So, that's just a quick tangent. Because I was thinking of the video idea, and writing the script for this in the morning. And so, I was thinking of the fact that this idea would kind of fit more into Trent Horn's "Free For all Friday", but then I realized, my video topics are not really as much about apologetics as his are. But, I digress.
I thought of this topics back on, Tuesday? I enjoy taking bike rides, and as I take bike rides, I listen to music on Spotify. And we as our family decided to get Spotify Premium, and, the nice thing about this, is that you can listen to music, first, without any ads, and secondly you can listen to "anything", and make playlists and things like that, without having to have it mix.
Now, I remember, making CD mixes of different music. I remember making these CDs using Windows Media Player, and downloading music off of YouTube. I probably still have some of these CDs. On a side note, I still believe in physical media, I believe that it is great, over cloud storage and all that stuff. And here is why I said this belongs in sort of a "Free for all Friday Category", because this will relate back to Catholicism, but we are taking a long winding road to it! So I believe things like records, like the one you can see back there, or CDs, are great. Even physical storage, more solid state forms of storage, those are non-mechanical, like old hard-drives and CDs, are great. Over cloud computing and storage and stuff. But I do have a great appreciation for Spotify.
Now how does this all relate back to Catholicism? I hear you say. Actually, I hear you saying, stop talking about technology. Probably most of you have no idea what I'm talking about. And if you do, then, your probably wondering the first thing, What does this have to do with Catholicism?
Well, I'll tell you, on Monday, I was taking my bike ride, and I wanted to listen to a mix of music. And I wanted a nice mix of multiple different artists I was into. And I saw a nice mix they had, and they had one that was all of music that you are listening to now. And so I put this on, and it was a really nice mix.
Now another nice thing about Spotify, is that you can make playlists, or take the mixes they make, and make a playlist from them. And this is what I did. And I do like making my own mixes, like the CDs I used to make.
To turn that into Catholicism, you might have heard about something called, "Cafeteria Catholicism". Cafeteria Catholicism, is the idea of picking and choosing what you believe. Picking and choosing what doctrines and stuff you personally believe. It kind of fits in with the "Spiritual but Not Religious" idealism, of choosing what you do and do not believe in, or mixing multiple different things.
"Spiritual but not religious" differs from Cafeteria Catholicism, in that "Spiritual but Note Religious" combines different ideas from many religions, while usually claiming not to hold to just one religion. It involved sort of going more towards spiritualism, looking more at different aspects of different faith. This would be an even bigger buffet look than Cafeteria Catholicism.
And I related this to music choice. Because, there are many different types of music I listen to, and as I was listening to it on Monday, I wanted a nice mix of everything.
"Cafeteria Catholicism", more like a buffet, is picking and choosing, "making a plate", what you believe.
Now, I like this quote by the English Author, G.K. Chesterton, “We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”. There is a variation I have seen of this, where he says, we do not want a church that says I am wrong when I know I am wrong, but tells me I am wrong when I think I am right.
GK Chesterton speaks of a church, that changes us, and does not change or conform to us. And to relate this more, the church we have, is not a church that changes to us, and above all, it means changing our hearts, conforming to it, not merely picking and choosing what we believe.
The churches teachings and rules, or much more than guidelines or recommendations, they are not meant for the unguided, rather they are the way the church has interpreted the Bible, as well as how, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the church (the popes and bishops) decide what is meet and right and just for Christian life.
We cannot say, "Well, I like this church teaching on the environment. And this teaching about Christ. And this teaching, and this...", but then go and say, "But I don't like this teaching on divorce", "or this teaching on birth control", or whatever else. Catholicism is not a pick and choose, it's not a buffet.
That's kind of what got me thinking of the idea of Cafeteria Catholicism, as I was looking at music, seeing what it picked out for me, where my choices were, what I would put on a playlist. Or better yet, when I made CDs, there was a limit to how much you can have. Religion, is not supposed to be like a buffet. Rather it is the search for what is true. As Catholics, it is understanding that God calls us to have full and great communion with him, and because of this he left us a church, not just for us to pick and choose what we believe, but rather to join ourselves to him.
We are not called to be "Cafeteria Catholics" to pick and choose, rather, we are called to submit ourselves to God, finding true freedom in him. To submit ourselves to him, to the church. Because if he want to live in God in heaven, we must be willing to live as he asks us, and we get to know him by what the church gives us, not merely by what our own understanding can get us to.
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