Katholisch Leben!

Den katholischen Glauben kennen, leben, lieben & verteidigen!

Dr. Scott Hahn: "The Evangelical Catholic Moment?"


In Germany, evangelizing, mission work, making disciples or whatever you might call it, is a touchy subject. At best, smaller evangelical churches might practice it - the way it should be done. The two big ones - Lutheran and Catholic - have (if at all) a totally different concept. For most of the Christians here, this is at best something fundamentalists do. Ar members of religious orders when they go to Africa. We donate a little money. This is what we contribute to mission work.
Evangelizing Jews is something the big churches won't even think of - or reject straight away (where in the Bible does God exclude the Jews from the Great Commission?).
Even Muslims or members of other religions are "non-touchables" when it comes to evangelizing.
What lacks, is an understanding of what discipleship is all about to begin with. You cannot pass on what you do not love. And you cannot love what you do not know.
At the moment, God blesses us with pastors, priests and nuns from Africa, India and similar countries that used to be the object of mission and evangelizing work. They sometimes painfully remind us of what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about (though German Christians would never call themselves like that. They are Lutherans or Catholics - and not disciples of Jesus Christ).
The idea that both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission is something EVERY Christian is called to and will be held accountable for lacks completely.
Lukewarm cafeteria Christianity and moral relativism reign.

So far, so bad.

But! It does not end there.

In the worst of times, God sometimes calls the least of the least. Simple laypeople stand up for Him, even though others attack them. Simple people like Peter was one. It is easy to spread the faith when everything goes easy street. When things get rough though, it becomes a challenge. Jesus did not come to heal the healthy, but the sick.

The situation in Europe is very grave - spiritually and politically. Things can escalate and explode very fast. The current times remind me of the Weimar Republic - the political system here before Hitler got to power. Likewise today people do not seem to be able and willing to read the sign of the times.

To live in such times is both very hard and very rewarding. It has been a long time when being a true disciple was such a challenge. Then again - it was worse for the early Christians and reading their testimonies, we get an idea of what discipleship is all about.

Our hearts must burn for the love of God, neighbor and self. Burn so much we set others on fire!

"What are we so afraid of," Fr. Bill Casey from the Fathers of Mercy in Kentucky, USA, might say now. That we get angry emails? That others will not talk with us anymore?

So be it! Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world at the moment. Many are brutally murdered for their faith.

And yet - their light will continue to shine. They will not be forgotten.

Some time ago, I visited the memorial site of the former concentration camp in Dachau near Munich, Germany. The tour guide showed us the cells where the priests were at. Technically, they were even allowed to celebrate mass there. In reality, it could happen that someone took the chalice and smashed it into their face.

People like Dietrich Bonhoeffer were there (I had also been at the site where he was finally killed in Flossenbürg). He wrote a book that fascinated me: "Life together".

Or take people like Mother Theresa. She could not care less when she was talking in the USA in front of the President and other celebrities. She said what needed to be said, not would people wanted to hear. Among others, she very strongly condemned one of the most horrible crimes - abortion.

However, it has always been the most simple people that touched my heart deeply. Those that nobody knows and talks about and whose life witness had been a tremendous testimony for the hope and love within them. They evangelized in a way that puts me to shame.

Among many, I want to mention my mom. She died last year after 30 (!) years of illness. No, she was no saint. She was an ordinary woman. Except for the way she dealt with her pain. I had been with her the last months when it got really bad. The way she bravely coped with her deteriorating health while at the same time keeping a strong faith very much impressed me.

In her last days she fell into a coma after water got into her lungs. They put a tube down her air pipe so she would get oxygen and also many cables into her arms to supply her with what her body needed, to watch over the body functions, to put her on dialysis and so on. I was told that even if she woke up she would not be the same as her brain was damaged through the lack of oxygen. Anyways she would notice nothing as she was in a coma, they said.

The family gathered around her bed and we had a priest come for the anointing of the sick. We prayed over her and the priest performed the rite. I stood beside her head and my sister near me.

