by Ruth
Recently we traveled to Lima, Peru. Our private guide Fernando, a young man about our son’s age, took us to St John the Evangelist Church and then to El Museo de Convento Santo Domingo. Since we were visiting a church and a monastery, our conversation shifted toward faith and religion.
Fernando told us he’s Catholic because he was born in a traditional Catholic family. Later, he added, “I believe in God, but I don’t think it’s possible for a dead man to come back to life. Also, I’m a decent person. I don’t drink alcohol, don’t do drugs, and have never done anything really bad. I’m not a sinner who needs salvation.”
From his words, we guess he falls into the category of cultural Catholics. Many Catholics follow the traditions without thinking much about what they believe.
Don’t pass judgment on Catholics too fast. Five hundred years after Martin Luther’s Reformation, quite a few Protestants also become cultural believers. To them, being a Christian means believing in God, attending Sunday worship, and occasionally reading the Bible. Church has become a part of the culture. Christianity is a folk religion. Nothing more.
I thought of Taiwan, a place packed with temples, large and small. People worship anything. A famous general in Chinese history? You bet there’s a statue of him sitting somewhere with numerous worshippers. It’s quite convenient. When you need him, you go to the temple, donate a few bucks, and he’ll bless you. Afterward, you can forget about him and live your own life. In essence, people try to control gods.
Is there any difference between folks going to temples in Taiwan and Christians attending worship in Western countries? A lot of churchgoers do the exact same thing. They don’t want God in their life and try to confine God within the church building, just like the idol worshippers imprison their gods in the temples.
Cultural believers can become like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Our Lord was most critical of them. If the Lord comes back today, He may abhor that so many people at church acting like Pharisees. The worst is that some of them believe they’re more religious than others with a holier-than-thou attitude.
It’s the sin in us. Humans desire to control over everything, to be the center of the universe. When Christianity turns into a set of rules, especially for those who grew up in church, they fail to realize being a Christian means establishing a personal connection with God. If we believe in the existence of God but have no relationship with Him, we can be in a situation worse than non-believers.
