If Catholics Are Not Christians...

A few years ago my mother got a piece of mail from Moody Radio.  It included a pamphlet with a Q&A for new Christian believers.  Among the questions was:

Can a person continue going to the Catholic Mass after becoming a Christian?

Their answer was... no. 

Mom showed me the pamphlet and asked what on earth they meant.  She had no idea there was a contingent of Christians - particularly in America - who did not regard Catholics among their Christian brethren.  For practicallity sake, let's call these folks CNCs (Catholics are Not Christians).

Today I want to address this phenomenon and present an argument to show its absurdity. 



Asking the Right Question:

Place yourself in the shoes of a CNC.  You are speaking with a Catholic who has always considered himself a Christian.  He asks you:

"Do you consider Catholics to be Christians?"

Awkward.  You don't want to say "no" to the fella's face.  That could quickly turn into an emotional scene.  So what do you say?  The most common (and polite) reply is:

"There are plenty of people in the Catholic Church who are Christians."

Whew... crisis averted!

Now, over time I began to notice that you never hear that sentence said about Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and so on.  Why for us Catholics?

Because what the CNC really means is:

"There are people who are raised in the Catholic Church, but don't actually believe what it teaches.  Despite attending the Mass, their real beliefs are close enough to real Christianity that they count.  They keep going to that apostate, non-Christian Church out of habit, for the sake of family ties, or out of ignorance." 

So when I hear the polite answer, I follow up by asking:

"If someone asked me if Baptists or Lutherans are Christians, I would give an unqualified 'yes'.  If those people believe what their churches officially teach, they will be Christians.  Would you say the same for Catholics in their church?"

There isn't much wiggle room with this question.  So now you receive the honest answer... which is all too frequently a "no".

Catholics Aren't Christians Because...

Why would a person such a bizarre thing?  In my experience the reasons are among the following: 

• "Catholics aren't Christians because they think you have to add your own good works to God's grace in order to be saved.  In other words, they think you can - and have to - work your way into Heaven."  

• "Catholics don't believe in the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice.  That's why they try to sacrifice Jesus again and again in the Mass." 

• "The Catholic faith was really born out of a synthesis with Roman paganism at the time of the Emperor Constantine.  For instance, the worship of a pantheon of gods is now the worship of a pantheon of Saints.  This is especially of Mary, to whom they give the blasphemous title 'Queen of Heaven'." 

 

• “Catholics aren't Christians because they think their 'traditions' and Popes can overrule what is in the Bible. Thus, they think their Pope can overrule God Himself.” 

Now, all of these are based on misunderstandings and distortions.  One can go through the work of clarifying each point… and I’ve tried to do that on this blog. [Specificially here, here, here, here, and here.]

However, there is another way of answering these accusations ...  a reality check of sorts...



How Many Are We Talking?

Usually when a CNC claims Catholics aren't Christians, you can press him into saying the same of Eastern Orthodox.  This is because the Eastern Orthodox Churches are very close to Catholics in terms of beliefs and practice.

So now let’s do a little thought experiment.

If you look at what is considered by secular sources to be the “Christian world”, how many people would be ruled out?  How many would not really be Christians?  The answer comes in at around 62%.

OK … if these folks are correct, then the majority of professed Christians worldwide would actually be self-deceived nonbelievers.  They believe in the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, and the forgiveness of sins… but they do not count.

Keep in mind, that would include people like Mother Teresa … and the 21 martyrs who were decapitated by ISIS for refusing to renounce Jesus.

I don't want to use a raw appeal to emotion here.  It is possible they aren't. But still... you'd think a person would slow down and reconsider.

But wait... it gets even worse.




A Great Apostasy?

Now imagine the vast scope of Christian history.  One thing I’ve tried to point out on this blog is that the Early Church – going straight back to the beginning – looks a lot like the Catholic Church today.

So, for instance, you see the celebration of the Mass with people believing the Eucharist is the body of Christ.   You see a Church being led and taught by Bishops.  You see a special place for the Bishop of Rome.  Folks believe Mary was a perpetual virgin and wrote hymns seeking her prayers.   (And much, much more...)

The point is that if the Catholic and Orthodox are indeed not Christians... you would have to write off the entirety of the Christian world until the 16th Century.  You would have to believe the Holy Spirit abandoned the flock, the Church lapsed into total apostasy, and the faith was utterly absent from the earth until the modern era.

Which leads to the next problem…



False Promises?

The Bible speaks in several ways about what one should expect from the ministry of the Promised Messiah.  None of these descriptions even remotely resemble what would have to be true if Catholics weren’t Christians. 

For instance, you have the Old Testament prophecies.  We see in Isaiah 66 and Malachi 1:11 that knowledge of God will flood the world, God will gather in all the nations, and true worship will be offered from east to west.  In Daniel 2 we are told that God would set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.

Then you turn to the New Testament.

What did Jesus say regarding the perpetuity of His Church?  He made three promises.  First, he promised gates of hell would never prevail against it:

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Matthew 16:18

He promised to be with the Church always, even until the end of the world:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." – Matthew 28:18-20

And He promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into the truth:

"I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” - John 16:12-13

With all that in mind, what would it mean if the Church really lapsed into total apostasy and the true faith vanished for 1400 years?

It would mean the Old Testament prophets were wrong… and Jesus lied about protecting and guiding the Church.

Yikes.

Luckily, there is an alternative solution.  It is as follows:

The Early Church did not go belly up. Catholics and Orthodox are not only Christians, but are following a form of the faith which is most similar to the earliest Christians. Those who claim they aren’t Christians are tragically misguided.

Not One in a Hundred:

How should a Catholic react when encountering a CNC? 

Well, try your best not to take personally.  Always assume the best. The person has been seriously misinformed, but is at least being honest with you. As I said above, most of the reasons these folks use are based on grave misunderstandings.

I think the best place to start is the historical case I laid out above.  After that, the other issues can be worked out one by one.  If you are dealing with a person who is interested in the truth, he may soon find family he didn't know he had.

As Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen famously said:

“There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen