This was sung at a Catholic mass yesterday. One of the musical pieces during communion.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine.”
Unless you take communion without first becoming a registered member of the Catholic Church, or you get married outside the Catholic Church’s regulations and traditions, or you break any rules the church holds outside of the Bible’s teachings, or you fail to acknowledge that the Catholic Church is the one true and only way to properly believe in Jesus or adhere to Christianity.
There are a whole lot of rules for being a Christian, apparently. I found out all about it when my wife and I first approached the priests or bishops or whatever they call themselves, and asked what the process was. I was expecting having to learn some catechisms, reaffirm my beliefs, and attend a few masses. I was raised in Christianity, and I thought I knew how this worked.
Apparently, being a Christian isn’t enough to get married as a Catholic. After several rather heated discussions, I learned that the Bible isn’t the latest and greatest word of God, and that since its assembly, many additional manuscripts have added to the requirements put forth by Jesus (who is, by the way, the lynchpin of the entire Christian faith). Now, “believe in me and you will be saved”, “love the Lord God”, and “love your neighbor as yourself” are not enough. And since Catholics own Christianity (I was told this by a priest), they can keep writing more laws and rules and requirements to keep people there.
This isn’t just Catholics, by the way. While most Protestant organizations refuse to lay claim to the faith, most, if not all, have created their own guidebooks and traditions, building upon them until an (often contradictory) wall of doctrine stands between people and God, and the only visible gate involves membership.
Membership? Since when does God require a registration form? In 5 years, will I need to provide my email address and opt out of special promotions and updates? Do I need to log in to leave a comment? How much of my private information is being used to serve me the most personal and relevant advertisements? If I’m to believe the Bible– the book Christians base their beliefs and faith in and upon– Jesus stood on top of a mountain and addressed thousands of people with a set of guidelines, ones that trimmed the Jewish faith from a tangled mess of legalism to a clean, rational, and, at that time, radical rule: Love everyone, and your life and the world around you will be amazing.
But you can’t make money off love like you can with fear. People in the Middle Ages knew this, and they charged peasants for heaven passes. They built churches, wondrous houses of worship across Europe for the sole purpose of taking money in payment of access to God. Now, the exchange of cash is a little less obvious. If you don’t “donate”, or “tithe”, God won’t bless you, and you’ll be an ungrateful person. There are tiers of rewards for donation levels, membership benefits (membership requires monthly donations of a certain size, of course), and the peace of mind to know that you don’t just believe, you are also a true Christian who follows the rules, does what you’re told by the gatekeepers, and will surely be saved.
I’m not mad at people who believe it. I’m mad at the people who keep it going, unquestioningly, and are willing to argue against the simple requirements of Christ, who started this whole thing in the first place. I’ll always get mad when I hear it, and I’ll always argue with a church leader who tries to convince me otherwise.
If belief is not simple, sensible, and free, it is not belief. If eternity hides behind a membership wall, it is a shallow and false eternity. I want no part of it.
Put away your traditions. Throw off the robes and statues and rules and doctrines. Destroy your prejudices in a fire, and hide your opinions in your own home. Love others the way Jesus loved strangers and friends, and treat them with the respect they deserve. No one deserves the current “choices.”
Happy Sunday.
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