Why I'm Catholic

For Crystal;

I realize I have written a lot about being Catholic, but not so much about why I’m Catholic.  So, I may as well write about that.

Understand, I’ve always been tied to Catholicism in one way or another. 

My great grandmother (maternal grandfather’s mother) was an adult convert to Catholicism.  I also briefly went to Catholic school.  And, where I was born, and partially raised (Davenport, Iowa), has a not insignificant Catholic population.  

If you haven't read it, it may be worth checking out my previous article; Finding God in secular culture part iii: Yet more music and my latest on Locals; Coffee and Christianity:Episode 65: The (non-existent) 400 years of silence

While these may be true, not of that is why I’m Catholic.

When I read Matthew 7:21-23, I just don’t see “Once saved, always saved”.  When Jesus says “this is my body”, and “this is my blood” (Matthew 26-22-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-23, 1 Corinthians 11:23-30).  I take Jesus at his word, the same when he tells me I must eat his body and drink his blood.  (John 6:22-70)

And, of note, those that took issue with Jesus’s words here, left (John 6:66).

I don’t see that baptism doesn’t do anything, or that “born again” refers to anything other than baptism (which I’ve written about, Get born again, An overlooked passage on baptismal regeneration and infant baptism).

I don’t see Jesus as just a “wise man”.  I don’t see Mary as simply a “vessel”. (I suggest you read Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:43)  I do not understand how someone can claim Jesus is God, but can’t claim that Mary is the Mother of God.

Most people who call themselves Christian, at least historically, are Trinitarians.  Most Trinitarians know that John 1:1-14, explicitly says that Jesus Christ is God.  Yet, some of these some people won’t call Mary the “Mother of God”.

But, here’s the thing, John Calls Mary “The Mother of Jesus” (John 2:1, amongst other places).

Joh knew that Jesus’s mother is the Mother of God, because he’s the one who told you that Jesus is God!

It is also important to note that bad Mariology, leads to bad Christology, and vice versa.

If you were to tell me, that you don’t believe that Mary is the Mother of God, I’d think one of two things.  Either you don’t believe in the hypostatic union, or you don’t believe that Jesus is God.

I don’t know how someone could read Simon Peter’s role as head of the apostles, as “first amongst equals”, when Jesus clearly gives Peter a place of honour beyond that of the other apostles (John 20:15-19). 

I’ve lost friends, been told Catholicism is unbiblical.  And do you know what I’ve noticed?  The very people making that claim believe in things that aren’t explicitly in The Bible. 

For instance, some people will claim that full bodily immersion, done to people who profess faith in Christ, is the only valid form of baptism.

The Bible doesn’t say the proper method of baptism and there’s nothing that indicates that infants weren’t baptized. The truth is, we have to go outside of The Bible for to know what the early Christians did. 

Sources such as Didache 7, Irenaeus 2:22:4. 

My own opinion on this issue is clearly stated, here; Something the Bible doesn't teach

The thing is, though.  I don’t care that I’ve lost those friends, or the insults I’ve suffered.

I didn’t become Catholic for them. 

I became Catholic, because Catholicism is true. 

And no amount of verse slinging will ever convince me that I made the wrong decision. 

Adam Charles Hovey is the founder of the Catholicism, News, and Whatever community and the host of the weekly Bible study, Coffee and Christianity