Why I Am A Catholic by G. K. Chesterton

I just today ran across these three great Chesterton quotes:

“it is the beginning of all true criticism of our time to realize that it has really nothing to say at the very moment when it has invented so tremendous a trumpet for saying it”: from “The Proper Review of Machines”—1923. (think: internet today)

and

“None of the modern machines, none of the modern paraphernalia...have any power except over the people who choose to use them” (Daily News, July 21, 1906)

and

“It is always hard to correct the exaggeration without exaggerating the correction”-—from “The New Jerusalem”, chapter 5
( a great counsel for us on the religion forum :-) )

The last one is especially good! Wow!

It took me a little while to 'get' Chesterton. His is an unusual, at least to me, sort of musing wisdom, that throws itself out in rollicking essays and extravagantly worked metaphors, and then in pithy (be careful how you thay that) aphorisms.

I would say, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly," was one of the most important things I learned as a hospital chaplain.

But this one is a needed corrective and reminder that the need for the virtue of justice and the trait of judiciousness is always there.

While I don’t think truth is subjective, I do believe that God instills in each of us our own truth.

It is not good for the man to be alone.

I think that each of us is an instance of the truth, AND each of us is called to his own unique relationship with Jesus, the Truth. So there is this geometrically expanding ramification of the truth.

But it is always anchored, tethered, at the other end to IHS.

Or to say it another way, just because something is uniquely mine doesn't necessarily mean it is true.

So in koinonia, communion, society, the ecclesia, the synagogue, WITH one another we get the help we need to winnow or dross from 'our' truth.

Clearly Chesterton meant "the green leaf grey" as not only allegory but as poetic image. So we are allowed, urged, to revel in all the associations it prompts.

Even the greyest of Eucalyptus or Russian Olive leaves is green. It lives! The truly grey leaf is dead or counterfeit.

Some, like the little girl who with me, in Sunday School kindergarten, used to color all the camels purple, may think that the old green is too confining, insufficiently creative and innovative, too bound by the strictures of stultifying convention.

Now coloring camels purple at least has the redemption of preposterous silliness. But trotting out -- as if it were some startling new insight, some breakthrough to vistas of a brave new world -- the idea the leaves are really grey? The wonder of the truth, the chlorophyll -- photosynthesis, water + carbon dioxide + sunlight make sweet energy! To overlook that living wonder for the palled novelty of grey leaves is to prefer yesterday's flat beer to the best champagne! It is to have given up looking for true excellence in a perverted lust for tawdry singularity, to despise silk in favor of polyester.

To approach with humility what truly is is to enter into beauty and wonder. To turn away from what is to something less, in the name of innovation or revolution, is to give up vital beauty for the pallor of constructed falsehood.

We know it is sin not by reading some copybook but by observation.

Ran across your post while reading another Chesterton thread.

Here's a hymn by Chesterton:

O God of Earth and Altar

O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honor, and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!

Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.

Cheers!

g_w

Hi, I’m new here and I’m just wondering where a Catholic gets their information on things like the immaculate conception, icons and relics, indulgences, veneration of Mary, her remaining a virgin, not and not sinning, succession of the popes from Peter, no assurance of salvation, etc. I realize that these might not all be dogmas but how many of these do you have to believe to truly be Catholic, after reading my Bible I don’t find these doctrines there...which version do you guys use? I’m not being sarcastic, just really curious. I’m a born again believer and have spoken to Catholics who say that the term born again is not relevant to their faith...that is interesting to me as Jesus says this to Nicodemus. The baby baptism thing is also a practice we don’t find in the Bible so where do these ideas come from if you believe Sola Scriptura? Or don’t you?

The Catholic teaching on salvation is that it is a process that begins with baptism and continues because life is not static and growth in holiness is a process. The born-again view is that if one says the right words one is "saved". To a Catholic, being born-again is a requirement for the new life just as breathing is a requirement for natural life. But one doesn't walk around asking people if they've breathed today, does one? It is basic, rudimentary. To dwell on an event as The End of the process is to ignore the process.

All the of the topics you mentioned are covered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Encyclopedia is probably one of the best all-around resources there is.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.