Do We All Worship The Same God? By Isahel Alfonso Diversity of religious belief in today’s society has always been a temptation to water down the Catholic faith in order to achieve unity and peace amongst the world’s various religions. One of the devil’s mechanism in order to weaken the grasp of the Catholic Church in influencing man’s religious views is to perpetuate a lie that we are all worshiping the same God or all religions are the same. We often hear in ecumenical gatherings with our separated brethrens that there is no need to convert to the Catholic religion nor is it sinful to leave the Catholic faith and become a member of ecclesiastical communities not united in Rome, because we are just worshiping the same God and that various Protestant denominations are just an expression of the one Christian faith. The effect of this lie is devastating, people will no longer seek the kingdom of God because truth can conveniently be found in these man made organizations. In face of truth this ideology that we are all worshiping the same God or all religions are the same is unacceptable. A certain denomination whose roots can be traced back into Arius claims to be Christian, they worship Jesus Christ and profess their faith in him however they denied Christ’s divinity. They might be worshiping the name Jesus Christ, they might perform works of charity in his name but they are not worshiping the same Christ that we the true Christians (Catholic) worship because their Christ is devoid of any divinity, their Christ is just a man. Whereas, our Christ is true God and true Man (Jn.1:1, Rom.9:13, Heb.1:8-10), who suffered and died on the cross in order to redeem us and was resurrected after three days to manifest his divinity. There are also other faith who believes in a monotheistic God and yet denied the very nature of God, that in Him there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and these three are one (Gen.1:26, Gen.18:2, Mt.28:18-20), can we rightly say that with them we are worshiping the same God? And there also exist a religion who is fond of mysticism who continually seek God in nature, in themselves and in the unknown. God has already fully revealed himself through His Son Jesus Christ (Heb.2:1), hence we no longer have to seek God in all corners of the world but seek His Church who preaches the good news of our salvation so that we may come to have faith in him (Rom.10:17). In order to justify the error of religious indifferentism there are those who applied a liberal interpretation of a Vatican II document, the decree on Religious liberty. For the liberals and the modernist they explained that Religious liberty in eyes of the Church is a permission to anyone to believe what ever he wants to believe and to worship the gods that pleases him as long as it will cause a spiritual growth and zealousness on his part. But this is not what the Church meant by Religious liberty in fact this liberal interpretation is an abuse of religious liberty. The Church defends the inalienable right of a person to profess his faith and worship God but in no ways it gives the permission to believe to just any faith (Gal.1:8). Since religious liberty is a right then it can also be abused, in exercising ones right it must be done correctly and that is to exercise the right to religious freedom in worshiping the true God, the Holy Trinity and professing the true faith, the Catholic faith. Therefore, anyone who exercises his right by worshiping other gods and professing other faith is committing an abuse of this right. In Pope Gregory XVI’s encyclical Mirari Vos, it reminds us and condemns the error that we are all worshiping the same God and or all religions are the same. Speaking of religious indifferentism he said; Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that “there is one God, one faith, one baptism” may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that “those who are not with Christ are against Him,” and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore “without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate.” Let them hear Jerome who, while the Church was torn into three parts by schism, tells us that whenever someone tried to persuade him to join his group he always exclaimed: “He who is for the See of Peter is for me.” A schismatic flatters himself falsely if he asserts that he, too, has been washed in the waters of regeneration. Indeed Augustine would reply to such a man: “The branch has the same form when it has been cut off from the vine; but of what profit for it is the form, if it does not live from the root?” MIRARI VOS NO. 13 Our Lord Jesus Christ founded only one Church (Dan.2:44, Mt.16:17-19), and this Church that Jesus Christ himself historically founded is the kingdom of God on earth. We are told in the Gospel of Matthew to seek first the kingdom of God (Mt.6:33) henceforth our road towards salvation is to seek the Church the Christ himself founded because it is only this Church that he mandated to preach the gospel to all nations (Mt.28:18-20). Since the Church received her divine mandate from Christ himself it is through the preachings of her popes, bishops and priests that we may be able to learn the genuine Christian faith so that we may entrust ourselves to Christ, for faith comes by what is heard (Rom.10:17). The Catholic Church is not just a building or a place of worship it is the body of Christ (Col.1:18), since it is Christ’s body, he will save us through the Church (Acts 2:47, Eph.5:23). Should we seek any other Church, aside from the one that Jesus Christ founded? Should we seek any other faith, aside from the one that we received from the apostles? Certainly, there is only one faith, one Lord and one baptism (Eph.4:6). Therefore, we are not all worshiping the same God unless we worship the God that is preached by the apostles and Christ’s true Church the Catholic Church. And all religions are not the same unless we all belong to the Catholic Church. The words of St. Athanasius is of good reminder “Quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat Catholicam fidem” (Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.)
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 03:35:02 +0000
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