“Should I Leave the Catholic Church After Being Born Again”

“Should I Leave the Roman Catholic Church After Being Born Again?” — this is one of the question I personally find hard to answer. For one, Joy — my girl –, a young born-again Christian with strong Catholic family orientation, still would like her be called a Catholic. It is because, maybe, it was influenced by how I previously answer this question during cell meetings and discussions.

“One may choose to stay in his denomination if he likes too. The important thing is that he accepted Jesus as his personal savior.” This is how I traditionally answer this kind of query. In effect, what I am saying is that a Catholic can remain a Catholic if he likes to — as long as he believes in the saving grace of Jesus.

But this, I found out is half correct. This article by a former Catholic priest Anthony Pezzotta, has somehow changed my perspective. Read on.

Extravagant Worship – My Hillsong Experience

That was Monday, December 3, 2001 at the Ultra when I, together with some 15 guys from CGF, worship God in an extravagant manner. With the help of the Hills Community Church Praise and Worship team of Australia, we’ve experienced God in that very place.

I’ve discovered a lot of things. And these I want to share with you. These thesis are not theories anymore, I’ve experience it!

1. Honest worship is evangelism in itself.

When you worship God with all of your heart, when you praise Him with all of your might, people around you will notice it and will surely put a question in their minds. What is this guy doing? Why is he crying? He’s weird. What has God done to them that made him cry!?

Yes, even an atheist will praise God if he’s in the midst of true worshipers. Nela knows what I’m talking about, she saw one!… Even believers who has long been Christians but has not outpoured their hearts in worship to Christ yet in their life will surely worship Him when they see serious worshipers.

My cousin, who has long been a ‘traditional’ can testify to that. My friends who has been singing contemporary praises but has reservations to ‘raising their hands’ of praise or jumping or clapping because it is “wrong” did every posible way to worship God that night. They shouted, they clapped, they jumpped, they raised their hands – both of them. Because they are in he midst of a bunch of Honest Worshipers.

2. Noise is not bad at all! It’s to whom you give it to that determines whether it’s good or bad.

I have never seen such a crowd so noisy as what i saw that night. Well, 10,000+ worshipers shouting praise to God – what can you expect! It’s the first time in my entire Christian life that I shouted so loud “I love you Lord!” , “I praise your name!”, “Halleluia!”…. with all of my voice. It feels so good to praise God! Imagine all 10,000 people doing the same thing. How can the crowd of Michael Jackson out-noise these Christ-in-love worshipers.

Noise is not bad at all! After all, we all need to be noisy about what Christ has done for us so people can hear it.

3. Praise and Worship is not about personalities but it’s about a Person.

Some people perhaps went there for the reason to see the popular praise and worship leader Darlene Zchech of Hillsong Australia. But I can honestly say, I didn’t go there for that reason. I went there to praise. And as I have told my cousin, even if the scalpers outside of Ultra buys my P300 ticket for the price of P5000, I won’t give in to that offer. It’s about the experience of worshiping God with fellow believers and not about personalities.

I am sure most had the same reason as I am. Why am I sure? These people are in love with Christ and not with Darlene. I remember in the middle of the praise and worship, people started chanting “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…!!!”… In the 90s I heard the crowd shout “Ja-wors-ki, Ja-wors-ki!” in a basketball game. Some chant “Britney, Britney” in a Britney Spears concert. So these people should chant “Darlene, Darlene, Darlene” instead. But no. They praise the Person not the personalities.

Worship is a vital part of our Christian life. It’s our expresion of gratitude to what God has done in our lives. We worship God because he is the only one worthy of our praise! Now you know why Leila cries everytime we sing “Shout to the Lord”, it’s her experience with her Lord. When we sing praises, it’s the perfect time to experience Him. “Don’t just look at the ice cream, taste it!”

Faith

Disciple n.
a. One who believes to, embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.
b. An active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy.

