I was watching a video record where randomly a catholic woman approached an evangelical minister and started confronting him over some religious criticism he had made about some shrine. During the argument, the evangelical minister said that the devotion shown by the people in this shrine had no biblical warrant, and neither had the use of candles, robes or rosaries.
DOCTRINE AND CUSTOMS
In the claims postulated by the evangelical minister about the
use of candles and robes, amongst other
things, he also mentioned that these things were added to Christianity in the
times of Constantine and that it was this type of “syncretism” which ended up
corrupting Christianity until the Reformation.
However, these claims seem to overlook two important facts.
Doctrine and Customs, and their different origin and purpose.
Christianity as we know it today, it is an amalgamation of a
number of things that are considered to be divine and others of pure human
origin. They are so blended that some are undistinguishable from one another at
a quick glance and this can be taken, as in the case of this Pastor, as all
claiming “divine” inception.
DOCTRINE, which is the whole deposit of the Faith
given to the Church by the Apostles, are all of divine infallible origin and they
cannot be altered by anyone ever. These doctrines, revealed, infallible and
inerrable, are immutable and they can be found in the Scriptures. They can only
be explained or defined but never added or diminished. Examples of this
doctrine are the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Jesus’s virginal
conception, his resurrection, his Second Coming, the Last Judgement, eternal
life, the Sacraments, etc. Mostly contained in the Creed but not limited to it.
Doctrine is made of concepts and practices that cannot be altered and will
remain the same until the Second Coming.
CUSTOMS are of later human origin, made up with
God’s approval through the unanimous decision of the living Church. These
customs which include candles, robes, incense, the canons, etc; were adopted to
maintain uniformity across the universal Church and to protect the integrity
and dignity of the doctrine.
They can be altered according to times and places and be
replaced by new ones at any given time, however, as they were established by
Church authority, any temporal changes must be done under the approval of similar
authorities over the sector of the Church they control. Never by a single
individual.
LAST WORD
Salvation does not depend on the human customs of the
Church, as old as they may be; but on the purity of doctrine; and this, not
because of some one’s caprice but because pure doctrine shows the path to
Heaven, and it must be kept clear and visible to be followed.
Omar Flores.
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