It turns out my brother had been listening to Bible discussions led by Dr. Hank Lindstrom, pastor of the local Calvary Community Church, a seemingly very devoted man who hosted radio and television programs and who made it his mission to teach the gospel. There was no doubt that Dr. Lindstrom had spent many, many years immersing himself in the Holy Scripture, that much was clear. While his views on the Word of God may have differed in some ways from what the catholic church had taught me, in other ways they were quite similar.

To be clear, Dr. Lindstrom was not the same man I had seen on TV before.

“Who is this Dr. Lindstrom, anyway?” I wondered. “He seems well-meaning,” I thought, “but maybe this Lindstrom is wrong about some of the things he’s telling my brother and others about Holy Scripture. How does my brother know that Dr. Lindstrom is right? How does anyone know that the person telling them about the Word of God is not leading them astray?”

The truth — the proof — can be found only one place: in the Word.

My brother truly loved me and cared about me and wanted me to have eternal salvation. Initially, I took my brother’s efforts to get me to consider an alternative to catholicism as simply well-meaning but misguided advice. Over time, as my brother became more insistent on me putting aside some of what I was taught by the catholic church, I began to become concerned that he was actively attacking my faith. I know my brother was sincerely trying to help me, but I only saw him as trying to tear me away from the “one true church”, the church that I had been taught was founded by Christ Himself.

Is There a Difference Between Catholic and Christian?

In an effort to finally open my eyes, my brother gave me a book called “Understanding Roman Catholicism” by Rick Jones. I dismissed the book. I didn’t want to read it, I was actually worried about another piece of material that was aimed at attacking my church. This book claimed to expose the difference between catholic and Christian, to show where some of the teachings of the catholic church differs from the Holy Scripture. I felt that this book, which reported to expose the difference between catholic and Christian beliefs, was a dangerous tome that I actually feared.

I was afraid of the potentially dangerous catholic vs Christian debate. I didn’t want to put my faith to the test, to ask the question: what is the difference between catholic and Christian?

So rather than read the book for myself, I gave it to the head of the church’s RCIA program — someone I looked to for leadership and guidance — and asked her to analyze it and let me know what she found therein. She took the book, read it and returned it to me sometime later, and her analysis was simple: the book wasn’t to be taken seriously. Clearly, she said, the writer doesn’t understand catholicism or the Bible, which was essentially the same message my parish priest have given me in regard to the TV preacher whom I had seen with words of warning for practicing catholics.

Answered or not, the question was still a valid one: what is the difference between Christian and catholic? I eventually came to understand the difference between catholic and Christian is not a matter of belief. The difference between catholic and Christian, as I now know, is a matter of TRUST. The difference between catholic and Christian is in placing all of our trust, not just a portion of it, in Christ Alone.

The Oath

It was around this time that I was told by the church that I, along with the other teachers in our parish, were required to take a solemn oath regarding our roles as catholic educators. I felt like this was an important step in my service to the church, and I felt like taking an oath to ensure that we as teachers were teaching what our church wanted us to teach was the absolutely right thing to do.

We were to sign a written oath card and affirm before the parishioners during mass that we would teach only the information the church told us to teach. It was required of us to swear to use only the educational materials provided by the church, and we pledged that we would not use any other teaching aids whatsoever. Among the list of approved teaching materials, I found one very important document conspicuously missing: the Bible.

As I understood it, the Bible itself was apparently excluded from the materials I was looking to use as part of my RCIA teachings. The Holy Scripture was something that I was expected to swear that I would NOT use as a teacher of religion? That seemed strange to me. I wasn’t a Biblical expert, but one thing I did know for certain is what the Holy Scripture said in this regard:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

- 2 Timothy 3:16

It was that oath of fidelity that really started making me feel uncomfortable. We were told that if we chose not to take the oath, we could not remain in our roles as teachers within the church. I felt strongly that I wanted to help spread the word of God, and I felt like I could eventually reconcile my concerns about the Bible being excluded as an approved teaching tool, so I signed it. I announced that oath before the whole congregation, but in my heart I knew that without the Bible as an integral part of my teaching, I didn’t agree to it.

