ok time to be serious again. nowadays nobody just asks u what's ur religion. They ask, then I say "I'm a Catholic." then the next question comes, "are u a strict Catholic?" So I say, "what's a strict Catholic?" The usual criteria come out: take Mass seriously, don't say bad words, don't use God's name in vain, etc. Well, thing is, by that criteria, I don't think I'm a strict Catholic. So then I'm just a Catholic in name? Well, to some pple, in this world, there r only 2 types of Christians, those that r only Sunday Christians, and those that r exteremely pious, religious and Holy. What happened to the in between?
Ok, so we say, yes, the Bible, is Holy and perfect, and we should not have the right to pick and choose what we want to follow and what we don't really feel like following. From this POV, there can only be 2 types of Christians. But, u see, the problem here is we then become unquestioning followers of the faith. And personally, I don't think this is very good.
U see, to follow the Bible perfectly, we must first have perfect love. God is love, and we were created and redeemed out of love, so we are works of God's love. But here's the tricky part about love: It can't exist without free will. I mean, if u force a person to love u, can u really say it's love? God could have easily created perfect sinless people programmed to love him perfectly, just as he loved us. But then, it wouldn't really be called love, would it?
That's why He gave us this important gift of free will, the ability to choose to love Him or not. And even though by right we should all choose to love Him, all of us have chosen not to. that's why we sin. That's why there's death and suffering, because of ourselves. But free will is very important; without free will there cannot be love. So God created us precisely to reason, to question, to choose, to defy. And it is only when we question our faith, and we try to put it into perspective, that it truly becomes ours, it truly becomes us.
Think of a fanatic radical, brought up with strict rules of religions, following doctrines and rituals he never really understood, but believes it to be the unquestionable truth. That is in many ways admirable, but not so admirable as a person who reads the Bible and says: "I disagree." Goes about disagreeing with it, then realises that it hurts others or makes him unhappy, then realises why God wants this for him, and then practices it. This is much more beautiful. True, NOTHING gives us the right to question the Bible, but when we do, we know we can always be forgiven because God died for us.
U know, i think eventually all of us will follow the Bible unquestionably, and that will be in heaven. Because it is only when we have attained perfection, Holiness, and become saints, that we can truly and wholeheartedly follow the truths stated in the Bible. And this is not out of any brainwashing or fear, but out of complete and perfect love, a love that can only be completed by the grace of God.
Another thing is, if I were to be a perfect Catholic, or at least try to be, like every Friday don't eat meat, everyday say Rosary, not a single bad word from my mouth, then I'd get tired really fast. The first few weeks will be easy, but after a while we'll just get sian and ask "why r we doing this?"
Also, there are a lot of things i truly believe in. Like I think abortion is totally wrong and evil and barbaric. but if I were a perfectionst Catholic, pple would just think: ah... u're just saying that bcos ur Bishop told u to, or ur Pope told u to... U see, we've gotta keep it real. We're real pple with real weaknesses, real sins and real imperfections. If we don't keep it real, then those things which are real don't quite become real anymore.
I strongly believe that the best way to evangelise is by action. but what action is the most effective? Is it really pulling ur face whenever ur friends tell a dirty joke? Or vociferously condemning gambling when ur actually dying inside to bet on Italy? I think it's the small things, a kind word when it's really needed, befriending someone who's feeling left out, or deciding to stay home with Mum when she's feeling down. These things. "By this, all men will know you are My disciples."
And of course, getting involved! there's no better substitute to joining a Church group, getting out there and getting your hands dirty.... It's fun, meaningful, we'll break a lot of rules along the way, but God's Love touches your life thru it... And the more u love God, the more keeping His rules will come naturally to u. not bcos u wanna get in heaven by keeping them, but bcos u already know God's love bought ur ticket to heaven with his blood, and that the only natural thing to do is to Love Him in return, bcos He loved us first.