When the priest made the cross on her forehead with the chrisam oil, I thought my heart would stop beating and my blood would freeze. Tears were rolling down her cheek. I nudged my sister to show her.

There was no dry eye in the room.

Sometimes God shows you through the weakest of the weakest that He is still there, that He is in control and that He is - and will always be - God.

In her hardest hour, my mother most likely drew more people to God than in her whole life.

Munich. August 9th 2016

Robert Anton Gollwitzer


Want to know how to evangelize? Here's how: Tell it like it is.

Tell people there is objective truth. Explain the relevance of truth in a person's life, the consequences of living against it, both in this life and most especially in the next. Understand, before you ever open your mouth, that the point of evangelization is to master sin so as to become holy.

Evangelization has one goal: to encourage and convince people to become living saints so they can get you to Heaven. None of this is possible without knowledge. People don't respond immediately out of love. They respond to negative consequences. It's how we are built. It's one of the horrible effects of Original Sin.

Very few of us jump up and rush headlong toward God. We are lazy and self-centered and unwilling to put in the effort. Emotions only go so far. They wear out. Our wills need to guided by our intellects, which need to be convinced, have brought home to them the necessity of the Catholic faith.

All of this is why discipline is necessary. Catechesis is necessary before one can evangelize. And the problem in the Church today is not a lack of people willing to emote about their faith. The problem is the lack of people who know what the Faith teaches — which begs the question: What are they emoting about if it isn't the Faith?

When we began this apostolate going on 11 years ago, this is precisely what we saw — huge numbers of Catholics who knew nothing or next to nothing about their faith. We set out to evangelize them, which is to say teach them about the Faith.

Say what you want about Church Militant, but thousands and thousands of people watch our stuff every day and they come to the Faith or are strengthened in it. We know, because we continually hear from them in emails and speaking engagements and letters and phone calls and so forth. And blessed be God for it.

It's all Him in the end anyway. Our daily prayer here is: "Use us to save souls." We've prayed that prayer since the very first day and always will. Practically every Vortex episode garners at least 10,000 views, many of them considerably more than that. Why? Not because of me, or that we give things away for free, or anything else. It's simply because we say it like it is — something the Church of Nice doesn't know how to do.

We talk about Hell and call out those who refuse to do so. We talk about the superiority of the Catholic Church over all other religions which are false and call out those who in the Church who refuse to do so. We say what the Church has always taught, that outside of Her there is no salvation; and we call out those in the Church who shirk their responsibility to teach in the same manner.

We are hated, despised, plotted against and so forth because of it — and we couldn't care less. We have taken as our models for evangelization the four original Evangelists themselves, of whom we have a relic of each and a statue of each in our chapel. We preach and teach like them because they taught and preached in the same fashion they learned from their Master.

No one "evangelized" better or more truthfully than Our Blessed Lord, so what He did and said is the only manner worth paying attention to. So you can scrap Alpha and the laser light shows and the rock bands and theatrical productions at parishes. All you have to do is say what He said and do what He did — like the Church has largely done for 2,000 years.

A major ingredient of His preaching was about Hell, the consequence of rejecting Him. In short, Our Blessed Lord as well as the Apostles who learned at His sacred feet simply said it like it is.

He wasn't rude, but He was offensive. His Apostle Matthew even interrupts his gospel at one point to tell us that. There was no pussy-footing around by Our Lord or trying to accommodate sin. He, nor later His disciples, didn't take 100 words to say what they could say in 10. Brevity, clarity directness. Those are the hallmarks of sound preaching and evangelization.

In fact, to that point, it is eye-popping when you notice how brief and direct the four gospels are. With only a handful of exceptions, the four gospels — which are the zenith of the Bible — are the shortest books in the Bible. Their brevity and directness belie an urgency to the message.

The first recorded words Our Lord spoke were short and to the point: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Pretty clear there. And not a lot of room for ambiguity. Why take 20 minutes to say what you can say in 20 seconds?

