- Nov 26, 2007
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This seemingly obvious question has lingered during this Lent for me. Given that this is the "Lentiest Lent that ever Lented" as one observer put it, I've been trying to get back to basics as it were.
But I started thinking that this question, deceptively easy to answer yet profound in what it elicits, might be good for community reflection too. So I pose it here to all my Christian brothers and sisters, especially we of the Catholic Church:
Why are you a Christian?
Here's my 2 cents:
In some ways, I was an easy "target" for Christ. Like most of us, I was swept up into the Christian life as an infant through the waters of Catholic baptism. Then followed my being raised in a devout Southern Baptist community in the Bible Belt. With a deep natural sense of religiosity and an evangelical environment, choices of conversion came relatively easy for me.
But I suppose the real question is why I continue in the Christian faith. Like many, I had my dalliances with other belief systems and philosophies. I too wandered at times in far places. Yet, I always came back to my Christian Faith. I still embrace it today. So why?
I think there's a few things.
Firstly, there is this sense that there is nowhere else to go. I find this a distasteful reason due to its sheer pragmatism, but there's certainly Biblical precedent (John 6:68). I've tasted other beliefs and systems of thought. I've even walked to some degree in them. But nothing I have found matches the depth, consistency, and credibility of Christianity. I see it being called "the Way" for good reason (Acts 9:2).
Secondly, I have known the love of God. Growing up as a Southern Baptist, I was encouraged from childhood to develop a relationship with God in Christ. This relationship, while having many ups and downs, overall made me fall in love with Christ. In turn, during moments of deep prayer and consolation, Christ revealed but a sliver of the love of God to me...and I was hooked. There's nothing quite as satisfying and fulfilling as the love of God experienced in the soul...at least in my experience.
Thirdly, there is the related reality of being a Catholic revert who went through a convert's journey. To quote Dave Armstrong, a Catholic apologist, in a rather sweeping declaration: "I am convinced that the Catholic Church conforms much more closely to all of the biblical data, offers the only coherent view of the history of Christianity (i.e., Christian, Apostolic Tradition), and possesses the most profound and sublime Christian morality, spirituality, social ethic, and philosophy." Becoming Catholic was a revival and solidification of Christianity for me. It brought my Christian identity in "completion," especially through the Sacraments of Initiation. To put it simply, I became convinced of Catholicism because I was already convinced of Christianity.
And that conviction continues to drive me personally. I know it is true, all of it...or rather I believe it so thoroughly now that it is as if I know it to be reality. Since it is reality for me, I walk in it and embrace it as "the way of things." But more deeply, I embrace it because it seems to me to be the pinnacle of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.
Honestly, I'm still not entirely satisfied with my "answer." There seems to be something to it that is lacking although it is serviceable. Naturally I'll be reflecting on it more in the coming days.
As we approach Holy Week, especially during this quarantine, I share this question with you all. May we all experience a deep rejuvantion of our baptismal identities this holy season.
But I started thinking that this question, deceptively easy to answer yet profound in what it elicits, might be good for community reflection too. So I pose it here to all my Christian brothers and sisters, especially we of the Catholic Church:
Why are you a Christian?
Here's my 2 cents:
In some ways, I was an easy "target" for Christ. Like most of us, I was swept up into the Christian life as an infant through the waters of Catholic baptism. Then followed my being raised in a devout Southern Baptist community in the Bible Belt. With a deep natural sense of religiosity and an evangelical environment, choices of conversion came relatively easy for me.
But I suppose the real question is why I continue in the Christian faith. Like many, I had my dalliances with other belief systems and philosophies. I too wandered at times in far places. Yet, I always came back to my Christian Faith. I still embrace it today. So why?
I think there's a few things.
Firstly, there is this sense that there is nowhere else to go. I find this a distasteful reason due to its sheer pragmatism, but there's certainly Biblical precedent (John 6:68). I've tasted other beliefs and systems of thought. I've even walked to some degree in them. But nothing I have found matches the depth, consistency, and credibility of Christianity. I see it being called "the Way" for good reason (Acts 9:2).
Secondly, I have known the love of God. Growing up as a Southern Baptist, I was encouraged from childhood to develop a relationship with God in Christ. This relationship, while having many ups and downs, overall made me fall in love with Christ. In turn, during moments of deep prayer and consolation, Christ revealed but a sliver of the love of God to me...and I was hooked. There's nothing quite as satisfying and fulfilling as the love of God experienced in the soul...at least in my experience.
Thirdly, there is the related reality of being a Catholic revert who went through a convert's journey. To quote Dave Armstrong, a Catholic apologist, in a rather sweeping declaration: "I am convinced that the Catholic Church conforms much more closely to all of the biblical data, offers the only coherent view of the history of Christianity (i.e., Christian, Apostolic Tradition), and possesses the most profound and sublime Christian morality, spirituality, social ethic, and philosophy." Becoming Catholic was a revival and solidification of Christianity for me. It brought my Christian identity in "completion," especially through the Sacraments of Initiation. To put it simply, I became convinced of Catholicism because I was already convinced of Christianity.
And that conviction continues to drive me personally. I know it is true, all of it...or rather I believe it so thoroughly now that it is as if I know it to be reality. Since it is reality for me, I walk in it and embrace it as "the way of things." But more deeply, I embrace it because it seems to me to be the pinnacle of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.
Honestly, I'm still not entirely satisfied with my "answer." There seems to be something to it that is lacking although it is serviceable. Naturally I'll be reflecting on it more in the coming days.
As we approach Holy Week, especially during this quarantine, I share this question with you all. May we all experience a deep rejuvantion of our baptismal identities this holy season.
