Now don't get me wrong - I love our small group and and I believe that small groups are Biblical and crucial to spiritual growth. And know that I'm writing now to myself as much as anyone else (I usually am). But today I got a call from some of our best friends. We met them at the Evangelical Free church we attended in Scranton a few years back and instantly got along. Months after getting to be very close, they left the EV Free church and began to attend the Catholic church. They were in search of true Christianity and that is where Christ led them.
Today on the phone with... let's call her Jane... she was asking if we had attended a church in Palmerton when we lived there right after we got married. I told her no and asked why. Jane said that she had been taking the kids to a play group at a local church and thought we may have gone there. The she said "they keep trying to save me." They assume that because she and her family are Catholic they must need salvation.
I can just hear the small group conversations now: "There's this girl that comes to our play group and she's catholic - can we pray that she gets saved?" or "I know who I'm inviting to the Christmas Cantata! That Catholic girl! I think she really needs Jesus." or "God I just lift up (what does that really mean? Is God really up?) that Catholic girl. She's misguided and thinks she's following You, but show her the True Path."
Whatever.
I'm not saying that everyone who is Catholic is saved. But you and I both know that there is most likely as many in evangelical churches that are not as well. Christ himself said that there will be many that claim to know Him but do not.
Now please know that when we watched our dear friends go through their faith transition, I had all the same questions that the typical Evangelical would raise. But as we journeyed through life together with... Dick and Jane... we realized that their God was our God and at no time did eternity hang in the balance for our friendship.
We who have grown up in church (what a paradox) have a closed mindedness that many times blinds us. Myself included. God is God. God is not religion. I know that we say that often but our parents taught us such fouled up things about Catholicism that I believe we often are trying to "save" our own brothers and sisters from the same God we love.
Let's (you and me) grow up a bit, eh?
May 17, 2007 at 3:21 PM
Thank you for writing this. I grow-up Catholic. My mom took us to mass twice a week and she attened four times a week. She read the bible to us everyday when we were young. She made sure my walk with CHRIST start at a young age. I have been attending Carpenters since we were in the middle school
When I tell people that I grow up catholic. Everyone always ask the something question Have I been saved yet? Like the God my mom taught me to love is not the same God that I love now.