I want to start off by saying that I in no way want to dishonor the Catholic tradition. I have no reason to believe that there aren’t phenomenal Catholic churches out there that are God honoring in every way. That being said, I wanted to write a post with some reflections on my experience with Catholicism when I was growing up.

Jesus always seemed to be depicted in such a way that you would not want to talk to him. With the stations of the cross and the crucifixes everywhere, there did not seem to be much focus on the resurrection. Even Jesus’ face as depicted in the images that I was exposed to made it seem that he was very judgmental and someone who is more to be feared than loved.

I also must be honest about the tone of the Catholic services that I was exposed to. There is no question that one should have a deep sense of reverence in the presence of God. It should be remembered that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. I am not about to advocate a sense of flippancy or disrespect while in the presence of God. That being said, there should be a sense of exuberance and excitement in true Christian assembly for a few obvious reasons. Basic Christian doctrine asserts that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Not only do we believe that he rose from the dead but that this means that we can have an abundant and eternal life through him. The Catholic services that I was a part of did not have a sense of exuberance or even joy. The words themselves that we spoke were all true from what I can recall. My challenge with these experiences is that the words were typically read and repeated with a sense of boredom and apathy that communicated to me that what Jesus did was essentially irrelevant.

When I think of the name of Jesus now, a whole new meaning comes to my mind. I think of someone who is holy, awesome, kind, humble, gentle and immeasurably more than anything I could ask or think. Someone that you would want to know. Someone you would want to pray to. Someone you would want to live your life for. Someone who loves you so dearly that he paid the ultimate price for you. Someone you could see being your best friend.

In the Catholic services that I was a part of, these messages were not communicated. Even the practice of confessing to a priest as opposed to God himself seems to betray the essential message of Christianity. Throughout the gospels and the epistles, the message is emphatically communicated that the veil between man and God was torn in two upon Jesus’ death. This means that anyone who comes to God by faith in Jesus is seen by God as being completely spotless and blameless. This is why it is called the gospel which simply means good news. In fact, the New Testament speaks of the body of Christ as being the priesthood of believers. This means that as a son of God I can talk to him directly without any shame, fear or condemnation. I will say that believers should fear God but not fear as far as punishment goes. The fear of God that believers should have speaks more of taking God seriously as opposed to thinking of him as the big guy upstairs.

Amidst all of the standing up, sitting down, figuring out which hand goes on top of which for communion and everything else, the true message of the gospel was significantly obscured for me. God came to us in the person of Jesus so that we could have relationship with him. Not a relationship where we are constantly trying to measure up. The whole message of the gospel is that we couldn’t measure up on our own so Jesus came and lived a perfect life on our behalf. When we receive Christ into our lives, his righteousness is then credited to us through our faith which is why it is such good news. This righteousness is not without affect in the hearts of the people who truly receive it. Jesus truly entering the life of an individual will inevitably create significant inward and outward change….if it does not, then the authenticity of the conversion ought to be in question.

What I am not saying is that Catholicism is bad or wrong. I am not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with certain traditions or rituals. I am saying however, that it is easy to lose sight of the forrest in the midst of the trees. The gospel is really quite simple. Man was in the dark and had fallen short of the glory of God. God is just and does not just turn a blind eye towards sin. As opposed to just allowing man to persist in his darkness, God sent his only Son into the world in the greatest act of love ever. His Son then paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind and rose from the dead showing himself to be who he said he was. The gospel now is that anyone who calls on Jesus’ name and believes in him will be saved from their sins and transformed from the inside out.

Any and all true Christian assembly should take seriously the death of Christ as it is not to be taken lightly. But the resurrection should be taken seriously as well and this means rejoicing…it means smiling…it means gratitude…thankfulness….joy…..and peace. Jesus should be depicted by those who truly know him as someone you would want to know. This does not mean that he is the same as us so that we are watering down his divinity. It does mean however, that Jesus is awesome. That were you to meet him face to face, you would want to spend all your time with him. That the last thing he is impressed with is dry, heartless religious ritual without the true heart behind it.

To be perfectly honest, this is some of the experience that I have had with Catholicism growing up and that I am having to work out of now. This does not mean that Catholicism as a whole has missed the boat but I wanted to be candid about what I thought then….and what I know now.