Affirming that oath without agreeing to it due to my reservations started a pain inside me. That pain caused me to begin to begin explore, through the Holy Scriptures, the potential difference between Christian and catholic. I opened my mind to the possibility that there may be a difference between catholic and Christian.

Trying to Find the Truth

My brother began to point out to me things that concerned him about the catholic church. He spoke to me at length about how catholic teaching and the Holy Scripture appeared to disagree in places. It was the beginning of the new year, and he asked me if during December my parish had christmas trees in the church and on the altar. Naturally, we did. We had a number of trees, all decked out in shiny ornaments as well as cute decorations that the kids in the catechism classes had made. I confirmed this for him, and he in turn asked me to pick up my Bible and research Jeremiah 10.

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”

- Jeremiah 10:2-4

So what is this? It appeared, at least on the surface, that Jeremiah (click here to read the entire chapter) was warning us that we should not behave like the “heathen” and cut down a tree, fix it to the floor, and adorn it in silver and gold decorations. That certainly sounded like the description of a christmas tree to me, and Jeremiah was clearly warning us not to behave like the pagans and engage in “tree worship”. Historians will tell you that often pagans of the time would cut down a tree, carve it into a statue, fasten to a place in their home, then adorn the statue with items made of precious metals. There is debate among historians as to whether or not the modern christmas tree is pagan in origin. Because of that disagreement, I started to convince myself that these pagan statues of the time were NOT the same thing as a christmas tree.

Convinced that I was doing nothing wrong, and certainly nothing against the Holy Scripture in erecting a christmas tree in my home for the holiday, I told my brother that when I put up a tree in my house that December, I wasn’t worshipping a tree, I was simply decorating my house in the tradition of the season. It meant absolultey nothing. Then my brother led me to a question that I found difficult to answer:

“If Jeremiah were to visit your house, what do you think he would have to say about your tree?”

That was a very interesting question. I had to sit back and really think about that. When I did, I realized that I was allowing myself to rationalize myself into a “gray area” of Holy Scripture. I was trying to apply my own interpretation of what the Word of God was referring to, instead of simply distancing myself from something that could be considered questionable.

Why would I do that? I should have taken the Holy Scripture as it was and said to myself: “Well, certainly there is no reason, other than tradition, to put up this tree in my house so… why am I trying to talk myself into it?” Instead, I tried to convince myself that there was nothing wrong with what I did. So what if I was skirting the edges of Scripture in doing so?

“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:22

But come on, a christmas tree is traditional! It’s nothing more than an old tradition. How harmful could such a simple old tradition really be? And then I read the Words of Jesus Christ Himself to the pharisees…

“Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”

- Matthew 15:6

Ok, let’s step back for a moment. Christ Himself is saying that a tradition (like my christmas tree) could render God’s own commandment “of none effect”? How is that possible? It is PRECISELY possible because of my exact attitude toward Jeremiah 10. I was completely disregarding the Word of God and therefore it was without effect ON ME because I chose not to adhere to it. I, by my actions and by convincing myself that there was nothing wrong with erecting such a symbol, was essentially NULLIFYING the Word of God. Not for everyone, but for myself.

Further, in Mark’s account, Jesus says:

“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.”

- Mark 7:13

But not only was my being immersed in this tradition harmful to myself, rendering God’s Word of “none effect” for me, but it was also very harmful to my family. As the leader of our household, allowing this tradition to persist in our home — despite Jeremiah 10 — I was rendering God’s Word of none effect for the rest of my family as well. Like the pharisees were rendering God’s Word useless to the people, I was doing the same to my family.

And then I realized just how badly I was going wrong, how I was allowing tradition and actions that were seemingly sanctioned by my so-called “religion” to allow me to rationalize my actions into gray areas of Scripture — when in fact no such gray areas exist in Scripture, they were all my own doing or what I had been taught — and I became very troubled.

Out of my troubled faith came very important revelations…

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