Of course there are times when a more in-depth approach is necessary. But going more in depth never necessitates that something lack clarity. The whole point, the only reason for going on about something is to make it more clear, not less clear. Our Blessed Lord did not speak to hear the sound of His own voice. He already knew the eternal truth of what He was saying. He Himself was the Word, the Logos.

What He said was for our benefit, and no one doubted the meaning of what He said once they grasped it in its completeness. They understood Him so plainly that they first walked away from Him at Capernaum, abandoning Him by the thousands — and then they killed Him.

Clarity is the hallmark of effective evangelization, not presenting things in such a way that people are left to decide for themselves what you meant, and then sign onto something they don't sufficiently understand — but saying it as clearly and directly as you can. People have a right to know the fullness of truth, so they are free to embrace it. Those who refuse to embrace it are damned. But everyone has a right to know the whole truth. That's how Our Lord treated them.

Another way to evangelize is to know what the heck you are talking about. Today, lots of evangelization efforts in the Church take little care to make sure that those who are "discipling" (hate that protestant-sounding expression) actually know the Faith and can defend it. The emphasis is on being able to transmit "joy" to people. Well, if the joy is based on a firm grasp of the truth, amen.

But quite often, as in the small-group discussions at Alpha meetings, for example, practically nothing is understood of the Faith, and to grasp that fact more clearly, all you need to do is talk to a faithful Catholic who has ever sat around one of those small-group discussion tables. It takes about 30 seconds to realize that people there know very little. And these people are supposed to go out and evangelize? Evangelize about what exactly?

Learn the Faith and then teach it clearly and directly. That's how to evangelize?

http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-how-to-evangelize?mc_cid=474ecbe27d&mc_eid=fe11e644b6


Dear Pope Francis,


I read these days that you that you spoke against “religious proselytism” which in your view means talking with someone to persuade him. Instead we should respect other’s beliefs and inspire them through witness so we can grow together in communicating.

As a fellow Catholic who loves you like a father I want to respond you publicly.

You might mean well when you are saying this, but this goes so much against everything Christianity stands for I need to reply in love.

I am a cradle Catholic, but I have taken a long way till I came back to the Catholic Church. Among others I spend years with Israelis and in evangelical churches, so I am somewhat familiar with non-Catholic belief systems.

Wikipedia says “proselytism […] is the act of attempting to convert people to another religion or opinion”. How can this be wrong for a Christian?


Matthew 28:16-20New International Version (NIV)

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”


You seem to have a great love for Evangelicals. So do I. I would even call myself an Evangelical Catholic. Evangelicals, however, pay great importance to evangelizing (or what you might call “proselytizing”). That’s something different, you might object. No, it’s not – not with regard to the Great Commission. We could discuss about the means (and here our personal witness through our words and deeds is very important), but not about the need thereof.

Sadly though most Catholics seem to have given up on the Great Commission or do not even know what that is. The common view is “live and let live” or “it does not matter what somebody believes in, they will all go to heaven”.

No, they won’t. I am not saying that all of those who have never heard of Jesus will go to hell, but from that speaking against attempts to convert people is a whole lot different.

Look to Jesus and His apostles: They gave their lives to convert other people who previously adhered to pagan beliefs – or to Judaism. That is exactly what “proselytizing” is all about. Saint Paul was even chosen for this reason – the disciple of the most important Jewish rabbi in history that became a follower of Jesus to reach out especially to the non-Jews.

I am afraid that what you said will confirm people in the erroneous belief that it does not matter what people believe in and that evangelizing (or however we might call it) is something we don’t do anymore.

Jesus did not talk about the small and the wide gate for no reason. Neither was his warning that nobody will come to the Father unless through Him just something one needs to see in a different light today.

It is not up to us to decide who will go to the Father and who not. However, it IS up to us to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Dear Pope Francis, I respect you and I love you – but there is someone I respect and love even more: Jesus. Therefore I call you to clarify your position so people will not be lead astray.

Some might laugh and say who is this guy that he dares to tell the Holy Father what to do?

