Here is a question that has been on my heart… I will give a little background to help understand why I ask…
Before my conversion, I was a very strong “Bible alone” Christian. I loved Jesus with such an unquenchabel thirst! I studied my Bible and loved the Word of God. Everytime I could find an opportunity to share the Bible, to share my faith, to serve in church, to serve the community, I jumped on it! All because I wanted to grow closer to Christ! In school I would always carry my Bible on top of my books, to show that I held the Word of God above everything else. I poured over the scriptures, searching for new ways to know and understand my Lord.
Code:
I remember looking at Catholics, and wondering to myself "WHY do they have all that extra stuff?" Why do catholics pray to mary? Why do catholics practice all these unnecesary tradtions??? It's not in the Bible! Don't they know all they need is Jesus and the Bible? They are missing out on a TRUE relationship with Christ! I wish they could just see and know Him like I do!
I was THIRSTY for Christ! And it didnt' seem to me that Catholics were thirsty for anything but unecesary rituals and prayers that SHOULD be directed to Jesus!
But here is what I didn't see.
In the Catholic church, SEEKING Jesus isn’t about pouring over the scriptures or praying to grow closer to Him. These are all still VERY important things to do, and something that catholics who are serious about their faith WILL do… But seeking Jesus is much more simple than I ever realized.
I remember singing the song when I was protestant “This is the air I breathe.”
Code:
The words were: (and maybe you know it)
This is the air I breathe.
This is the air I breathe.
Your very presence.
Living, in me.
And I’m desperate for you.
And I’m hungry for you.
And I’m thirsty for you.
Jesus.
Code:
I thought being hungry for Jesus was about discovering Him in just the scriptures. I thought thirsting for Jesus was growing closer to Him in prayer.
But while all of these are good things...what Jesus REALLY asks of us, is that we simply come to Him. That we make ourselves little, like children and obediently, faithfully, lovingly, approach Him. He said in the Bible "this is my body, which will be given up for you." And many of His disciples left him! Saying "Lord! This is a difficult teaching! Who can accept this?"
But he didn’t correct them, or take back what he said… He asked Peter if He too would leave. And it was PETER who said “Lord where would we turn? You have the words of eternal life.”
Why would it be a “hard teaching” to accept if Christ had not meant it literally? Why would some of his disciples leave him, if it was not truly radical to them? To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ? Cannibalism??? But our Lord did not correct them or take back His words.
Today, most Christian churches reject Christ, saying “this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?” because they refuse to be obedient to him as little children. They refuse to stay with him because they cannot accept a teaching they don’t understand. But PETER’s church…the church founded on the apostles who loved Him, have stayed with Chirst. Just as they stayed with Him when He first instituted the eucharist, so too does the church today. The Catholic church has stayed WITH CHRIST for 2000 years, even though others have left because they refused Him.
Let me ask you this… put aside what you believe about Catholics and the eucharist. Put aside whether or not you think it’s true. Imagine for one moment that it IS TRUE. Imagine, that it really IS CHRIST, as He said in the scriptures, who is THERE, present among us in the Catholic church! In every mass! If this was TRUE… wouldn’t you come RUNNING to Him? Wouldn’t you abandon everything you thought you knew, and embrace Him after “searching” and having a “prayerful personal relationship” with Him? Wouldn’t you come CRAWLING on your hands and knees because it’s JESUS!!! ?
Code:
Because either the Catholic church is right... That Christ truly did promise us that when we celebrate mass we eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, that "he who does not eat of my flesh or drink of my blood has NO LIFE within him"
or
Catholics really are guilty of the most dispicable, evil, and ignorant idolatry the world has ever known.
Isnt’ THAT worth getting to the heart of? Isn’t it worth searching for yourself? Isn’t that kind of REAL relationship with Jesus worth finding out the TRUTH about?
**
They are really good people, who are just wrong! 
Individuals may have opinions and variations in practices, but as a whole, we are united to ONE body… One Lord and One goal. THIS is what Christ desired, when He called for unity among His church
