“It's Not About Religion, It’s About Jesus”
Raise your hand if you’ve heard the title of this post before!
Something that I think gets lost in all the factions of Christianity today is just how old the Catholic Church is. These “man-made” traditions and rules were not just something we’ve come up with in the past few centuries. The idea that the Eucharist is Jesus himself is not a belief that has evolved over time. These practices and beliefs have been around for over 2,000 years, and they continue today.
In 110 A.D (that's merely 77 years after Jesus died and a few 200 years before the bible) St. Ignatius said:
“I take no pleasure in corruptible food or the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ, who is the seed of David, and I want to drink his blood, which is incorruptible love.”
I’ve been religious all my life. To say you weren’t religious was to say you did not follow Jesus. In the past few years, I have been introduced to a group of non-denominational Christians, and suddenly, I’m hearing religion as a bad thing. I was so confused where this negative connotation was coming from. Aren’t these people Christians? They are religious. Eventually, I came to learn they are connecting religion to rules, rituals, and obedience to man. To clarify, the word religion means “the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods,” according to Oxford Languages. By this definition, all Christians are religious. So what do they really mean, and how can we as religious believers respond? Let’s take a look at some of the common words and phrases I have encountered and unpack them.
“Catholics are not Biblical.”
When Jesus left Earth around 33 A.D., he did not pull out a 66-book bible and hand it to his apostles. Instead, He left us (mankind) a church and keys to the kingdom that he came to establish. Both of which he centered around Peter. Peter carried the new order of Christianity from that point forward, and to think his authority stopped with him makes no sense. He must have passed on the keys to someone else when he left this earth. He did, and each new leader continued to pass on the keys and carry on the church Jesus established in a position we now call the Pope. This was Christianity for over 300 years until finally a collection of holy-inspired books were compiled adding up to, not 66 but, 73 books. For 300 years, there was no such thing as Sola Scriptura. No Christian was demanding, “Where’s that in the bible?” All followers of Jesus followed tradition and church history. As Father Mike Schmitz pointed out, a Holy-inspired, infallible bible would be of no use to a world of flawed human beings if He did not also give us an infallible interpreter. The Catholic church, built on Peter, has been in full working order since the book of Acts. With the Holy Spirit guiding him, the man in that position oversaw the compilation of the Bible, and for the past 2000 years, continues to be our guide and interpreter of scripture. So, in this light, to hear someone tell a Catholic that they are not by the bible sounds a little silly. Our faith has roots through and beyond the bible. It is the Catholic Church that compiled the bible and continues to hold the one true interpretation of the holy text.
“You don’t need to do anything, just follow Jesus.”
We’ve all heard arguments from non-believers who tried to quote scripture at us to make a point (remember, even Satan can quote scripture). One that comes to mind is the story about the woman caught in adultery. Non-believers living in sin love to throw out, “Jesus said he doesn't condemn her!” What is wrong with that argument? Any Christian reading this knows full well the next words out of his mouth were “Go, and do not sin again” (John 8:11). He loved her in her sin but wants her to turn away from it. Why do I bring this up? The same type of argument is made when Just-Jesus Christians relate the religious leaders of Jesus’ time to religion today. Similarly, they are missing the whole picture. Yes, Jesus openly rebuked the religious leaders of His time for their hypocrisy, but He did not rebuke religion. In fact he said, “I have not come to abolish [the law] but to fulfil them.” (Mt 5:17) In a few verses later He states, “For I tell you, unless you are righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdome of heaven.” (Mt 5:20). He did not want His followers to throw out religion but rather to go deeper. He saw the superficial practices of the Scribes and Pharisees and wanted to call His followers to still participate in these practices with their hearts involved. The idea of religion following man-made rules and rituals is not entirely wrong, but these rules and rituals are practiced internally as much as externally. Jesus gave us this church, and therefore, to follow the law (obedience to the Church) is to follow Jesus.