I am nobody – and I am everybody. Jesus died for me as He died for each one of us. In His eyes we are all at one level – God’s children. As a brother in Christ – with the full responsibility and authority thereof – I call you to follow Jesus’s Great Commandment and teach others how to do that.


In brotherly love,


Robert Gollwitzer

July 30th, 2014


(Sources: http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/10-secrets-for-happiness/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proselytism)


“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Links International

Beitrag von St. Paul Street Evangelization.
Should Catholics not try to convince others – as in “proselytizing”?

Of course they should! “Proselytizing” has a bad sound to it, but it need not be so. It is just another aspect of evangelizing. Yes, we should also convince others through our own life example – through our works of love, through the way we act and talk, and through the way we worship. But this is not all there is to it. We can and should also try to challenge other people’s beliefs and try to win their hearts and minds! Outreach is not just a matter of the heart, it also affects the intellect. Peter taught us we should always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within us. That also includes the knowledge about this hope. Knowing what the Church and with it the Bible teaches. Knowing what we believe and why we believe it. Giving our faith a reason and being ready to defend it when necessary. We can only love what we know, so a solid foundation is essential for our faith. This knowledge and foundation can help us convincing others. Now I said it. And with full intention – this is something we MUST do. And we must be able to do it. Yes, we should avoid being arrogant, prideful and the like. We should not try to win the argument, but the heart – and soul. Bottom line: As bad as it might sound to some, but there is nothing wrong with it – on the contrary, it is a must for every Catholic.

Links International

AirMaria.com: Oct 09 - Homily: Evangelical Catholics

Steve Ray: How Catholics Can Re-Evangelize Our World

Feed design by pfalzonline.de

Feed design by pfalzonline.de

Feed design by pfalzonline.de

Pope Francis: Courage in proclaiming the Gospel

What I think of the new document by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews called "The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable" (Rom 11:29) A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic–Jewish Relations on the Occation of the 50th Anniversary of "Nostra Aetate" (No.4)?

I have only glanced through it, but from what I saw so far I consider it highly dangerous and misleading - almost to the point of heresy. Like any other wrong teaching coming from within the Church, there is a lot of truth in it. That makes the error ever so much more dangerous as it becomes invisible as error and appears as truth. In short: I believe the leaders of the Church are leading their flock into the wrong direction and it is up to us to stand up and fulfill both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (which makes no difference of nationality or religious affiliation, institutions or individuals). To exclude anyone from that opens a door that will lead to even worse error.

Feed design by pfalzonline.de

“If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes. We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations… But Jesus is so different from us. With the task of taking the gospel to the world, he wandered through the streets and byways…All He wanted was a few men who would think as He did, love as He did, see as He did, teach as He did and serve as He did. All He needed was to revolutionize the hearts of a few, and they would impact the world.”

― David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

Is evangelization a "good work?" Why does it matter? Prof. Michael Barber explains:http://youtu.be/RmPLu1Zy498

Posted by Catholic Answers on Donnerstag, 21. Mai 2015


“The old-fashioned method of evangelism was to make people weep, but the modern “Hollywood” way is to make people laugh. Everybody has to have a jolly good time. . . . We must have plenty of jokes or it would not be a good meeting. That is why there is such a woeful lack of conviction of sin in modern evangelism. The Holy Spirit cannot work in a frivolous atmosphere.”
― Michael L. Brown, Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message



“WE have little idea of just how dependent we have become on human means. If we don’t spend thousands of dollars advertising our special rallies and activities we can hardly draw a crowd. Without extensive mailings, only a handful of people will be interested in our Gospel activities and products. In our media-soaked society, we have found it necessary to resort to full-color magazine displays, catchy marketing phrases, massive bumper sticker campaigns, and special celebrity guests at our meetings. And while none of this is necessarily sinful or wrong, it is surely symptomatic of one thing: We don’t have revival fire in our midst! The Holy Spirit is not drawing the crowds.”
― Michael L. Brown, Whatever Happened to the Power of God?/It's Time to Rock the Boat


Patrick Coffin on how to share your faith with people who are less than interested or who are openly hostile.http://www.catholic.com/blog/patrick-coffin/evangelizing-the-difficult

Posted by Catholic Answers on Samstag, 9. Mai 2015

Der Kommentar von Ulrich Parzany über den Stellenwert von Mission in der Kirche – ausführlich in der aktuellen Ausgabe von #ideaSpektrum.

