War is raging between Pope Francis and members of his flock. Abortion, LBGTQ rights, political affiliations, women priests, globalism and various social issues have divided Catholics as never before between conservatives and liberal progressives.
But, as a convent-educated ex-Catholic, this is not my fight. The Church has moved so far away from Jesus Christ's teachings, the only real battle for minds and hearts - of all faiths - is Truth versus Tradition.
A few years ago, a young Christian I know was involved in a discussion with a Catholic bishop and his companion, a Hebrew scholar. Both men were charming, well-spoken and extremely well-educated. Rosemary, * on the other hand, was the product of a good but basic state education and had rejected university in favour of a steady job in banking. She did, however, have one huge advantage...a lifelong love and keen understanding of the Bible.
The discussion began with the trinity, a doctrine so cherished by Christendom that every denomination must hold the trinity as its core belief to join the World Council of Churches. Yet, sacred as it may be to Catholics in particular, the concept of a triune god – i.e. three gods in one - was adopted in the 3rd century, ** no doubt to draw pagans into the new religion. Other pagan ideas, such as hellfire, purgatory, immortality and idol worship were also included, sullying the pure teachings of the Gospels.
Unable to defend the trinity in the face of Bible truth, the bishop became exasperated. “Young woman!” he exclaimed. “Don’t you realise, the Catholic Church is based on centuries of Tradition?”
Rosemary remembered Jesus’ words to the Pharisees when he accused them of making God’s word invalid by their traditions. (Mark 7:7-9,13)
“If it came to a choice, which would you obey,” she asked, “Your traditions or the Bible?”
The bishop's answer was unequivocal. “Tradition! Tradition, tradition, tradition!”
Which should we obey?
*Not her real name.
**"Many think the Trinity doctrine was formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. That is not totally correct, however. The Council of Nicaea did assert that Christ was of the same substance as God, which laid the groundwork for later Trinitarian theology. But it did not establish the Trinity, for at that council there was no mention of the holy spirit as the third person of a triune Godhead.” https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101989303#h=1
