Does the Bible Really Say That?: Discovering Catholic Teaching in Scripture (9 page)

CHAPTER 21

Qualities of a Good Bishop

Saint Augustine, the magnificent fourth-century Church Father, has long been regarded as a model for bishops to emulate. A tireless shepherd and defender of his flock, Augustine embodied the essence of a great bishop.

A man of deep prayer and holiness, he was ascetical, Christ-centered, disciplined in his personal habits, joyful, wise, actively involved with the physical and spiritual welfare of his people and a dedicated and effective teacher. He understood that a primary duty of a bishop is to teach the faith, and teach he did, with amazing vigor and clarity. He wrote hundreds of substantive and brilliant works, all aimed at instructing and encouraging his fellow Catholics.

As a bishop, Saint Augustine was not afraid to teach. In that tumultuous and polarized era, when the formidable heresies of Donatism and Arianism wracked the Church, he indefatigably preached, wrote, admonished, defended, rebuked and consoled. He even engaged in public debates before large crowds with proponents of heresy, all in an effort to fulfill his duty as a shepherd of souls who defends his flock.

Here are some key scriptural passages that guided Saint Augustine in his efforts to be a good and holy bishop:

Titus 1:7–9
  “For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.”

1 Timothy 3:1–7
  “If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, an apt teacher, no drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and no lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil; moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders, or he may fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
¹

2 Timothy 4:1–5
  “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.”

Augustine was also keenly aware of the Bible’s warnings about unworthy shepherds, who through laziness or some other iniquity fail to live up to their duty. Here is a sobering example:

Jeremiah 23:1–4
  “‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!’ says the Lord. Therefore thus says the L
ord
, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: ‘You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings,’ says the L
ord
. ‘Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing,’ says the L
ord
.”

(For a particularly ominous warning to bad shepherds [and bishops], read Ezekiel 34:1–16!)

Knowing he would one day give an account to God for his time as bishop, Saint Augustine wrote, “While I am frightened by what I am to you, I am also consoled by what I share with you.
To
you I am a bishop,
with
you I am a Christian. The first is an office, the second is a grace; the first a danger, the second salvation.”
²

Let’s pray fervently, every day, for our bishops, asking God to bless and strengthen them, giving them the graces they need to be courageous and effective shepherds. After all, they carry a very heavy load on their shoulders—us!

Further Reading:
Jeremiah 50:3–6; Ezekiel 34:1–16; 1 Timothy 3:1–7; 5:22; Hebrews 5:1–4; 1 Peter 5:1–5

CCC,
873–896, 1555–1561

CHAPTER 22

What’s Up With the Rapture?

Thanks to the proliferation of the wildly popular (and wildly problematic)
Left Behind
books, many Christians, including some Catholics, believe in the “rapture.” The rapture theory holds that Christ will come silently, in a hidden way, to remove born-again believers from this world just before the Great Tribulation, when the Antichrist (Matthew 24:11) and the Beast (Revelation 13, 17) rise to cause global havoc and bloodshed.

The rapture theory as we know it today first appeared toward the end of the nineteenth century among some American Protestants who were fixated on the end times. Prior to the nineteenth century, the popular notion of a rapture was simply unheard of among Christians.

Let’s consider the five major Bible verses cited as proof-texts by those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17
  “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

First, notice that this passage refers to the Second Coming of Christ and says nothing about a secret or hidden coming of Christ. Second, this event is public and audible—exactly the opposite of a hidden coming of Christ that those who promote the rapture theory assert. They claim that Christ will appear secretly and will be seen only by those who are raptured. But such a notion completely clashes with 1 Thessalonians 4. It is another example of reading into the biblical text something that simply isn’t there.

Matthew 24:37–42
  “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Christ seems to be referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in
ad
70. Earlier in Matthew 24, he warned that “
this
generation will not pass away till all these things take place” (v. 34, emphasis added). He also said that this event would be “just like the days of Noah.” But notice that the people “taken away” in Noah’s day were the unrighteous, not the righteous (Genesis 6 and 7). The righteous—Noah and his family—were “left behind.” This is the exact opposite of the rapture theory.

And don’t forget that Christ promised that the one “who
endures to the end
will be saved” (Matthew 24:13, emphasis added). This includes those Christians who will endure the Tribulation.

1 Corinthians 15:51–52
  “Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

Again, this passage refers to the Second Coming of Christ. The “twinkling of an eye” refers to the instantaneous change from a mortal body to a glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:23), not to the speed of the rapture. In fact, this verse can’t refer to the rapture because it specifically connects this event to the blast of the “last trumpet,” which heralds Christ’s Second Coming (Matthew 24:30–31). The Catholic Church has consistently interpreted this passage as such for the last two thousand years.

Revelation 3:10
  “Because you [i.e., the Church at Philadelphia] have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth” (NRSV).