Posted by idea on Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2015
“New Evangelization is the work of the whole Church — lay, ordained, and consecrated. It’s about friends, family, and co-workers reaching out to one another and proclaiming the truth of Christ using all available means — conversation, personal witness, media, and the vast array of intellectual and spiritual riches the Church has built up in her two-thousand-year history. It’s about simple acts of kindness, simple challenges issued in love, and simple questions asked with sincerity. More fundamentally, the New Evangelization is more for the baptized than the unbaptized. It’s for those who’ve been inadequately catechized but all too adequately secularized, and it’s for those who’ve been de-Christianized in the very process of being sacramentalized.”
― Scott Hahn, Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization

As Pope St. John Paul II taught us, the New Evangelization is everyone's job in the Church. And an important part of the...

Posted by St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology on Donnerstag, 16. April 2015

"The Christian message is spread thanks to men and women who are in love with Christ, and cannot help but pass on the joy of being loved and saved."

Pope Francis

Seek Me!

Jeremiah 29:13

King James Version (KJV)

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

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Beitrag von Catholic News Agency.
Beitrag von I Love Being Catholic.
Beitrag von News.va English.

The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:36-40

King James Version (KJV)

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Beitrag von Kath Net.

Apologetik

Diese Seite hat sich der Apologetik verschrieben, also der Verteidigung und Begründung des Katholischen Glaubens. Es sollen zum einen Katholikinnen und Katholiken das nötige Handwerkszeug bekommen, um ihren Glauben kennen zu lernen (wir können ja letztlich nur lieben, was wir auch kennen), diesen sich selbst gegenüber begründen zu können (Glaube und Vernunft gehen Hand in Hand), aber auch um in der Lage zu sein, den katholischen Glauben gegen Angriffe verteidigen zu können. Andererseits aber möchten wir all denen, die meinen, sie lehnen die Katholische Kirche ab - aber tatsächlich nur das ablehnen, was sie dafür halten - in Liebe begegnen und ihnen unsere Glaubensgrundsätze vermitteln. Schließlich richtet sich diese Homepage respekt- und liebevoll an all die, die meinen, sie wären "bibeltreue Christinnen und Christen" und die Katholische Kirche hätte ihre biblische Grundlage schon lange aufgegeben - wenn sie diese denn überhaupt je hatte. Hier soll vermittelt werden, dass unser Glaube sich sehr wohl auf die Bibel stützt. Wir möchten ihnen in Demut und geschwisterlicher Liebe zeigen, warum wir glauben, was wir glauben.

Letztlich geht es bei diesem Projekt auch und vor allem darum, Jesus und die frohe Botschaft - das Königreich Gottes - zu verkünden und Menschen zu Jüngern Jesu zu machen. Hier soll also nicht auf Biegen und Brechen ein von Gott losgelöst betrachtetes Bollwerk verteidigt werden, sondern anhand unseres eigenen Beispiels anderen Menschen gezeigt werden, was es heisst, einander zu lieben und Jesus nachzufolgen.

Beitrag von Catholic Answers.
Beitrag von Catholic Answers.

Catholic-Hierarchy News

My King

Funny thing, if I remember correctly there once used to be a rabbi who did not have any business plan for church mega-growth. No publicity department. No homepage. No emails. No money. Even those He chose as followers were - theologically speaking - illiterates. A handful of dudes, and one even was a bum.

What was He thinking?

When He preached, He used words that drove people away from Him. He couldn't care less. He even asked the remaining rest if they wanted to leave, too. No political correctness here.

Again: What was He thinking?

He could have used other means. He could have been the kind of leader that people back then (and today?) were waiting for. The mighty warlord. The knight in shining armour. The one that kicks some .... and throws those Romans out.

