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U p F r o n t
By Karl Keating
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TO counter the position of the Jehovah's Witnesses, who say there is no hell, The Christian Research Journal, an Evangelical magazine, recently carried an article giving scriptural and historical reasons for the standard belief.
The article elicited a letter from an Evangelical reader who said, "To support the traditional view, the author quoted several fathers of the church such as Justin Martyr and Clement. These fathers of the church, even though they lived only a few generations from the apostles, cannot be a good or reliable source for orthodoxy in dealing with such subjects. Let me quote some of these 'authorities' holding views that most evangelicals would consider heretical:
"Justin Martyr: 'The Eucharist is both the flesh and blood of the same incarnate Jesus.'
"Tertullian: 'It is also a very ancient and pious practice for the faithful to make on their person the sign of the cross, saying at the same time: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."'
"Tertullian: 'The faithful wife will pray for the soul of her deceased husband, particularly on the anniversary day of his falling asleep.'"
Think about this for a moment.
The letter writer says that, in their defense of the reality of hell, Christians should not cite as corroborative proof the writings of the Fathers of the Church. After all, those men believed in things no Evangelical believes in, such as the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the utility of the sign of the cross, and purgatory. Evangelicals know these things are contrary to the faith, and this implies that the Fathers cannot be considered trustworthy in matters theological.
Hmmm.
But isn't there another conclusion that might be drawn? We might note that the Fathers-precisely because "they lived only a few generations from the apostles" (and in some cases, such as Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp, even studied under one or more apostles)-are our best guarantees of what the early Christians understood Christian doctrines and practices to be.
After all, how likely is it that men who knew John the Evangelist would have misconstrued major elements of the faith, such as the existence or non-existence of the Real Presence and of purgatory? Inasmuch as not a single Father left any writing indicating that he disbelieved in the Real Presence or purgatory, isn't it reasonable for us to have a certain assurance that these men accurately reflected the beliefs of those around them?
The writer of the original article on hell was correct to point to the Fathers in defense of the traditional teaching, and the writer of the letter to the editor was right to point out that, from an Evangelical standpoint, the Fathers are dangerous-because they lend no support to Evangelicalism in those areas in which that faith differs from Catholicism.
Isn't the real conclusion of this exchange inescapable?
We gladly welcome to our staff Naji Mouawad. He recently completed his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Waterloo in Canada, that country's premier school in his field. Naji is overseeing the Catholic Answers site on the World Wide Web and will head our development of multimedia products such as CD-ROMs. A Catholic of the Maronite Rite, Naji was born in Lebanon and later took Canadian citizenship. He is fluent in English, French, Arabic, and C++.
We have begun holding regular seminars at our offices in San Diego. The first one (James Akin speaking on the papacy) was advertised for a single evening but was vastly oversubscribed. We were forced to add an unannounced overflow session for those who had to be turned away the first night, and both times we had to pack our new lecture hall to the rafters. (Please don't tell the fire marshal.)
These in-house seminars accomplish several things for us: They make Catholic Answers better known in its own diocese, they provide us with fresh tapes for later distribution, and they allow us the freedom to experiment with public presentations.
Future sessions already on the calendar include James speaking on Marian doctrines and Fr. Ray Ryland explaining priestly celibacy. I plan to develop a six-week sequence on the basics of the faith, a course designed for interested non-Catholics. I want to see if I can work up a program that will draw people of other faiths and of no faith. If successful, the program will be put into workbook form so it can be given at any parish-by you.
A final note, one of considerable satisfaction to our staff. From Larry Nolte comes this happy e-mail: "So here I am cruising the Web, and I come across a site called 'Two Thousand Years of Catholic Writings.' It starts with the Didache and it ends up with Terrye Newkirk."
Don't let anyone say that This Rock isn't having an impact!
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