Living The Worthy Life: The New Evangelism Is For You

A New Look At Evangelism 

Bishop Fulton Sheen explained it this way, “Fundamentalism assumes that the Bible is fundamental. Catholicism retorts…that the Bible is not a book but a collection of books, and hence the question more fundamental than Fundamentalism is: Who gathered the books together, and declared that they would constitute a Bible, and be regarded as the revealed Word of God? To answer this question is to get to a body beyond a book, namely, a Church with spirit; for Pentecost was not the descent of books on the heads of the Apostles but the descent of tongues. From that day on it was to be a tongue and a voice, and not a book, that would be fundamental in religion.” 

Many of us look at evangelism as something for missionaries to do in another country- this is wrong, wrong, wrong.  We are and always have been called and directed to spread the faith.  We can do it by two different things. 

1. Living the worthy life- practice a Catholic Life in our thoughts, words, and deeds.  Live the life that others can see how and why we are doing this. 
2. Talk to others about the Church invite them to Church. 

These are the two most powerful things a person can and should do.  However, they are not easy.  Living a Christ-centered life is what we are all supposed to do. It is hard, but remember what is our purpose on earth is and why Jesus came here to earth.  We are here celebrate, worship, and praise our Lord.  Christianity is not a noun- if it were it would be dead.  It would be past tense and past its prime.  Christianity is a verb- it must be lived and proclaimed daily.  

We need to talk to others about the Church.  If we each invite 10 families to Church and in turn, invite 10 families and in turn invite 10 families within five years we will have evangelized the entire population of the earth.  I know that is a metaphor and we can only influence people we know, but we would definitely change the area where we live.  Can you imagine doubling or tripling the size of your parish in less than two years?  If you can not grasp it maybe you should just do it.  

The only thing that is stopping us is our self.  We are own worst enemies.  We can blame others but in the end, we are responsible for our self, our family, and our friends.   

Christianity is a way of life- a life worth living.  It is not a dogma or a Church, it is not a sermon or homily, it is not matter of belief only- it is a matter of the action.  Some people throw away their faith because of the different crises that have happened in the Church.  Do not worry, a crisis may come and go- but do not let others dictate what will happen with your immortal soul.  

Recently if there was ever a question of the Catholic crisis not being mainstream, those questions can now be laid aside. Sean Hannity, the dominant star of prime-time cable news commentators, has made it official. He was leaving the Catholic Church, and his reason — as stated in an interview published three days ago in the Christian Post — is the Catholic Church has "too much-institutionalized corruption," adding that it has not been rectified. 

Now with famous people leaving the Church- maybe we should look at our faith and question it?  No, we should look at what we should have been doing ourselves.  Are we looking for the perfect Church or are we looking for a Church to make us live where one day we will become perfect?  Perfection is not on this side of the curtain. We will reach perfection in the next life that is if we make it through this world and we will not do this if we began to leave the Church.  

Some Churches may appear to be appealing and have a great draw on people but there are four questions you ask them : 

1. Do you believe the Holy Bible to be the word of God? 

If they believe the Holy Bible to be the word of God you might like to refresh their memory on how the Bible was compiled through the Church.  The Bible was adopted by the Early Church and put into this form  

1. Do you believe God to be Infallible? 

If God is indeed infallible he would not lie and would not deceive us.  We will have him until the end of time- he did not leave.  

      2. Do you believe in all of the Books of the Bible? 

Unlike the Protestant reformers who took it upon themself to take out books of the Bible.  

      3. Do you know the real relationship between Hanukkah and the Holy Bible? 

Hannukah is the Festival of Lights and is celebrated every in honor of the Maccabees who revolted against the Greek Kings who had taken over the Jewish Temple and tried to change the religious customs of the Jewish people.  If this would have happened and the Maccabees not revolted- there would not have been Jewish presence at the time of Jesus.  Catholic and Orthodox Churches include these books into the Bible- Protestants do not.  

The Bible is our guide book.  You can not pick and choose what you want to believe in or not.  If you do it is not a guide book.  Christianity is a way of life and the Bible is our guidebook.  Let us use all of the tools in the toolbox.  Do not give away your faith for something much less. The Church is so much more than a profession of faith- it is the way we live our lives every day.  Maybe we should go back and re-read the books that Martin Luther pulled out the Bible.  Maybe we can understand that a truly fundamental Bible Believing Church is Holy Apostolic Church Church.