Comments on: What Side Will You Be On?

By: RobK

RobK — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:55:30 +0000

The purpose of the Church is to bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ - to transform all of it. That is the job, and it is only through Christ that it can succeed, because through him nothing is impossible - but through ourselves none of it is. But he did come to transform the world, and he calls each of us to do the same (in union with him). This means calling out the faults in this world.

Faithful Christianity is difficult and their are costs - some of them I occasionally will post on. There are all kinds who want to shut the Church in a corner. In fact, that is what you yourself said in your first reply. But the world IS the business of the Church - it can’t be shoved aside - that would be untrue to its mission. And so we find factions and governments seeking to find ways to silence the Church. It is already happening. It has always happened somewhere in the world. To think it can’t or won’t happen here is a bit naive.

I wish you well on your journey. It is difficult to tell you much at this point, because you don’t see it. That’s fine. I once thought like you did. I pray you grow close to Christ and his Church.

By: cbmc

cbmc — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:30:10 +0000

The task of the Church is to bring Jesus to the world, not to correct the world in its wrongs - the wrongs of a Christless world are far too numerous for any other strategy to be reasonable.

I started re-attending Mass about two months ago. What’s ahead for me is my own relationship with the Church which I’m happy to share with anybody who cares to listen; what’s not ahead for me are fantasy scenarios in which Catholics are shipped off to gulags, silenced in public, etc. That’s persecution fantasy plain and simple.

By: RobK

RobK — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:32:51 +0000

Cbmc, You cannot remove the Church from the world.
The Church is tasked with going out to the world. The idea of separating them is so foreign. The mission of the Church is to bring the world to Christ and Christ to the world. You cannot separate the spiritual from the rest of the world. What we believe must fill our entire lives.

The real problem is that the world does not want to hear the Church and will do whatever it can to stop her. Who do you think is at work when the Church is attacked for standing up for what is right?

If you think nobody is going to be persecuted - you need to open your eyes it is already here. The very idea you propose - to shove the Church to a tidy little corner is persecution. Perhaps not in a bloody sense, but in a more sinister sense whereby people are lulled into complacency.

If you really are coming back to the Church, I pray you continue and prepare yourself for what is ahead.

By: cbmc

cbmc — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:53:10 +0000

This post depressed me so bad. I have been attending Mass for the first time in a decade and it has satisfied such a need in my spirit, but this nonsense focus on telling others what to do instead of just taking care of the Church is so unChristlike. It makes me remember why I left in the first place. Nobody’s going to be persecuting anybody; that’s a fantasy.

I so wish the Body of Christ would tend to Its own wounds instead of the World’s.