Dear Reader,
I want to start this article off by saying the following… I have absolutely NO tolerance for bigotry or malice being shown to ANYONE because they are not Catholic. I LOVE my protestant brothers and sisters, even if I disagree with certain points of doctrine and faith in certain denominations. I started this blog sharing my story of how I came to this point in my relationship with Christ through several years of research and through His grace in the sacraments of His church… With this article, my aim is merely to point out and “clear up” a common mistake made when people talk about The Catholic Church as well as testify to what I have come to believe as a result of what I have discovered.
One of the most common misconceptions that Protestants have regarding Catholics is that Catholicism is “just another denomination among many”. I hear it ALL the time… I completely understand that a lot of people (Catholics and Protestants alike) are raised believing that we Catholics are just one among many different “types” or “denominations” of Christians.
The term Catholic comes from the Greek word katholicos. Now, there is a slight modern-day distinction between the lower-case catholic and Catholic (upper-case). The lower-case form of the word, meaning “universal” was first used by St. Ignatius of Antioch (a disciple of the Apostle John) circa 105 – 115 A.D. There is evidence of the upper-case version being used in the early 2nd century to emphasize the universal nature of the Church, but there were no denominations at that time so the term, whether capitalized or not, referred to the entire Christian church.
I had someone on a past blog comment about the Catholic Church being “the center of all religion”. I do not write this article to bring any attention to this comment that was made, but the comment was my inspiration for my writing this. I do not believe that this is an accurate statement for two reasons. First, there is evidence of other religions being in existence prior to the rise of Christianity so obviously that is not possible. There are areas of the world where the word “Christ” has never been said. Secondly, for someone to call Catholicism its own “religion” is absurd since it contains within itself the full truth, richness and beauty of the Christian faith. The Catholic Church is apostolic, meaning it was founded by Jesus Christ and carried on by the apostles of Christ. It can, and should, simply be called “Christianity”.
So, while the Catholic Church is not the center of all religions, I would say that it IS the center or pillar upon which the foundation of every protestant denomination rests. What I mean by that is that the founder(s) of every mainstream protestant denomination took a piece of the beauty and/or truth of the Catholic Church and changed something about it in order to appeal to their respective beliefs.
Catholic apologist Steve Ray gives a great analogy of what I’m referring to. I will quickly try to summarize as best I can, but you can find the link to his full analogy at the end of this article. Let’s say that a king (God) wants to send his people (humanity) to a new land (Heaven) and it lies across a great and vast ocean. The ship is The Catholic Church and it is equipped with everything the people need for their journey (the seven sacraments). There is even a crew (the clergy) and a captain (the pope).
“And so I say to you, you are Peter (Pétros), and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys (Ref. Isaiah 22:22) to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” – Matthew 16:18-19
The journey starts off well but, just as the Israelite people in the desert, on their way to the promised land, began to grumble against Moses about the manna, so some of the people on the ship begin to grumble against the captain about having to eat the same food all the time. They start to wonder “who gave this captain and crew authority to tell us what to do and how to live?”. They make their way into the bowels of the ship and proceed to make their own raft (denomination).
Once they believe their raft is complete, they gather some supplies they desire for their own raft and then jump over the side with their raft and supplies. Now they’re on their own in the ocean, determined to make the journey themselves and are happy that they no longer have to listen to the captain or crew or eat the same food day after day. Eventually some of the people in the rafts take supplies and make their own rafts and jump out of the original raft.
Fast-forward to today and we have more than 30,000+ “rafts” bobbing along on the ocean with the “mother ship” (The Catholic Church). Some of those rafts are quite comfortable and so, even as some of those rafts are steering off-course, straying from the journey, the people in those rafts have no desire to leave. Everything good on those rafts came from the “mother ship” but none of those rafts contain the full load of supplies originally provided by the king for the journey.
“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” – John 6:55-56
My dear reader… I could literally spend several hours writing more on this subject but I do not wish to make this article too long. Also, I want EVERYONE who reads this to know that I hold no malice or ill-contempt towards ANY Protestant simply because they’re not Catholic. I have many family and friends who are Protestant (I’m married to one!). I have no doubt whatsoever in my heart and mind that there are millions of people who belong to Protestant churches that love Jesus.
Because I know that the following question will come up after I post this article… If you were to ask me whether or not I believe someone is going to hell just because they aren’t a Catholic, I would tell you that that is WAY above my pay-grade. I don’t even know if I am going to Heaven… I would say that I do NOT believe that someone is going to hell simply because they’re Protestant and in the end, all that ANY of us can do is follow God’s commands and hope and pray for God’s mercy when the time comes.
In conclusion, I confidently state that I believe the fullness of the truth, riches and beauty of The Catholic Church, in its entirety (especially the sacraments) IS the Christian faith as it was intended to be.
“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” – 1 Timothy 4:15
Two things cannot be denied: Jesus’ words from scripture and the history of His Church…
Until next time my dear reader…
Your Servant in Christ,
William
Below is the link to Steve Ray’s analogy and I pasted the URL below that in case the link doesn’t work for you.
William's Catholic Journey 
Loved your picture of the Vatican in Rome as well as the ship/raft analogy by Steve Ray. He is an awesome apologist that also had the courage to seek the truth that led him into the fullness of the faith -the Catholic Church, despite the opposition from his family.
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