Tit 1:1

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NoelFitz

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I see in Tit 1:1 that Paul considers himself a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Is this another example of the Catholic ‘both/and’.

I read in an article recently that Catholicism is not essentially about moral virtue, but about a relationship with the person Jesus Christ, later on in the article it said the essence of Catholicism is a personal relationship with the Trinity. I sometimes wonder if there are new Arians among us, who stress our friendship with Jesus Chris, a man like us in all things save sin, who loves us with unconditional love and is the model of our behavior. Perhaps our religion should focus more on God.

What do you think? What does the Church think?
 
It sounds to me like that article is trying to get Catholics to focus on something that we often get blamed for not doing enough of, and that is to focus on the relationship with our Savior. One positive thing that appears to me is that it says to focus on our relationship with Christ, and then later says to focus on our relationship with the Trinity, then it looks like it is rightfully putting Christ as God.

I see Catholics and Protestants taking one side or the other to extremes, Catholics often seem to focus a little too much on the religion while Protestants focus more on the relationship, and many have tried to make religion look like a bad word, when in fact it is a positive Biblical word. We need both.
 
Copland 3,
Thanks for your reply. I consider that an excessive focus on the man Christ is unhealthy. There seems little emphasis on the Father and the Holy Spirit and on Jesus Christ as God.

Religion means a relationship with God. I think you may mean Catholics emphasize doctrine, while Protestants emphasize relationships. I hope not as the important thing is a relationship.

Fundamentally the most important things are to love God and neighbor.
 
Historically we’ve gone through phases of emphasizing the Divinity/Transcendence of Christ and phases of emphasizing His Humanity/Immanence. (Compare the devotions of the Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy for examples.) I do think right now we’re in a “Humanity” phase although I also think we hear more about the Holy Spirit now than was common a century ago. It is intrinsically difficult for human beings to hang on to that balance of both/and. It can be unhealthy to be so caught up in Jesus’ humanity that we think of Him just as our buddy. It was also be unhealthy to be so overwhelmed by His divinity that most people stopped receiving Eucharist except on special occasions. And so the pendulum swings - often pushed back from one extreme or the other by the efforts of the Magesterium, and that’s a good thing!
 
NHInsider,

many thanks for your post. I agree fully with you, but you express my views better than I can do myself.

Catholicism is a *both/and *religion.

So it is important to keep in mind Jesus as man **and **the Trinity
 
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