On the Papists
I cannot help but think of the above passage when dealing with my Roman Catholic colleagues. Let me preface this by saying that I admire quite a bit about Roman Catholics, especially the laity: their piety is evident in how they worship, they pray often, and (usually) they uphold the Law of God. Catholic church workers (namely musicians) are, however, quite irritatingly obsessed with the Roman legislation. Among the Vatican II followers, musicians embrace the freedom that the council gave them to perform their low-standard music, and they say to themselves, "Look, Rome said we can do this!" Meanwhile, the Trads are walking in the footsteps of the Cecilian movement of the mid-1800s, saying "No, you can't do music like that! It's not holy enough for worship!" And they appeal to other laws by other councils or papal edicts, all of which contradict another at some point in the course of history. "In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." The Papists' treatment of worship is utterly Pharisaic in attitude. This should come as no surprise, as they still ignore the comfort and freedom of the Gospel.
In a class, we were having a conversation about postures of prayer. In many Roman churches in the 1970s, it apparently became customary to hold hands with the people next to you during the Our Father. As we discussed this, another student brought up the orans prayer position (look it up and you'll see what is meant). The Trad Catholics went absolutely berserk as they tried to dig up Roman legislation on why laity can't use these particular postures of prayer. Being a Lutheran (or more properly, an Evangelical Catholic), I noted in the class that this issue is merely adiaphora. They didn't know what that meant, so I told them: "The postures of prayer you're describing are neither commanded nor forbidden in the Scripture, so these are essentially decided by taste. Are hand-holding or the orans position in good taste? No, they look stupid. There's your answer." A particular Catholic responded with, "Yes, that's what you believe, but we have legislation specifically telling us what positions of prayer are reserved for the priest." "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition."
To be continued.
