October 7, 2011 – Deuteronomy 12

Verse 8 says you shall not do as what you are doing now, which was doing what is right in this own sight. It appears that they had issues with Relativism as well. Nothing is more dangerous to the world right now, and has been more damaging to Christianity as a whole, than Relativism. The idea that what I think is right, is right, is wrong. There are absolute rights and wrongs and to go against that is to lead a life that is a lie and to take a path that leads to chaos. Even though Israel was God’s chosen people, they lived for many generations without a set of rules. They knew they had a God and they should worship Him, but the details on how and what other rules might be out there were not clear. Here God says that I am making rules that are to be followed. Did Christ overturn this way of teaching. Christ said not a letter of the law would be changed. He is a fulfillment of the law, not a overruling. Christ would in no way support a system of Christianity where you do “what is right in [your] own sight”. Yet that is what we are told is appropriate by the understanding of these “not-religion” or “non-denominational” mega-churches. We are told that there is not suppose to be any real structure, no authority, you can interpret for yourself God’s true meaning. This is exactly what God speaks against.

He goes on to say that they should tear down the different worship places and there should be only one place of worship. God preaches unity and against division. Christ preaches one church and that division will lead to destruction. Where is the unity of 30,000 denominational Christian churches. When a person decides they do not like a church and leaves it to start their own, they are doing what is right in their own eyes. They are not obeying God. God does not preach that rules have wiggle room, that you can interpret them to mean different things, that you can pick and choose what to believe. God teaches One Way, One Truth, One Life and to step off that path, although that is the easy way and the wider gate, is to fall and walk away from Him.

I am so glad I was raised Catholic and stayed with the Church. I am even more thankful that I have begun to learn more and more about the Catholic Church and had my faith increased. I don’t know if I was raised in another church I would have had the courage to leave or been too stubborn to listen to other ideas. I know people come into the Catholic Church and have amazing stories of learning the Truth and sacrificing greatly to follow that Truth. Sadly, there are just as many stories of Catholics leaving the Church to follow a different path. I pray for a Mass Conversion and for everyone to come back to the Catholic Church, however unlikely that may be. But even more I pray for those non-Catholics to be open to the possibility that the Catholic Church may be the One True Church. I pray that non-Catholic Christians, fallen away Catholics, and non-practicing Catholics take some time to think about where their beliefs are based, where their churches come from, whether God wanted this division, and what authority are they relying on when their souls are at stake. I just pray with all my heart for open minds and hearts because God can do wonders with those ingredients. But God cannot even get started without the willingness to be open to Him.