I wanted to reply to him with a long winded e-mail about some caution, and advice. I think there is something greater than just the Catholic Church here. There is a God crisis going on, we especially in North American, are no longer finding the need to put God in our lives, and bit by bit we are pushing family out too! Our Jobs(Money) get first place so that we can buy the things we need(WANT), cars. toys, food, homes...etc. We are constantly trying to fill God's spot in our Lives with worldly things constantly missing it the deeper and deeper we get. I struggle with this myself! We try to find happiness in the things we buy...a New Car, an ATV, That Bigger Home, a new Wii, Or whatever fits your fancy, then there's the TV, the internet... and so on. We get so caught up in the hustle in bustly, we are laying ourselves down to sleep, and almost forget to Put God in our prayers...and briefly mutter off some monotonous same hold bless this person pray for my family same routine, we are taught as Children.
We need to start looking inwards and outwards, we need to get God right and centre in our Lives and then we need to get out of our little bubbles and start seeing where God wants us to be in this World.
As I regress, I see this problem in the BODY Christ in this world, there are so many that are focused on our differences and who did this and did that, that we are inhibiting the work of the BODY of Christ in this World. WE need to start letting the HEAD do the leading quit the turmoild. We are at disease!
Here are is my intended reply: I am cutting my reply to my friend quite shorter but my full thoughts need to posted somewhere!
To Friend:
Yes very good message, but I fear that there is a blindness and too much emphasis on the Catholic Church as being the BODY of Christ.Yes the Catholic Church is a member of the BODY of Christ like all Christians are! We all have our role to play in the BODY of Christ. Without Paul..we would not be able to share the good news of Christ's Salvation. Peter Himself did not want to spread past his Jewish traditions at first. Paul had to discuss this several times with Peter. We must always be wary not to put a blind eye because our traditions. This Goes for Catholics as well as Protestants. We must all learn to work together as one in the Body of Christ, and quit trying to figure out whose right or wrong! In plain truth... if we all believe that Christ came to die for sins, to save us from ourselves, and pay the price we could not pay on our own, something we can never earn...something freely given! Each and everyone of us is a unique child of God, destined as a plan for His Glory!
We just have different roles to play!
1 Corinthians 12(NIV) is a great read in this area. Corinthians and Romans have been very inspiring for me!Here's a tidbit: 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
As a Men if God we need to quit looking inward, and start looking outward to keep spreading the Good News like Christ told us! It is until we can learn to work together as one Body of Christ, then only will we see True fruitfulness. We are who we are from Birth called by God. Some may fall some will go and this Page may definitely help some see their true path, and return them to their place! I can only see this site as another topic for conflict with others. I have seen in the past ten years both sides of the fence, and it drives me nuts how we just can't get along. So much turmoil...it's no wonder people fall away whether from Catholic denominations, or protestant! It is not only a Catholic Crisis, it is a God Crisis, we are just getting so caught up in our own needs,desires, and this world is doing nothing to help us see past that, with new cars, toys, computers, Internet, money. It seems like we are pushing God out the more we advance as a civilization.
I pray that one Day we will all be able to function as a whole in Christ's Body!
