In this engaging clip, Joe Heschmeyer and Cy Kellett speak with a listener named Natasha, who shares her journey of exploring faith and the challenges of raising her children in a world of diverse beliefs.
Transcript:
Cy: Why aren’t you Catholic, Natasha?
Caller: I just, growing up, I went to multiple different churches and realized there’s multiple different religions. And so for me, it’s like, which one do you follow? Which one’s right, which one’s wrong? I’m not baptized because I could never figure that out for myself. I have two kids now, and my oldest, who is five, just started asking me about God and Jesus, and I’m very glad that he is, but I don’t know how to answer a lot of his questions. Pretty much, I just retaliate with saying God is all things good. But now I’m trying to find a good church to take him to, and my husband is not a believer at all. So it would just be me and the kids. And so the pressure is all on me. You know, my coworker is Catholic, and I was asking him questions actually yesterday. This is the second day that I’ve been listening to your guys’ radio.
Cy: Wow. And you called in, Natasha, that’s really cool. And can I ask you just a question before I turn it over to Joe? You take delight in your oldest child asking about God, asking about Jesus. Why does that give you delight?
Caller: Because I find comfort in knowing that he is real. I am not scared to die, but I feel like if I wasn’t a believer, that would be the most terrifying thing to think about, you know? And I find comfort in praying and stuff. There’s a lot of things, a lot of things that I do not know though. Like I didn’t know that you’re technically not a Christian unless you get baptized. I considered myself this whole time to be Christian, so that was very interesting for me to learn that.
Cy: All right, Joe and Natasha, I’m going to come back to you. But Joe, what do you have to say?
Joe: Yeah, so I think that’s a fantastic question, and it sounds like both you and your son are on a really exciting spiritual journey. Let me encourage you in two ways before I get into your question. The first is any Protestant church with a baptism is going to be a step in the right direction relative to like just sitting on the fence forever.
But second, be encouraged that even if your husband isn’t currently on this journey, you can really be a positive spiritual influence on him. Whatever that might look like, whatever that might mean for him. As you grow closer to God, the graces from that will be visited upon your family in some way, and be assured of that.
But then to get to your specific question of like, well, how do I know which one? I would say Jesus tells us to all be one. So we’re told two things. In Matthew, chapter 16, he says, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” So that’s our first clue that the church goes back to the time of Christ because it was founded by Christ.
So if you want to know, like, well, when did the Lutherans come about? Well, it’s right there in the name, Martin Luther. When did the Calvinists come about? Well, right there in the name, John Calvin. When did Catholics come about? Well, Jesus Christ, that he founded his church. And we can trace the lineage back there.
And in John 17, at the Last Supper, Jesus has this prayer. In verse 20, he says, “I do not pray for these,” meaning the twelve only, “but also for those who believe in me through their word,” meaning us, “that they may all be one. Even as our Father art in me, and I in thee, they also may be in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.”
And I love this passage because what he’s saying is this: it’s so important for Christians to be one. Or else, you know what’s going to happen? People are going to say, “I don’t know which one to choose,” and they’re not going to get baptized. And they’re going to sit back and say, “I don’t know what to do.” And you are living proof of the damage caused by Christian disunity. That was something done to you. And so as a Christian, I am sorry and I apologize for that.
But more than that, the solution then is that all Christians, everyone listening to this show who considers themselves a Christian, should be part of that church that Jesus was talking about, the church that he wants all of us to be one in. Because he didn’t want a bunch of different denominations and a bunch of different churches teaching radical doctrines because that dissuades people from joining Christianity in the first place.
Because if we can’t get our own act together, how can we possibly bring anyone else to him? And so to that end, St. Jerome, writing in the year 379, says, “I might spend the day in speaking to the same effect and dry up all the streams of argument with the single Son of the church.” And he goes on to say, “We ought to remain in that church which was founded by the apostles and continues to this day.”
So I have a book that I hope to send you called *The Early Church Was the Catholic Church*. In it, I just look at why we know that the Catholic Church that we know of today really is the same church with the same beliefs and the same worship that you would find in the year 200, in the year 100, that it goes all the way back to the time of Christ, that it goes all the way back to the apostles, and that it’s not some later human innovation, that it really is the church that can claim to be divinely instituted and divinely founded.
And if we find that church, I hope every Christian would say, “I want to be a part of that,” rather than a church made by man.
Cy: Natasha, what do you think?
Caller: I think that sounds great.
Cy: Well, I’ll tell you what, we’ll send you that book, but I’d also like to send you Jimmy Akin’s book, *The Words of Eternal Life: True Happiness and Where to Find It*. That may also give you some things that you can share with that wonderful five-year-old that you have.
And we’re here all the time, especially Tuesdays and Thursdays. We do open forum. I hope you’ll call again. Okay, Natasha?
Caller: All right. Thank you.
Cy: Well, thank you. You kind of made our day. That’s the kind of conversation we love to have.