How did we get around these verses? Easy, we did not read them! There are entire sections of the Bible that I never knew existed as I grew up Baptist and I am not talking about the books that were removed from the Protestant canon. For example, we NEVER talked about the bronze serpent in the OT.
In a recent educational survey, the attitudes of US students’ towards their math ability were compared to those of other countries. Perhaps not surprisingly, the US students’ confidence ranked higher than those of Asia and Europe. But when they looked at actual aptitude level of those countries, Americans were in fact the least mathematically capable!
OSAS breeds an entire Christian culture that lives in this sort blind spot produced by their pride. So certain are they in their interpretation, they can not even bare to discuss the possibility that maybe Jesus meant something else when He exhorted people to “obey the commandments” if they want to get to Heaven.
But that blind spot covers more than justification. Evangelicals are so confident and proud of being a “Bible-believing” faith, that they never question the idea of their preacher “worshipping” by giving lectures (sermons) on HIS views based on HIS proof-texting the Scriptures. As Catholics, we can understand that there is nothing wrong in that practice in and of itself, but we are left in the awkward position of explaining to these people that there is so much MORE to it than that.
When you strike a Bible, it makes a sound. You can feel it smart against your skin. It has weight. It has color. The Bible exists in a way that is hard to deny. It announces its own presence through its accidents. But the accidents of an angel or a saint in Heaven are harder to detect. You cannot feel, smell, or hear one (baring the occasional miracle). The same is true of God – unless you take the created universe as the accident that points to His existence. The Bible can also be taken as an outward sign that He exists.
And this is just about as far as OSAS beliefs can go. Discussion of the supernatural is discouraged. Miracles that do not occur in the Bible are generally not spoken of. The occasional missionary story is the exception but even then they differ in scope and grandeur from many of your more well-known Catholic miracles (like the spinning sun at Fatima). The evangelical faith is based more on the simple senses like touch than it is on the higher faculties of logic and faith.
So think how hard it would be for an evangelical to understand that in the Eucharist, the accidents of the bread and wine remain but in totality of being it is God Himself? You could point out that Jesus’ physiology did not betray His divine nature but I have never gotten that far in the conversation. They are usually laughing me out of the room by this point.
As for the Scriptures that challenge OSAS belief, the key is to add liberal amounts of sentimentality to water down their true power. The following is from the introduction to 1John in my old NIV Student Bible:
“How to Read John: … As you read John, note the pattern. He defines a word, such as light, discusses its opposite, darkness, and then describes what a life in the light would be like. In every case, he shows God as the source of power in the Christian life.”
Again, no argument there from the Catholic side. But think how wonderful it would be if it challenged readers to understand Gnosticism and examine their own beliefs against it. There is a small article on Gnosticism in my version but the study question asks: “How can we counter those same trends (super-spirituality and loose morals) among Christians today?” The blind spot is obvious: there is no plank in my eye!
Shout it out!