Dining At The Theological Buffet

Over the course of our life, God shows us enough so that we may know our path, yet hides enough so that we may live our faith.

I believe that any faith, including Catholicism, is a belief structure that you either accept or not. Faiths are not democracies that change with every social whim; with morals up for public determination. Faiths should be clearly defined paths to salvation that should remain strict, clear and firm. Sure, faiths must determine how scientific and social issues fit into the faith structure, but they should not be guided by such things.

For example, science allowed the act of abortion to be a health choice for women. The Catholic Church had to evaluate that act and determined, under their faith structure and understanding of the Gospels, that such an act was the murder of the unborn. Other faiths have determined it not to be murder or have not taken a stand on the issue one way or the other. But, since faiths are not theological buffets where one can pick and choose what they will and will not follow and since the Catholic Church has deemed abortion murder, then no Catholic, in adherence to their faith, can be pro-choice.

It is simply not an option.

Now, there are a lot of people who believe they are Catholics, who attend church, that are pro-choice, but, since it is in direct opposition to their faith, they cannot truly call themselves Catholic. They must make a choice. They must pray and ask themselves "What do I believe?" What does it mean to be a Catholic? Why does the Catholic Church hold such beliefs? After understanding what the Church believes and what I believe, can I still call myself a Catholic?

The same goes for the death penalty. The same goes for contraception.

Catholicism is a hard faith to live. It has very high standards. They sometimes fly in the face of the socially acceptable mores of the time. But, it is not, nor should it be, a democracy. It is what it is. It has rarely changed and has stood firm against a growing displeasure with its hard stances on moral issues.

For a while during my youth I used to say "I don't agree with the Catholic Church on..." this issue or that issue. But, what I came to realize is that, it wasn't that I didn't agree with the Catholic Church… it was that I didn't understand why the Catholic Church held such beliefs. I realized that the Church was basing its beliefs on 2000 years of understanding and faith structure and I was basing my opinions on a ten minute piece on 60 minutes... what the hell did I know?

If your faith is important to you, you will take the time to understand its roots before saying we should chop down the tree. So, I researched why the Church held such high moral standards on many things which are unpopular stances today. And, you know what? Every time I have researched it and understood where the Church was coming from, I couldn't help but agree. That doesn't mean that it was easy to incorporate that moral stand into my daily life. To the contrary. But, their arguments for such stances were linked to such clear and strong moral sources that I could not create an effective argument to defeat it.

Unfortunately, most people don't take the time to do the research. They're too “busy.” But, they sure feel absolute in their opinions that fly in the face of Church dogma... even though they don't even understand what Church dogma is...

I’m not trying to sound righteous or without compassion, but its important to understand that, when it comes to a faith, you either are a part of it or not. You either accept it or you don’t. You either follow all of it or you follow none of it.

Faith is not a lukewarm decision. It is an all or nothing existence.

That makes it hard… unbearably tough to live up to at times. But, like everything else, the most important and rewarding things in life are often the hardest to achieve.