I am a Christian, saved by God’s grace alone thru faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Sometimes, explaining my religion (faith) is a confusion (and sometimes a frustration), but most often, God uses the situation so I can share the gospel with that ‘confused’ person. Like this conversation:

Friend: Hey, what’s your religion?
Me: Christian.
Friend: Err, what kind of Christian?
Me: Do you mean, what Christian sect or denomination do I belong to?
Friend: Yeah, that’s it. Like, are you a Catholic, an Adventist, a Baptist or what?
Me: Well, I don’t belong to any sect or denomination, though I was, before.
Friend: Hmm.. is it possible? I have not heard of anybody that just claim to be a “Christian” without any denomination.
Me: You don’t have to be part of any denomination to be a Christian. All you need is accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour then you become a Christian. This is what we call being “born again”.
Friend: See!? I knew it. You have a sect, you are a “Born Again”!
Me: Actually, “born again” is not a religion. That’s a point in your life where you welcome Jesus to be the master of your life at the same time accepting his free offer of salvation.
Friend: Hmm..
Me: Yes. I’d like to share with you what this “born again” thing is all about. Can I have a few minutes? ….

Then the Holy Spirit leads the conversation.

As I have mentioned, I am a Christian. If I can categorize it even further, I am an evangelical Christian. Click here to view my Statement of Faith.

My journey towards mainstream Christianity, I should consider, is a very exciting and joyful one. I invite you to read my personal testimony. I hope this will somehow bless you the way other testimonies (I read or heard) affects my life.

Additional reading:
Why The Good News Is So Good!
The Essence Of The Gospel
Is Forgiveness Conditional OR Unconditional?
Are The Sinful Lost God’s Children?

God”s plan for you

God has long planned for us a very meaningful and secured life. In his great love to you and me, he wanted us to live life to the full.

But in reality, we’re far from it. No wonder we have messed up our lives over and over again. Broken relationships, anger, foolishness, uncertainties… all of these and more are just manifestations of our root problem…

Sin: Our root problem

…and this is the cause of all these mess. Sin. We have inherited it from our forefathers. In fact, we are born sinners.

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” Ps. 51:5

And the thing is, nobody is exempted from this wrath… we are all sinners!

“Yes, all have sinned; fall short of God’s glorious ideal” (Romans 3:23).

The Bad News

When God told Adam and Eve that they will die when they did not trust his word, he meant it. And they will die, not just death as we know it, but death that will equal to eternal separation from God. No punishment is greater that being separated from a wonderful creator.

And of course, we have inherited this also: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Death. That’s what sin shall bring us.

We can’t do anything about it

No amount of good works can cure this sin problem. “… and all our righteousness are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) Even how hard we try, we will “keep on falling short of God’s standard”. Do we have any hope?

…the SON : The Good News

God did not end everything there. I’m glad that God has a plan! And it actually worked!

Instead of us dying because of this sin problem, he sent his SON Jesus Christ to die on our behalf. Jesus, being a CREATOR decided to take the form of a CREATURE only for us humans to understand this great love of God. He took our filthy clothes, replaced ours with his, and hang himself on that cross. He died so that we can wear a pure, shiny white shirt. Then he rose again to secure our future. And by what Jesus did on that cross, God forgave all of our sins – past, present, future – and declared us righteous in his eyes.

Some call it the ‘gospel’, I simply call it awesome love!

How, then, can I be saved?

Since we can’t do anything to solve our sin problem, and that God has solved it thru his SON, all we need to do is to accept this wonderful grace by faith.

“Because of His kindness you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves – it too is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good that we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it” (Ephesians 2:8, 9)

Now if you are still thinking that you can gain eternal life by doing good works [your good works are ‘good’, not bad at all, so continue doing it, but…], let me say this again… we are saved only by grace, only thru faith in Christ’s finished work of redemption. Hey! It’s free! God has planed this long ago, so why don’t you accept it now. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and trust him all your life. Man! That’s the best news I have ever heard in my entire life.

“The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life and this life has its source in His Son. Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11, 12).

Accept this free gift now, accept Jesus, believe what he has done for you, let him be your life… and entrust everything under the SON.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I need you. I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that you died on the cross to pay for all my sins. With Your help, I will turn away from sins. Please come into my life and be my Savior and my Master. I accept your gift of eternal life. Make me the kind of new person you want me to be. Thank you for coming into my life and giving me eternal life. Amen.

(Postscript: “There is rejoicing (our term: partying) in heaven when one soul repents”. If ever this article helped you in a way in your decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, please let me know. I would like to join all heavens as they party because of your decision. Tell me your testimony and with your permission, I’ll post it here in the site so others can be blessed by and draw strength from it.)

Additional reading:
Why The Good News Is So Good!
The Essence Of The Gospel
Is Forgiveness Conditional OR Unconditional?
Are The Sinful Lost God’s Children?