CRITICIZE THE CHURCH AND DEFEND IT.

CRITICIZE THE CHURCH AND DEFEND IT.

Sub titles:
A. Criticizing the Church.
B. Advocate for the Church.
C. Listen to God's voice and the voice of your heart.

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A., Criticizing the Church.
Recently, some old friends shared a post on Facebook, titled: "Religious is just a tool".
The content is mostly negative stories about different religions, including Catholicism.
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Occasionally, I also see some articles like this. But this article has decent content, it only states facts without hooking or defamatory comments like other articles.
But even so, it has bad consequences for young people, many of whom are looking for excuses to quit their religion. Although the author also has one or two sentences praising the faith, it does not stand out. I understand that the defense of the Faith here is not the goal of the author, but to attack those who have erred. This is very welcomed, though I think it will not touch the hairs of their feet; Let me give you some examples: When Pope Joan Paul II apologized to the world for the mistakes of some members of the church in the “Inquisition” incident, it was the Cardinals and Bishops next to the pope who jumped up in protest, saying that they had done nothing wrong and to apologize. But a year later, the Pope apologized to the world again, and they cried out, "Why do you apologize again and again?" And then, a dramatic but very quiet reform: the pope has slowly changed most of the Italian Cardinals, from more than 90 percent to a few dozen. And most of the Cardinal today belongs to the new wave of thought, so today we have some reforms.
When Pope Leo announced that he would continue Francis' path, the opposition cooled.

Recently, when a reporter asked Pope Leo, "Do you intend to change the Doctrine? Then he had a very interesting answer: first of all, it is necessary to change people's thinking, and then to take into account the change in doctrine.
His response reminds us of Pope Francis' innovations, which have been fiercely opposed by many because they are not ready to change their mindset to accept them.

In the same passage above, in my defense, I have used the argument attributed to the age and the times, that is, from the beginning of the Church, Jesus and the Apostles began to call out as “the church for the poor”, and only when it moved to Europe was the Church disturbed with the world power and then, The lavish and powerful lifestyles along with the culture of the king ruled with power and law. It must be admitted, however, that this way of life suited many classes of the time, and that the people readily accepted the excessive domination of a few people.
Today, especially after the Second Vatican Council, the atmosphere of clericalism has gradually faded into the past.


As for the proof of religion and faith, I would like to use only a few very ordinary and practical facts: Master Hang Truong, a Buddhist monk, said an immortal sentence: "Only Catholicism has miracles; no other religion has miracles.

Let me tell you two very familiar types of miracles, which no one dares to deny today. One is that for two thousand years, many saints have died and their bodies are still as fresh as when they were alive, which has been scientifically tested and recognized as unnatural by scientists.
Then there were the patients who were blessed with a healing that the doctors recognized as a miracles. These testimonies are abounding in many famous places in the world such as Fatima and Lourdes, etc.

Another proof: the martyrs, numbering in the millions around the world, all the time, to date. They courageously died because of their strong belief in God. They belong to all classes, from the poor to all classes of wealth, nobility, and intellectuals.
In the face of their courage and death, we should bow our heads in contemplation, not rush to criticize.

From these specific events, we can clearly see the signs of a supernatural world and an invisible Omnipotent, that is, the Creator, that is, God.
To obtain faith, the first thing is to open our hearts to the truth.

Dear young generation,
As we enter adulthood, we also gradually move away from our families and communities to immerse ourselves in social activities. Struggling with a new life, Christianity has faded among many young people, shaken by new cultures, because the simple catechism we learned at first Holy Communion and confirmation was not enough to navigate modern life. As Pope John Paul II said, many young people convert to other religions because they do not find the answer in our religion. And He gave the Apostolic Exhortation "New Evangelization" so that we must relearn Christianity.

Some of you are still cultivating more perspective, so you should understand that, over the years, many views on religious life have also changed to suit the times. Many changes have not yet penetrated the life of the parishioners, so you must try to learn to rise. I would like to mention that the "Divine Mercy" movement is growing in popularity, which is an important turning point in the direction of catechism teaching. The Church has stopped talking so much about deterrence and hell, but has moved to teach more about God's mercy...


B., Defending the Church.
In order to reflect and refute the above negative images of the church, we would like to present some of the following positive facts:
The positive images and activities of the church have contributed to the world and humanity in both form and material:

- To reflect on some clergy who have misbehaved in the past and the present, let's compare it with the vast majority of clergy and religious men and women who have sacrificed day and night to serve in the field of education at all times, all over the world. non-stop. Educational institutions ranged from poor huts in the countryside to prestigious universities from the early days of the church.

