My Life with God in and out of the Church
This
excerpt
from chapter 6 pages 82-86
reveals that the Roman Catholic Church claims infallibility when it interprets Christ's
message.
In 1941, while studying theology, I learned that the early Christians listened to Christ's
simple message without questioning the apparent significance of his words.
Later, other people, the intellectuals, delved into the implications of
Christ's teaching and offered various explanations. Opposing opinions hardened
into convictions that spread confusion and conflict within the Christian
community.
These discussions echoed the earlier ones that prompted Jesus to ask
the apostles, "Who do people say that I am?" From then until the 5th
century, they kept asking "Who was Jesus?" Some denied that Jesus
was divine like God the Father. Others said he was two persons: one divine;
the other, human. Another group rejected the idea that Jesus was both divine
and human. To quell these discussions, a series of popes and their bishops
gathered in solemn councils and condemned the above views as heretical. They
defined that Jesus was one person, divine like God the Father and truly human.
My professor taught that, despite the doctrinal definitions of the
Roman Church and its condemnation of heresies, the question about the person
and nature of Jesus smoldered for centuries. In the 12th century, it erupted
again and burst into flames. The Albigenses declared that Jesus was an angelic
spirit, disguised and appearing as a man. He was neither God nor man. As this
doctrine spread like wildfire across southern France, the Pope convened an
ecumenical council and declared it heresy.
The Pope with his 3-tiered tiara and the bishops attired in red, all spewing anathemas, did not scare the Albigenses away. The exasperated Pontiff dispatched Cistercian monks to preach a Crusade against the heretics. France's king launched a fierce war against the Albigenses and ordered their wholesale massacre.
When
I first read this bloody chapter of church history, I wondered how the popes
could forget Christ's admonition to Peter, "Put away your sword." I
felt that Christ alive would have rebuked the popes ordering them to close
down the Inquisition and recall the Crusade.
Before the question regarding Christ's person was settled, another
controversy exploded shattering the unity of the Christian Church forever. The
discussion revolved around Christ's revelation. Regarding its transmission,
some believed that the totality of his revelation was transcribed in the New
Testament. Luther held that view. The Roman Catholic Church preached that some elements
of Christ's revelation do not appear in the Scriptures. They were transmitted
to the early church not in writing but orally. This oral tradition and the
written Scriptures contain the full revelation of Christ.
A related question ignited fierce debates among theologians. Did Christ
appoint one person or one institution as the final arbiter of revelation?
Before studying this question in class, I reflected upon the revelation of God
in nature. To help humans uncover the complexities of nature, God did not
commission one scientific organization and its CEO to judge the truth of
proposed opinions and theories. Nor did any scientist claim divine infallible
guidance in his final conclusions regarding the nature and forces of the
universe and its destiny.
In theology, however, the professor taught that the Roman Catholic
Church claims full jurisdiction over the contents of God's revelation through
Jesus. According to the Church, God has commissioned the pope, whether acting
alone or with the bishops in council, to determine the full meaning of this
revelation. With God's guidance, the pope's teaching of dogma and morals is
infallible.
In April 1521, Luther made his contrary position eminently clear before
the Diet of Worms where the pope's rep gave Luther a last chance to recant his
heretical teachings. Luther declared that Scripture and reason directed his
conscience, not councils and popes. He concluded by saying, "Here I
stand!"
Across Europe, many Christians, scandalized by the simony, nepotism,
venality and immorality of the medieval Roman Church, followed Luther's lead.
Since Rome based its jurisdiction over revelation principally on oral
tradition, Protestants rejected both, just like Luther. Then using Scripture
and plain reason, numerous groups reached various interpretations of
revelation.
In 1942, I admired the Catholic church. All the priests and nuns I knew were devout, devoted and good. They firmly believed the teaching of the Church and so did I. Cloistered in my Catholic cocoon, I couldn't fly about like a butterfly and sample the nectar of various flowers. If I had ventured out, where would I find the authentic interpretation of Christ's revelation among the 208 differing Christian denominations dispersed in 320,000 congregations throughout the United States? I was satisfied with Christ's simple revelation in the Gospel: "love-God-and-your-neighbor". Holding on to that, I could ignore for now the thorny questions of papal infallibility and supreme jurisdiction over revelation.