002 SCS The Creed

Today I want to talk a little bit more about my faith. Surprise! I am a Catholic Christian. To be more precise, I am Latin Rite Roman Catholic Christian. Today I want to share with you some of  what that means.

I’m confident that most of this audience is Catholic, and I’m sure that many of you who aren’t Catholic have preconceived ideas about what we Catholics believe. Mostly because you knew a guy who’s wife’s friend went to Catholic School 60 years ago, or you had a youth pastor frowing up that told you we were evil, cannibals, and idolaters destined for hell.

I want to clear some of that up today. It’s only been a 2,000 year discussion, so in true Sad Catholic Style, I’m going to give you the basics in about 10 minutes. I’ll start by correcting one error that we need to address globally, immediately.

Yes, I did say Catholic Christian. Yes Catholics are Christians. We were called Christian for 1500 years before the first protestants ever claimed the name. I digress, we can talk more about that in future episodes.

So what exactly DO we believe? A Catholic Christian’s most basic profession of faith is found in the Apostles Creed. This is what we believe and has been the Creed of Christendom since the first or second century. It was recited by those wishing to be baptized prior to getting wet. All of Christianity should be able to faithfully say the words of the Apostles Creed.

There are 12 articles of faith professed in this creed. I will tell you each article and what they mean at a basic entry level. Ahem!

Article 1: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. This affirms that God exists, and that he created the known universe.

Article 2: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. This says that Jesus is the son of God and that he’s most certainly divine. The word Lord implies divinity, because the Greek Kyrios and the Hebrew Adonai both mean “lord” and are ascribed only to God. So the use of Lord with Jesus is meant to profess his divinity. The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew Jeshua, meaning “God saves.” So Catholics believe that Jesus is our Savior.

Article 3: Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. This affirms the human nature of Christ, meaning he had a real, true human mother, and also affirms his divine nature, meaning he had no human father but by the power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He’s therefore considered both God and man by Christians — fully divine and fully human. Not half and half, but fully both. We call this the hypostatic union.

Article 4: He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The human nature of Christ could feel pain and actually die, and he did so on Good Friday. The mention of Pontius Pilate by name wasn’t meant so much to vilify him forever in history but to place the Crucifixion within known human history.

Reference is made to an actual historical person, the Roman governor of Judea, appointed by Caesar, to put the life and death of Jesus within a chronological and historical context. It also reminds the faithful that one can’t blame Jews for the death of Jesus, as some have erroneously done over the ages. Certain Jewish leaders conspired against Jesus, but the actual death sentence was given by a Roman and carried out by Roman soldiers. So, both Jew and Gentile alike shared in the spilling of His precious innocent blood. Anti-Semitism based on the Crucifixion of Jesus is inaccurate, unjust, erroneous, and just plain mean.

Article 5: He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. The hell Jesus descended into wasn’t the hell of the damned. Hell in this context is an English word taken from a Greek word that Jews and early Christians used to describe the place of the dead. This passage affirms that on the third day he rose, meaning Jesus came back from the dead of his own divine power. He wasn’t just clinically dead for a few minutes; he was dead dead. Then he rose from the dead. More than a resuscitated corpse, Jesus possessed a glorified and risen body.

Article 6: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. The Ascension reminds the faithful that after the human and divine natures of Christ were united in the incarnation, they could never be separated. In other words, after the His death and resurrection, Jesus didn’t dump his human body as if he didn’t need it anymore. Catholicism teaches that his human body will exist forever. Where Jesus went, body and soul, into heaven, the faithful hope one day to follow.

Article 7: He will come again to judge the living and the dead. This article affirms the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world to be its judge. Judgment Day, Day of Reckoning, Doomsday, they’re all metaphors for the end of time when what’s known as the General Judgment will occur. Catholics believe that after the death of any human person, immediate private judgment occurs and the person goes directly to heaven, hell, or through purgatory on the way to heaven. Purgatory is defined as an intermediate process of purification for those of us that are not perfect yet to be cleaned up of our attachment to sin and created things in preparation for heaven. Contrary to popular belief, the Church does NOT define it as a place, or a period of time, but a process.

Article 8: I believe in the Holy Spirit. This part reminds the believer that God exists in three persons. The Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a distinct person equal to and inseparable from the other two — God the Father and God the Son. All three are all God.

Article 9: the holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. Catholics believe that the Church is more than a mere institution and certainly not a necessary evil. It’s an essential dimension and aspect of spiritual life. Christ explicitly uses the word church in the Greek of Matthew 16 when he says, “I will build My Church” and the word catholic literally means “pertaining to the whole” or “universal”

Article 10: the forgiveness of sins. Christ came to save the world from sin. Belief in the forgiveness of sins is essential to Christianity.

Article 11: the resurrection of the body. From the Catholic perspective, a human being is a union of body and soul, so death is just the momentary separation of body and soul until the end of the world, the Second Coming of Christ, the General Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. The just go, body and soul, into heaven, and the damned go, body and soul, into hell.

Article 12: And in life everlasting. As Christ Our Savior died, so, too, must mere mortals. As he rose, so shall all human beings. Death is the ordinary way to cross from this life into the next. At the very moment of death, private judgment occurs. Christ judges the soul:

If it’s particularly holy and virtuous, the soul goes directly to heaven.

If it’s evil and wicked and dies in mortal sin, it’s damned for eternity in hell.

If a person lived a life in friendship with God, not bad enough to warrant hell but not holy enough to go directly to heaven, Catholics believe the soul goes through purgatory, which is a state where departed souls WANT to go to be cleansed of any attachments to sin or created things before entering heaven. It’s where we take of our muddy shoes before entering God’s presence.phew. That was a lot more than I thought it would be, and we will definitely need to drill down on a few of these in future episode. But as to the basics of what Catholics believe, now you know and you can’t unhear it. I think it’s time to wrap up episode two and let all of this marinate for a bit.

If you have questions that you would like me to address in a future episode, please sent to SadCatholicShow@gmail.com

Please go check out SmAndersonRanch.com and remember to be kind to others, try to be happy. I should be the only Sad Catholic.

Until next time! -Sad