Yes, He could have. He had all the power to do that - and more than that. And what did He do? He dealt with the lowest of the lowest and humbled Himself to their level. He loved people in a way unknown before. With a love that asked for nothing and gave everything. With a love that puts us to shame even today.

He did not fulfill people's expectations. He did not give them what they wanted. He gave them what they truly needed. And to do so, He gave His utmost: He sacrificed Himself and gave His life so we can live. He came down on earth to become man so men could become sons of God. Dying on the cross like a criminal, He even prayed for those who helped nailing Him up there.

And what's worst: He even asked everything of His disciples. They were told to give - no: to sacrifice! - everything they have. To sell all of their possessions, give their money to the poor and follow Him without even looking back. They were even told to give their own lives!

I guess He would still be sort of out of place in some of the churches today.

If I remember correctly, His name was Jesus.

Anybody by chance remember Him?

He is the ruler of my life. He is the one I love and follow.

He is my king.

My saviour.

Rob

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

King James Version (KJV)

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Creation Ministries International

Apologetics and the Great Commission

The purpose of this homepage is to help people understand and love the Christian faith, the Catholic Church - and most of all: Jesus Himself and like that become true disciples. This homepage is NOT about pushing "the Catholic cause" at all costs while forgetting that the Church is the body of Christ and that Jesus set the example of how sacrificial and unconditional love and humbleness should look like.

Remember the Great Commission is not about defending the Catholic Church whatever it costs (even though knowing, explaining, defending - and most of all: obeying and living! -  the Catholic faith sure is part of every Catholic's calling!), but about this:

Matthew 28:16-20

King James Version (KJV)

16Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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Die Situation in vielen Pfarreien ist beinahe trostlos: Predigten, mit denen jeder leben kann und die doch nichts sagen und niemanden eine geistige Nahrung bieten, Pfarreien, die seit Jahrzehnten die Worte "Hölle"oder "Verdammnis" nicht mehr gehört haben, liturgische Missbräuche, ein beinahe völliges Fehlen der Glaubensvermittlung und Katechese, ein über Jahrzehnte andauerndes Ausbreiten eines unseligen liberalen Modernismus, eine völlige Unkenntnis der Gläubigen und Würdenträger über den Auftrag Jesu, hinauszugehen und Menschen zu Seinen Jüngern zu machen, eine ebensolche Unkenntnis über das, was Jüngerschaft ausmacht, ein Versagen der Kirche als Institution und Verwaltungseinheit in vielen Bereichen - die Liste ließe sich noch lange fortsetzen.

 

In genau dieser Situation ruft Gott nun all die, die an Ihn glauben, zur radikalen und kompromisslosen Nachfolge Jesu Christi auf. Jede und jeder von uns ist gerufen, tätig zu werden, wo andere versagen!

 

Betet, wie ihr noch nie gebetet habt - und lasst diesen Gebeten Taten folgen!

 

Geht hinaus, macht Menschen zu Jüngern Jesu Christi! Liebt die, die Liebe am meisten nötig haben, mit einer bedingungslosen Liebe, die nichts fordert und alles gibt, damit die Menschen Jesus Christus preisen! Gebt alles, was ihr habt her und folgt dem nach, der allein es wert ist, dass man Ihm nachfolgt:

 

Jesus Christus!

Machine Gun Preacher

Evangelikale Katholiken?

Geht denn das überhaupt - evangelikal und katholisch? Nun ja, abgesehen vom Prinzip "Sola Scriptura" (also der Bibel als einzige Autorität) geht das durchaus. Mehr noch: es wäre vielleicht die Zukunft der Katholischen Kirche. Es scheint revolutionär, aber wäre es denn so abwegig, wenn es von kirchlicher Seite her möglich wäre, neben den bestehenden Strukturen evangelikale Strukturen zuzulassen - mit ähnlichem Gemeindeaufbau, Glaubensverständnis, Glaubenspraxis, Jüngerschaftsprizip, Evangelisation usw. Warum denn nicht?

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

"I have decided to follow Jesus. Though no one joins me, still I will follow."

