"If you get Jesus wrong, it doesn't matter what you get right!"

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Thingsnotseen

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The statement “If you get Jesus wrong, it doesn’t matter what you get right!” comes from someone in a protestant ministry and the ministry has a huge presence on TV. This individual is NOT of friend of Catholic beliefs.

I said that to ask “Who do you say Jesus is?” I know what the creeds say, so I’d love to see responses other than quoting the creed verbatim. If Catholics get Jesus right, why does this guy have an issue if he believes what he says?

I’ll start.

I believe Jesus is the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, he his divine, that Father, Son ( Jesus ) and Holy Spirit make up the Trinity, that Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the sins of the world, that he rose the 3rd day, ascended to heaven, is seated at the right hand of the father and that NO OTHER name saves us. We are saved by the Grace of God through Faith in Jesus Christ but that we must live out that faith and endure to the end.
 
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Thingsnotseen said:
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I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, the only-begotten, born of the Father before all ages. Light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in essence with the Father; through whom all things were made. For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. He rose on the third day according to the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of Life, who proceeds from the Father. Together with the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified; he spoke through the prophets. In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I profess one baptism for the remission of sins. I expect the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
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One does not know Jesus fully if one does not know His Church. Jesus founded the Catholic Church.

To know Jesus is to know His Church, the Sacraments He instituted for us (I will be with you always) and His teachings (Doctrine…if you love me you will obey my commandments).
 
The trouble is, this criterion - “getting Jesus right” - is not answered well, if one answers too simply or briefly and omits “the details” wherein lie great differences. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus - a believer in Jesus - in the matter of:
  • The Mass, and Holy Eucharist: the Real Presence?
  • divorce and remarriage?
  • contraception?
  • abortion?
  • homosexual activity?
  • surgical reassignment of reproductive organs?
  • submission to dogmas of the Catholic Church?
    … for examples.
For some of the more fierce anti-Catholics, to be a “real Christian” means above all NOT to believe anything that the Catholic Church teaches! If the Church believes it, it is obviously wrong, anti-biblical and non-Christian, for these folks.

So the question is, I think, if you are a Christian, “which” Jesus do you profess? (or, which “gospel” is true?) In truth there is only one Jesus, and there is only one Gospel.
 
And i would be willing to bet that if this individual had a loved one on their death bed and a non-believing doctor saves their life, his first response will be “thanks be to God” and then he will turn to the unbelieving dr and say “thank you”. I realy dont think he has thought through this position.

Peace!!!
 
@Vico: That’s good! Can I use it? 😀

Seriously, you hit the mark.The Creed is the thing.
 
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@fide: You raise a good point. Belief in Jesus as Lord is mandatory. But for your list, isn’t that more about accepting those teachings and acting accordingly? I can’t imagine most Catholics agree completely with 100% of what the Church teaches, but if they are willing to accept and follow Church teaching, isn’t that what matters?

You take contraception alone. A poll I read says that 82% of Catholics think it is morally acceptable and 98% of Catholic women have used it at some time.
 
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This guy is anti-Catholic in my opinion. I watched a DVD he was on and had to stop a few minutes into he because he was wrong on so many things like in 1546 Catholics added 7 books to the Bible. Come on… really? and you’re an expert?
 
Protestants are very good at catchy phrases. Unfortunately their ideas can be a mile wide but only an inch deep. That doesn’t mean that I don’t still enjoy a good Protestant church sign’s weekly message.
 
Well, maybe another problem then is the real meaning of “believing in Jesus”. It does NOT mean merely saying words, or even merely giving mental assent. It means living, acting, being in accord with Jesus - His teachings and His life.

Believing is inseparable from obeying. Paul uses the phrase, “obedience of faith:”
Rom 1:5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Rom 16:26 but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
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Faith without works in coherence with that faith, is empty verbiage or agreement with ideas. “Faith without works is dead,” as St. James wrote.

Many Catholics have never, I would guess, never heard a strong affirmation of the Catholic Faith concerning contraception: it is sinful. It is opposed to divine truth. It is a lie against love, and life. Disobedience of this teaching of the Church, in the name of Christ, has led to major problems in Catholic family life and the Catholic home. For this I blame those who have been charged with the responsibility to teach the truth, but they have not.
 
I am not sure what the preacher means by getting Jesus wrong or right. A child’s understanding of Jesus might be theologically “wrong” but pleasing to Jesus himself. This year I made a great New Year’s resolution: to know Jesus better.

For starters, I have a reading list of excellent Catholic books about Jesus, written by priests and popes, extremely deep theology, but I know that’s not where it’s at. That’s the intellectual side.

The hard part, for me, is to have a close relationship with Jesus, and I think that’s all that counts.
 
@randomalias
I’m glad you get that the books on deep theology is the intellectual side of Jesus. To have a close relationship, the short version is prayer and listening. But as you know there is more.

I heard Father Larry Richards recently via ETWN mention spending an hour in adoration and core things he said was pray but also listen, ask Jesus to speak to you, to stop and listen, to be quiet with Jesus, to imagine Jesus holding you.

My own relationship with Jesus is something that I feel inside. I pray fairly regular at Mass that I feel God’s presence. This past Sunday my eyes watered up with tears as we sung … “Here I am, Lord. ---- Is it I, Lord? ---- I have heard you calling in the night ---- I will go, Lord, if you lead me I will hold your people in my heart.”
 
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But you cannot stop short of the Church which He founded!

The pillar and foundation of truth.

Which has power over sin.

Power to bind and loose.

Against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.

Why complicate it?

The ego gets in the way.

Convenience gets in the way.

Life gets in the way of eternal life.

We desire only enough of Him to be saved.

But how much is that?

Only the Church knows with certainty.
 
Jesus is son of the Father
Son of Mary
Son of God

Jesus in indescribable humility assumed the mantel of humanities mortal flesh in order to model for us the less trod path to our own possible salvation.

Jesus / GOD became a mortal man like us in every way but sin; lived a life that modeled for us the path to Heaven; then as the perfectly Innocent Lamb of God; willingly suffered, died and was buried, rose from the Dead, so THAT we too could in Faith know that His Love assured US that heaven, now opened for the first time due to Original sin was now a possibility.

Jesus asked that we love all others as He had proven to love each of us. That challenge; that command, that task remains for each of us to endeavor to fulfill. We, none of us can or will attain heaven without loving much.

May Jesus continue to guide our life’s journey
Patrick
 
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