One of the most important understandings of Christianity comes from our Catholic Faith. We believe that Jesus spent three years in public ministry, and in that time he chose His apostles. He did not choose qualified men, He chose men and qualified them. These apostles were the close confidants of Jesus, they ate, slept, traveled with Him. They witnessed His miracles, heard His sermons, quizzed Him about His parables. They were there when He was captured, witnessed His crucifixion (well, John did), they were present with Him after His Resurrection. They knew Jesus intimately. Jesus chose these men specifically to carry on the Gospel and to establish His Church. They were left with what the Church calls the "deposit of faith." Make no mistake, our Church is an Apostolic Church. Any Protestants out there should check out the Early Church Fathers, you cannot come to any other conclusion than the fact that the earliest of Christians, some hundreds of years before any such thing as the Bible was put together, lived and behaved according to what the Apostles taught. Now, here comes the important part and this comes logically from the Apostolic belief: we as Christians do not believe in a philosophy, we believe in a person, Jesus Christ. The revelation of Truth does not come from some individual philosopher like Plato, Aristotle, or Marx, or Heidegger, or any human being. The Truth is a person. Jesus was present here and passed on His teachings to those whom He specifically chose. You cannot get that understanding if you rely on solar scriptura. In that method of Christianity the truth comes from an individual's interpretation whether reliable or not. In the realm of spirituality the better you understand the person of Jesus Christ as He and the will of the Father relate to your being, the better Christian you are and the closer you are to Christ's teachings.
Pope Francis
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Truth is A Person
One of the most important understandings of Christianity comes from our Catholic Faith. We believe that Jesus spent three years in public ministry, and in that time he chose His apostles. He did not choose qualified men, He chose men and qualified them. These apostles were the close confidants of Jesus, they ate, slept, traveled with Him. They witnessed His miracles, heard His sermons, quizzed Him about His parables. They were there when He was captured, witnessed His crucifixion (well, John did), they were present with Him after His Resurrection. They knew Jesus intimately. Jesus chose these men specifically to carry on the Gospel and to establish His Church. They were left with what the Church calls the "deposit of faith." Make no mistake, our Church is an Apostolic Church. Any Protestants out there should check out the Early Church Fathers, you cannot come to any other conclusion than the fact that the earliest of Christians, some hundreds of years before any such thing as the Bible was put together, lived and behaved according to what the Apostles taught. Now, here comes the important part and this comes logically from the Apostolic belief: we as Christians do not believe in a philosophy, we believe in a person, Jesus Christ. The revelation of Truth does not come from some individual philosopher like Plato, Aristotle, or Marx, or Heidegger, or any human being. The Truth is a person. Jesus was present here and passed on His teachings to those whom He specifically chose. You cannot get that understanding if you rely on solar scriptura. In that method of Christianity the truth comes from an individual's interpretation whether reliable or not. In the realm of spirituality the better you understand the person of Jesus Christ as He and the will of the Father relate to your being, the better Christian you are and the closer you are to Christ's teachings.
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