Weird Ideas: Catholic Churchনমুনা

Being catholic should never lead us to believe it means a total embrace.

Make no mistake. The early church was very concerned with right teaching. They did not see everyone who claimed to speak on behalf of the Lord as representing the Lord. Jesus warned of false prophets. The apostles did too. Truth matters and right understandings of Jesus and his teachings are hugely important.

You can say many things about Jesus. But some are just wrong, and are not in line with the one true faith. Christians can exhibit many different kinds of lifestyles, but some are just wrong and not congruent with the one true faith. You can emphasize many things in theology or church practice, but some are just wrong and antithetical to the one true faith.

Not everyone is catholic and not every teaching is catholic.

Let’s make an analogy to food. There are different kinds of cuisines. I love Mexican. And Chinese. European pastries are amazing. I also like Americana. I don’t necessarily want all of them at the same time, or blended up together, or all on the same plate. But I love what each brings to the table. I benefit from each of them as each satisfies a certain craving while expanding my palate. At the same time there are some things you simply should not eat. Certain things are poisonous. And within each cuisine, food can go rotten or be prepared in unsafe ways. A love and embrace of food should not lead you to think you can eat everything!

As the early Church grew, it became apparent that there was a need to differentiate between acceptable teachings and those outside the faith. So in the second and third centuries, “catholic” came not only to mean universality. It also came to be used in contrast to those who were heretical and over against those who were sectarian. It came to connote teachings safe to eat.

So early on the Church began to talk about a Rule of Faith, or what we might today call the historic, orthodox Christian faith. It’s a thread of common core beliefs stretching back to the beginning that unite all Christians, regardless of their unique practices, areas of emphases, or particular experiences with Jesus.

There’s a temptation for every believer to swing one of two ways: either to embrace everything in a spirit of catholicity or to live in such suspicion of anything not originating from their own denomination/local church/favorite teacher that they automatically dismiss it or minimize it and, in the process, become sectarian.

Catholicity walks a narrow road between two extremes.

What teachings from believers of various stripes and varieties living in your neighborhood and around the world today outside of your church fellowship do you find enticing or suspicious? How will you go about testing what they have to say?