Catholic Fundamentalists believe that the Roman Catholic Church is pure, total truth. As distance from Her increases, so does error. There is also error within The Church. One of the great tests of our faith is to be faithful while knowing that many of the clergy are in varying degrees of heresy.
No one really seems to know what it means to be an Episcopalian in heresy. There seems to be an Episcopalian group attracted to every apostasy. Ditto with many of the liberal Protestant denominations. Baptists are more faithful to their denomination, and will start a new division within their denomination when they feel it necessary.
But, an heretical Catholic is obvious. The Church’s teachings are so consistent, and so at odds with the world that deviance from those teachings is quickly noted, and applauded, by the most worldly.
Scripture is very clear on the subject that sin comes from inside us.
(Mark, 21-23: “From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
“. . . and they defile.” They sure do.
How did sin first get into us? Sin got into our first parents because they intentionally put it there. The forbidden fruit was the original sin, pride in three dimensions and many forms. It gave birth to all further desire to sin.
Sins well up out of us much more when The Church seems weak. When The Church is strong, sin is driven underground. Then, society prospers. From prosperity comes conceit, from conceit comes vanity, and from vanity, a resurgence of sin. We can all see the relationship between strong Church and good society, weak Church and destructive society. Today, sin and death are strong, and the Church seems weak. Tomorrow, it will be reversed.
We help to reverse it in two ways. First, by exploring Catholic Fundamentalism, and seeing that the false parts of science are houses built on sand. As we deepen our understanding of God’s ability to program particles, He becomes more real, as do His Church and Scripture.
At the same time, we remember that each thought, word, and deed that opposes a Commandment is a sin. Each sin separates us from God.
The only source of a truth that can save us is a faith that recognizes the cause of sin. The first, and oldest, Church has been given a cure for our past sins and a sort of inoculation, or resistance, to future sins.
Her Sacraments bring us closer to God, closer to truth, and give us the best reason to go on, our souls as shimmering bubbles brightening the Stygian gloom.
P.S. Sin was physically present in the eaten apple, and it changed the human program, separating it from God. For the thousands of years between Adam and Jesus Christ, it took a series of miracles to get, and keep, even a few people in line with God. The prophets received such miracles, as did many of Abraham’s children.
When Christ came, He provided the perfect food, His Body and Blood, at the Last Supper. Ingesting The Holy Eucharist cancels out the effect of our first parents’ eating the apple.
