Lazarus”, a song by an artist called Carmen. It’s a little cheesy and the music is a rather dated, but I’ve got to say I find this song rather charming… 🙂

Music Monday: We Are

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Today’s Music Monday is an artist I haven’t listened to much until recently. The artist is Kari Jobe whose the song is based on the Gospel reading the other week, Matthew 5:14, (as well as Ephesians 5:8) and is entitled “We Are”:

Every secret, every shame 
Every fear, every pain 
Live inside the dark 
But that’s not who we are 
We are children of the day 

So wake up sleeper, lift your head 
We were meant for more than this 
Fight the shadows conquer death 
Make the most of the time we have left 

We are the light of the world 
We are the city on a hill 
We are the light of the world 
We gotta, we gotta, we gotta let the light shine x2 

We are called to the spread the news 
Tell the world the simple truth 
Jesus came to save, there’s freedom in His Name 
So let it all break through 

Selah?

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A very quick post today. As I mentioned before, I’m trying to read through the Bible in a year. At the moment in the plan, each day I a section from Genesis, a psalm and a section from Matthew’s Gospel. As I’ve been reading the Psalms, I noticed a curious word occasionally interspersed within the text, “Selah”:

O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying of me,
    there is no help for him in God. Selah

But thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cry aloud to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah

I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me round about. – Psalm 3:1-6

I wasn’t sure what this meant so I did a bit of googling…

It turns out that the exact meaning of “Selah” is somewhat disputed, but Wikipedia suggests that “It is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like “stop and listen”. Selah can also be used to indicate that there is to be a musical interlude at that point in the Psalm”

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