My Journey
So, how does all this relate to my leaving the Catholic Church? Well, since I wanted to know God, I began reading the Bible. And the more I read, the more I learned about God. As I read, I also began to see that some things taught by the Catholic Church did not agree with what I was reading in the Bible. This fact bothered me. How could I know what was right? At first I just thought, “Just because I don’t believe everything the Catholic Church teaches, that doesn’t mean that I’m not Catholic. I’ll just believe those things I think or feel are right and ignore those that I don’t believe or with which I disagree. Besides that, I know a lot of other Catholics who don’t believe everything the Catholic Church teaches.”
I also thought about questions like Why do I go to church? What is the purpose of church? Who is Jesus? Why did He have to die for our sins? Do I really know Jesus? Does Jesus know me as a believer in Him? What is my destiny after this life? I encourage you to also think about these questions and why you believe what you believe.
As time went on and I continued to read and learn more about the Bible, I came across more contradictions between the Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church. When this would happen, I would pick and choose what I wanted to believe or what I was comfortable believing. I was basically making God who I wanted Him to be. I was making my own god (small “g” intended) with whom I was comfortable—keeping and believing the things I liked and discarding the things that made me feel uncomfortable, that I disagreed with, or that I did not want to affect my life.
Then, as I saw friends of mine starting families and having children, I thought, “If I ever get married and have children, how will I teach them how to know what is right and what is wrong? What will keep them from choosing the wrong things?” I then realized I didn’t really know how to choose the things that are truly right from those that are truly wrong. Many times wrong things “felt” good and “felt” right, but weren’t. And sometimes the things that were truly right made me feel uncomfortable or were difficult. Feelings are often misleading.
It was then that I began to realize I couldn’t just pick and choose the stuff I liked and discard the rest, because that just isn’t the correct way to determine what is right, what is wrong, and what is the truth. I thought, “What is the truth anyway? What can I believe completely that tells me about God?” Well, I believed that the Bible is God’s Word and that God’s Word is the basis for Christianity. I knew I could trust in God’s Word because I knew God Himself would not lead me astray. I knew I had to learn what God’s Word says if I was to get to know God and the truth. I also realized that once I learned the truth, I had to accept it, even if it was difficult or made me feel uncomfortable.
As time went on, I continued to read the Bible to learn more about God. I now know, as shown earlier, that the Catholic Church encourages believers to read the Bible to get to know Jesus. So I was following the teaching of the Catholic Church by reading the Bible to learn about Him. And again, the more I read the Bible, the more I found that in many cases Catholic doctrine says something different from the Word of God.
Although I found many differences, I found many things in the Catholic Catechism that agree with the Bible. One such example is:
“Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 166).
It is because of my love for Jesus and my love for others that I would like to share with you some of the things that I have learned about the Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church. And even though there are many things in the Catholic Catechism that are in agreement disagreement because of their seriousness, their importance, and the eternal consequences of believing them. Please understand, I am not trying to cause discord or problems. I would love to see unity among everyone, but we must not compromise or sacrifice the truth of God’s Word in our desire for unity.
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If you would like a free copy of the book
for yourself or to share with family or
friends, simply e-mail me at:
Joe@TeachingsOfTheCatholicChurch.com
and I will be happy to send one to you.
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