 

Assam, north-east India, who held on to Jesus when being told to recounce his faith by the village chief. His wife was killed and Assam as well - while he was singing these words: "The cross before me, the world behind me." His strong faith kept on shining: The village chief and others in the village converted afterwards. (see: Wikipedia)

The Year of Faith

Bishop Ricken Offers ‘10 Ways Catholics Can Live The Year Of Faith’: http://www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-150.cfm

Lumen Gentium 14

"Den katholischen Gläubigen wendet die Heilige Synode besonders ihre Aufmerksamkeit zu. Gestützt auf die Heilige Schrift und die Tradition, lehrt sie, daß diese pilgernde Kirche zum Heile notwendig sei. Christus allein ist Mittler und Weg zum Heil, der in seinem Leib, der Kirche, uns gegenwärtig wird; indem er aber selbst mit ausdrücklichen Worten die Notwendigkeit des Glaubens und der Taufe betont hat (vgl. Mk 16,16; Joh 3,5), hat er zugleich die Notwendigkeit der Kirche, in die die Menschen durch die Taufe wie durch eine Türe eintreten, bekräftigt. Darum könnten jene Menschen nicht gerettet werden, die um die katholische Kirche und ihre von Gott durch Christus gestiftete Heilsnotwendigkeit wissen, in sie aber nicht eintreten oder in ihr nicht ausharren wollten. Jene werden der Gemeinschaft der Kirche voll eingegliedert, die, im Besitze des Geistes Christi, ihre ganze Ordnung und alle in ihr eingerichteten Heilsmittel annehmen und in ihrem sichtbaren Verband mit Christus, der sie durch den Papst und die Bischöfe leitet, verbunden sind, und dies durch die Bande des Glaubensbekenntnisses, der Sakramente und der kirchlichen Leitung und Gemeinschaft. Nicht gerettet wird aber, wer, obwohl der Kirche eingegliedert, in der Liebe nicht verharrt und im Schoße der Kirche zwar "dem Leibe", aber nicht "dem Herzen" nach verbleibt (26). Alle Söhne der Kirche sollen aber dessen eingedenk sein, daß ihre ausgezeichnete Stellung nicht den eigenen Verdiensten, sondern der besonderen Gnade Christi zuzuschreiben ist; wenn sie ihr im Denken, Reden und Handeln nicht entsprechen, wird ihnen statt Heil strengeres Gericht zuteil."

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_ge.html

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Differences Between Catholic and Protestant Approaches to the Bible

by Steve Ray on March 10, 2013

“Bible Christians” (a misnomer, since Catholics are the real and original Bible Christians), based on their recently devised “Reformation” principle of sola Scriptura, study the Bible with the following premises:

1. There is no binding authority but the Bible alone;

2. There is no official binding interpretation or interpreter; each person ultimately is their own pope;

3. The Bible is perspicuous (i.e., easy to understand) and it can be interpreted and understood by anyone.

4. An individual can/should read the Bible and interpret the Bible for themselves.


Catholics have a different set of premises that direct their study of the Bible.

1. The authority of the Apostles and the Church preceded the Bible and the Sacred Tradition of the Church is an equally infallible authority (2 Thes 2:15; CCC 80 83). The Bible is part of the Apostolic Tradition.

2. The authoritative interpretation of the Bible is the prerogative of the Catholic Church (1 Tim 3:15; Mt 18:17; CCC 85?88).

3. The Bible is not always easy to understand (2 Pet 3:15?16) and needs to understood within its historical and contextual framework and interpreted within the community to which it belongs.

4. Individuals can/should read the Bible and interpret the Bible for themselves—but within the framework of the Church’s authoritative teaching and not based on their own “private interpretation” (2 Pet 1:20?21).

(Source: Steve Ray: http://www.catholic-convert.com/2013/03/10/differences-between-catholic-and-protestant-approaches-to-the-bible/comment-page-1/#comment-316636. Used with permission)

The Bible Alone?

2 Thessalonians 2:15 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition (NRSVACE)

 

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.