“Religion-hurt”
The sad truth is, a lot of people have been hurt in the Catholic Church. As a cradle Catholic, I am blessed to say I have never experienced this, but it is still worth reflecting on. How can we love those who push away our religion without being sympathetic to why they do it? Some people have been lead astray but some have very real wounds here and poking at them will trigger some not-so-loving remarks in response. There are different degrees of wounds caused by religion. Some may be a simple as having been corrected too harshly by a religious member. To be a Christian is a healthy blend of joy and devotion. To throw away the devotion and coast along in God’s joy would be taking without any gratitude or love given back. However, some Catholics can get too caught up in devotion and forget joy. The harsh correction might have been with the right intentions, but a poor delivery. When this happens, it often results in the mean nun stereotype with no tolerance for the ways of the youth. There is evil and corruption in everything. You will likely find similar people in non-religious circles. It is still wrong, but calls for prayer and a reminder of who you are in Jesus’ eyes.
A deeper and more obvious form of hurt in the church would be abuse. These cases coming to light were heartbreaking, and every Catholic should feel confident to air out this dark part of our history. It is important to remember the ones committing these acts are not practicing internally and will receive their judgment. As for those of us who are not guilty of these horrendous acts but still bear the judgment, it is important to remember why we are here. Of course, we stand for the victims of these abuses, and those with holy intentions are working hard to never encounter this evil again. Through all of that, why would we leave? We believe this church was founded by Jesus himself. It is where we can truly encounter His body, blood, soul, and divinity. Mass is where heaven meets earth. We do not go to church for the priest, we go for Jesus. Whether the man standing at the altar is a Godly man or secretly corrupt inside, we cannot know. What we do know is that he is holding Jesus’ body. We are called to be the church, not leave the church. We lift our fellow brothers and sisters who have been victims of this evil to Jesus in prayer and show the world who true Catholics are.
How do we respond?
Social media can be dangerous territory for a Catholic Christian. Even if your circle and your content are predominantly Christian. You will likely come across a post or a comment along the way rebuking religion and religious practices. If you haven’t heard the Just-Jesus arguments before, let me tell you they are rarely said in love. It can be extremely painful to have found a profound beauty in religion, only to have a fellow brother or sister in Christ spew hateful words towards you for it. My first reaction tends to be in anger. I want to make my voice heard, but we all know people posting those things are not interested in having their minds changed. So what can we do?
Vent: There was nothing wrong with expressing your emotions to a safe group of friends. Even non-religious friends. If they are not the ones posting these ideas and are likely to respond to you with love, they might even benefit from knowing the pain those words cause.
There is a real problem with the rebukes against religion, and Jesus taught us about righteous anger when he turned over tables. However, if it causes an uncontrollable rage to rise up inside of you, you might have some things to work on in yourself first. Heal the wound of religion-hate within you before trying to correct it in the world, so that you can act as a true temple of God.
Allow yourself to bask in the beauty you've found in religion! Pray for those who do not understand it.
Sometimes Jesus might be calling to to respond. After talking it over with Jesus and rooting yourself in this way, you can find the words. I’ve found it helpful to respond as if I’m writing to another Catholic who might be reading the comments for a response. This way, my goal is not to “win” and thus removes any prideful intentions. My response is not directed toward the original poster. They are either someone with too hard a heart to receive what I have to say anyway, or they will see my loving response and soften their hearts. Stay charitable and write as though Jesus is reading over your shoulder (because He is!)
Know you are not alone in your suffering. St. Elizabeth Anne Seton can relate. She suffered socially when she discovered the truth about Catholicism. I often turn to her for prayers in my hurt. Of course, like all suffering, the isolation and rebukes we endure for our faith can be tied to Jesus’ suffering. We often think of picking up our cross, but what of the crown of thorns? When this crown was jammed onto his head, it was to ridicule him. He was being mocked as a king with that crown. So whenever you see or hear a hateful remark about Catholicism, that is your crown of thorns, and you can bear it the way Christ did. (Hint: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34)
As Father Mike Schmits so beautifully says, “The heart of religion is worship, and the heart of worship is sacrifice. This summarizes in so many ways what you and I are meant to do.”