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Monday, April 20, 2015

Can Catholics get tattoos?

“Love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul,     
and with all your MIND”--Matt 22:37


 “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus” --Pope Francis  (Evangelii Gaudium, #120)


Question:  Can Catholics get tattoos?

Short answer: Yep.  *:) happy

Of course, prudential judgement is warranted--an obscene or vulgar tattoo is something no Catholic ought to entertain, and one should always consider the health risks associated with anything involving needles and unlicensed personnel.  Also, remember that tattoos are a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling (paying homage to Jimmy Buffett).  

However, the question of tattoos segues into a more interesting apologetics question:  Do Catholics ignore the Bible?  

The Bible is quite clear that tattoos are forbidden:  "Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves.  I am the LORD."--Leviticus 19:28

There are fundamentalist Christians who like to point to Catholic teaching on tattoos (or, rather, the lack of teaching on this) as indicative that Catholicism thinks it's above the Word of God.  "Catholics think they don't have to follow the Bible!"

Conversely, liberal Christians like to point out:  Catholicism preaches that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible prohibits it, but look at all the other things the Bible prohibits/commands that Catholicism doesn't follow:  

"Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard."--Lev. 19:27

"When you build a new house, put a parapet around the roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt upon your house if someone falls off."--Deut 22:8

"do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread."--Lev 19:19

True, dat.  We are certainly free to never put a parapet around our roof and to wear garments with 2 different kinds of thread.  *:) happy

I find it amusing that liberal Christians and fundamentalist Christians (usually on opposite sides of the fence) have joined together on this issue-- both have the same objection to Catholicism; that is:  you guys ignore the Old Testament laws!

Let's put aside for now the entirely WRONG concept that "Catholicism preaches that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible prohibits it".  (It is wrong because it contravenes the natural law, but that is fodder for another thread).  

The question that they are posing is a valid one:  why do Catholics get to ignore some of the Bible?

The answer is:  we don't ignore some of the Bible.  We just understand it through the lens of the Faith which brought us the Bible.  That is, through the eyes of the Catholic Church.  We understand the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, in light of the fulfillment of the Law through Jesus Christ.

Reading the Bible without the lens of the magisterium of the Church leads to all sorts of problematic interpretations. 

Thus, when people read the Bible without the guidance of the Church, they may decide that Saturday is the Lord's Day, not Sunday, for Exodus 20:10 clearly states that the 7th day is the Sabbath.  Beliefs: The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist world church
 

Some other folks (Jehovah's Witnesses) have decided from reading the Bible that the Jesus and the archangel Michael are the same being:

 
This is why it's so important to have a final, authoritative interpreter of the Sacred Scriptures.  

As far as the Old Testament laws--many of them were binding to the Israelites alone.  God gave these dietary and ceremonial commands in order to make the Jews culturally distinct from all the pagan nations which surrounded them.

However, many of the OT laws are also our moral laws.  Thus, we do indeed have to obey the prohibition on murder, adultery, stealing...they are binding all all people, in all times, in all cultures.

How do we tell the difference between the OT laws which were given to the Jews only, and those which we are bound to obey?

1) by the light of our reason and intellect.  Those laws which are consonant with the natural law are laws which we must obey.  For example, our reason tells us that creatures MUST worship the Creator.  Our reason tells us that it is immoral to take the life of an innocent human being.  Our intellect informs us that we have the right to our own property, but not the property of another person.  

But there is nothing in the moral law which prohibits coloring our skin, permanently or temporarily, with dye, or shaving beards off, or having field sown with two seeds.   Our reason tells us so.

2) we look to the guidance of the Church, for it was the Church which gave us these Scriptures. 


For more in-depth study visit these websites:

 


"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" - 1 Peter 3:15


Saturday, April 11, 2015

Why can't Catholics confess their sins directly to God?


“Love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul,     
and with all your MIND”--Matt 22:37


 “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus” --Pope Francis  (Evangelii Gaudium, #120)

He is risen!  Alleluia!!

Question:  Why can't Catholics confess their sins directly to God?

Answer: Because it's the way Jesus set it up--we need to confess our (mortal)* sins to a priest.  It is, as Bishop Daniel Walsh says, "The oil change for the soul".
  
From this Sunday's Gospel, we see that Jesus, after His Easter triumph came and stood before His disciples:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”--John 20:22

This implies that the disciples needed to hear the Christian's confession, in order to know whether to "retain" or "forgive" the sin.

That is, the Christian must confess her sins to a man who has received the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

So that's why we must confess our mortal sins to a priest.

Additionally, God knew that spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, the human creature would need to aurally and orally (via hearing and speaking) confess our sins.  That is, we benefit profoundly from saying our sins out loud, and from hearing, out loud (not just in our heads), authoritatively:  "May God give you pardon and peace; I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".


I found this article quite trenchant: "Confession is Cheaper than Therapy".   True, dat!


"The psychological difference between a silent and a spoken confession is like night and day.


Lots of Christians are a part of accountability groups, of course. The biblical writer James (5:16) recommended people confess their sins to each other, after all. Such groups could in theory function as confessionals, but they lack the ability to convey confidence about forgiveness, since there’s no authority vested in a small group of one’s peers."
(Please note:  I am not saying that psychotherapy is unnecessary if one goes to confession.  All I am positing, along with the author above is:  perhaps the demand for psychotherapy would diminish greatly if more Catholics utilized the free, and free-ing, gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation).


How magnificently liberating, cathartic, cleansing and relieving is it to our psyches to hear the words of absolution, spoken by the priest acting In Persona Christi!  We ought to be doing this every time we leave the confessional!




*venial sins are normatively absolved during Mass, or any time we repent and ask for forgiveness:  

"Since venial sin is an imperfection in our seeking of God, like an arrow that is a little off target, whenever we piously turn our heart and mind back to God venial sins are absolved, so this can occur on all the occasions you mention. It depends only our interior disposition. The external circumstance is the setting that brings us to that. Within the Mass, especially the penitential rite and at Holy Communion, we have a certain claim on the actual graces necessary to attain that disposition. But in fact, we can do so at any time by a pious act (with the help of grace, of course). source
"Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful"--1458 Catechism




For more in-depth study visit these websites:



"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" - 1 Peter 3:15