Once again, we see a passage that refers to the Second Coming of Christ, not a secret coming beforehand. But does the phrase “keep you from the hour of testing” mean that the Church will be “removed” before the Tribulation begins? No. There are many Bible verses that show that Christ permits his Church to suffer persecution and tribulation. In John 17:15 Christ says, “I do
not
pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one” (emphasis added). John 16:33 says, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 15:19 says that Christians have been
chosen
“out of the world,” but it does not say that Christians will be
taken
out of the world prior to a time of persecution (see Matthew 10:16–33).

The Church will endure persecutions and tribulations (Matthew 24:21;
CCC,
675) and it will come through them purified (Romans 12:12; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:4; Revelation 1:9; 2:10; 7:14).

Revelation 4:1–2
  “After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and lo, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne!” Many rapture believers argue that in this passage John symbolizes the Church (though they deny that he could symbolize the Church when Christ told him, “Son, behold your mother” [John 19:26–27]). They claim that John, when he is commanded to “come up here” represents the Church being raptured into heaven.

But there’s a big problem here. In the book of Revelation, Saint John comes back to earth
after
he is told to “come up here” to heaven. In Revelation 17 he returns to earth and sees the Whore of Babylon astride the seven-headed, ten-horned Beast. The Whore of Babylon could not be in heaven; she is on earth. Then Saint John is sent to “a great and high mountain,” where he watches the heavenly Jerusalem coming down to earth, “out of heaven” (Revelation 21:10).

The Catholic Church rejects the rapture theory for good reasons. It is unbiblical and completely alien to the historic Christian tradition surrounding the Second Coming of Christ. Remember that Christ said he would return on “the last day” (John 6:39–40) to judge the living and the dead (see also Matthew 24 and 25). There will be no secret or hidden coming in the meantime. When the Lord returns, you’ll definitely know about it.

Further Reading:
Joel 2:31; Ezekiel 13:5; Isaiah 2:12; Matthew 5:22; 7:1–5; 11:20–24; 12:41–42; 24:12; Mark 12:38–40; Luke 12:1–3; 18:8; John 3:20–21; Acts 10:42; Romans 2:5–16; 14:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 15:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3; 2 Thessalonians 2:4–12; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; 2 Peter 3:12–13; 1 John 2:18–22; 2 John 7; Revelation 13:8; 19:1–9; 20:7–10; 21:2–4

CCC,
524, 668–682, 830, 865, 1001, 1186, 1200

CHAPTER 23

Follow Your Conscience

We’ve all heard the catchphrase, “You have to follow your conscience.” Unfortunately, many people are under the mistaken impression that “following my conscience” means “doing what I want to do.”

Consider, for example, a married woman who asks her Catholic friend for advice on whether it’s permissible for her and her husband to use contraception. The friend might tell her, “You have to follow your conscience.” But if she offers no further explanation of what conscience is and how it works, the woman will likely assume from this advice that what she
wants
to do in this regard is the voice of her conscience. And that, of course, would be a mistake.

While it’s absolutely true that each of us must
always
follow our conscience (
CCC,
1790), we must also recognize that each of us has the obligation to properly form (that is, educate) our conscience (
CCC,
1783–1785).

The
Catechism
explains:

“Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment.... For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.... His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” [
GS
16]. (
CCC,
1776)

Our conscience, it therefore follows, is what enables us

to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil [cf.
Rom
1:32]. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.

Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law.... (
CCC,
1777–1778)

With these teachings in mind, let’s examine some of what Scripture says about the joy of a clear conscience contrasted with the misery of a guilty conscience.

We’ll begin with Adam and Eve and their original sin. As you can see from Adam’s response to God, their guilty consciences were bothering them. (Sound familiar?)

Genesis 3:7–10
  “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the
Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the L
ord
God among the trees of the garden. But the
Lord
God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’”

Wisdom of Solomon 17:11–13
  “For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony; / distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated the difficulties. / For fear is nothing but surrender of the helps that come from reason; / and the inner expectation of help, being weak, / prefers ignorance of what causes the torment.”

Isaiah 48:22
  “‘There is no peace,’ says the
Lord
, ‘for the wicked.’” This warning gets right to the heart of the matter, and serves two purposes. First, it shows us that good living will lead to a clear conscience and lack of stress over past sins. And second, it points us to the fact that in eternity those who have loved God and tried to live according to his teachings will enjoy peace. Conversely, those who spurn God’s laws and live wickedly will suffer for eternity with no peace of soul. And
that
will be hell.

Proverbs 10:8–9
  “The wise of heart will heed commandments, but a prating fool will come to ruin. He who walks in integrity walks securely, / but he who perverts his ways will be found out.”

1 Timothy 1:18–19
  “This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my son,...[that] you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith.”

Romans 2:13–16
  “[I]t is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”

1 John 3:19–22
  “By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”

Further Reading:
Deuteronomy 28:65–67; Job 15:20–25; 27:6; Proverbs 3:21–25; 15:14–15, 28:1; Psalm 112:5–10; Sirach 34:13–16; Luke 23:30; John 3:20–21; Romans 2:9; 1 Timothy 1:5; 3:8–9; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 3:15–16

CCC
, 1776–1802