While waiting somewhere today I decided to open the New Testament ESV Bible that someone gave to me. Now I can finally proudly say I have a Bible in my bag, unlike most Catholics of today. Haha. But that's a topic for another day. What I will share here now is about what I "discovered" in 1 Corinthians.
I'm like, I dunno why I haven't even thought of this before. Maybe because I haven't focused on anything about the many Christian denominations yet. Anyway upon reading the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians something immediately jumped out to me.
Illustration by storyset on Freepik.
Let me go straight to the point. St. Paul had admonished early Christians not to divide the Catholic Church or religion that Jesus built or started. And yet after centuries had passed, many schisms in Catholicism happened. Various denominations sprouted for various reasons.
Where does it say that we should not divide the Mother Church? Read these Bible passages:
1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:4-11; 3:21-23 (NRSVCE) | 3 Screenshots source
Is that not clear enough? You can read the entire chapters 1 to 3 and tell me if you don't get the same conclusion. Now I wonder, clearly this is evidence that Catholics truly do not read their Bibles. Hahahaha. I mean, as early as the earliest Church schism, they should have known this. And yet they still stubbornly separated from Catholicism! My oh my, the fickleness of humanity.
I don't even need to expound on this. It's plain as day, written for everyone to see. Now I of course don't know what the Pauline epistles say originally in Greek but the many versions of the Bible are what many scholars have translated it to.
Try reading the same passages in KJV, NABRE or any Bible version you prefer. You'll see how St. Paul is still saying the same thing. So this is the easiest answer to anyone claiming the true church is this or that. There is only one religion that Jesus Christ started and told His apostles to spread. Anything other than that is simply being a separatist.
Jesus assigning Peter as the first Pope, being the so-called rock. Matthew 16:18-19 | Screenshot source
Jesus' words are clear but I wonder why early Christians still didn't agree on having only one Pope back in the day. Lol. There was a time there were always two Popes (or something like that going on), one each from being the next in line after some of the 12 apostles died.
Oh wait, here's the answer: It's because the devil's goal is basically to divide and conquer in order for more souls to fall into hell. This is why, even until the Vatican II council there was a group of traditionalist priests who "separated" from Catholicism. Tsk tsk.
But then again, let me reshare what Jesus said. This is for people who only wanna believe in what's written in the Bible alone.
screenshot source
This means Christians should not bicker with each other on which church or denomination is right and wrong or who's the best among the rest. Jesus spread the message of love and also division of what's bad from good, not division in Catholicism.
Unfortunately, we see it all the time, false prophets abound where they really don't say anything bad about Jesus. What they do instead is to badmouth whatever else is connected to Jesus. For example:
- Disparage Jesus' very own Blessed Mother
- Claim Papal supremacy is invalid, and/or
- Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.
Come on. 😂 Now do you see it?
If anyone is truly a follower of Jesus Christ, he/she will keep God's commandments (John 14:15) and abide in His love.(John 15:10) That also means refraining from causing dissension in the Body of Christ, which is the Church that humanity is a member of, where Jesus is the Head. Or you can put it in the bride (Church) and groom (Jesus) context that He referred to in the Gospels.
As we learn from the writings of St. Paul, we mortals truly become unworthy of Heaven when we don't accept the grace and guidance of the Holy Trinity (correct me if I'm wrong). In relation to this, we can follow the examples of so many holy people who asked and received God's graces. If we read the lives and writings of saints, we can learn that they all have three admirable qualities in common:
- obedience to God and superiors
- humility
- love (or charity)
All three are also the same virtues that Mama Mary, St. Joseph and Jesus have. No wonder the saints also become like the Holy Family. Amazing right?
Matthew 5:8 | image source
And all the saints who truly saw Heavenly Beings (Mama Mary, Jesus, the angels and other saints) must have developed pure hearts. Piety is the mark of everyone who really saw the Lord and His minions while still alive.
Let's pray that one day everyone will also become devout Catholics before becoming saints. 🙏 Glory to God in the highest! ✝️♥️
XOXO,
@artgirl
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Written by @artgirl for Hive
© Art x Stephanie Rue / Lucy Stephanie
@artgirl is a freelance writer/blogger/artist, online seller, real estate agent and Manulife financial adviser.
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