- In the field of health: The Church has been focusing on the sick, rich and poor, from rural clinics to large hospitals around the world, for more than 2,000 years.
Today, there are thousands of clergy, religious, and lay people who are still serving in many poor countries around the world commiting themselves without fear of endangering their lives.

- On the spiritual sphere: On the human side, the Church, with its teachings on justice and charity: we have no measure of the efficacy of this moral sphere, but the events here and there and the works of charity performed by Catholics, for example, the work of helping Covid patients a few years ago in the Ho Chi Minh City area was well known throughout Vietnam.

- The Spiritual Field is the Field of Faith: The Church has a solid history and started from more than two thousand years, not to mention the Old Testament period, Christianity had a solid foundation based on the Bible and a high theology, learning about God and especially spreading the Faith to mankind to believe in the presence of God in our daily lives, believing in the powerful and receiving, who sacrificed, gave birth to us and always governs everything in all the great and small things in this world. To prove it concretely, we would like to tell a story and an event about the presence of God in our daily lives, believing in the Omnipotence and benevolence, who has created us and who always governs everything in all things big and small in this world, for us.

To prove a specific way, we would like to tell you a sample story and events of April 1975 in Vietnam:
Reflections on the historic exodus of millions of Vietnamese due to the events of 1975.

At the personal level, many people have been talented, planning a successful trip. But we would like to invite you to look at a higher level, who created this life-changing event.
The migration began in April 1975 and lasted for decades. Starting in the United States with a small program, only saving a few tens of thousands of people, but then it broke out into a movement that spread to the whole world, at this vast and huge level, there was no human being who has created this huge plan. So who dares to say that there is no God's hand who has arranged these events?

Millions of Vietnamese today living happily and richly abroad. Is it because they are more talented than tens of millions of people in the back country? If you realize that you are fortunate, by God's grace, then thank God, thank those who have helped you, and realize your duty to repay the favor. In the spirit of thanksgiving, we suggest a broader view. It is gratitude to parents, the benefactors, and then offering submission gratitude to God.
We use the above practical, very specific story to say that many of our successes in life are not necessarily our own merit, but also thanks to our superiors and the hands of others. And the first hand of life is the gratitude of parents.

The above is 1 specific event, so that we can see the hand that regulates the events in our lives.

C., Listen to the voice of God and the voice of one's heart.
We invite young people to infer the existence of the Creator through facts and traces of his presence, for example, I have never seen King Quang Trung, Le Loi or the President of the United States, but I believe it because of the reliable facts.

In terms of human existence:
We are born with parents, above them are our grandparents, and then we go up to our ancestors; and at the highest level, it must be the Creator, with the creation of Adam and Eve, and the symbol of the patriarchs of mankind. That's the biblical story.
So is the Bible worth trusting? The Bible (Old Testament) is the only book on the formation of the universe and of man, written nearly 4,000 years ago. Today, scientists using advanced technology have confirmed that the materials of the Bible are also dated in accordance with the facts in the Bible.
Let us observe a living history, a living Bible: The Jewish people have been present for a long time, from the story of Abraham's patriarchs, then to the great historical event of fleeing Egypt.
Only since this event have the Jewish people, for thousands of years, been shattered and scattered all over the world; in some places, only a few families have gathered. Yet every family has kept the biblical tradition in their lives, honoring the Patriarch Abraham and carefully keeping a record of the anniversary of their escape from Egypt to this day. This is a "living Bible", echoing from an entire people of Jews, on a daily basis, from all corners of the world.
The above are a few brief passages with very mundane, specific logic to prove the existence of the creator, God.

Today, almost everyone feels that there is a God, a Creator, and a God, but there are still only a small number of Christians. Why is that?

The answer is:
Human beings are composed of three parts: Body, Intellectuality, and Spirituality.
Each part works due to a motivation.
1. The motivation for the body to work is the stomach; you have to work to have food for the stomach.
2. The motivation for intellectual activity is to study, to have a future for life.
3. What motivates spiritual growth: in this field, there is no natural motivation as in the above 2 fields, but only thanks to spontaneous moments of motivation from our minds. If you have free time or
are tired and bored, you should calm down to look deeply into life: our parents gave birth to us, but the Creator gave birth to hundreds and millions of exquisite parts of our body, with hundreds and millions of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves intertwined systematically.

Every day of our lives, the Creator still takes care of and nurtures: creating sunlight, the land produces fruits and green vegetables, and the river flows, so we have fresh water. The air is always changing to keep us supplied with enough oxygen.
And the most noble point is that the creator has placed in our souls a masterpiece: "conscience", so that we know right and wrong, know how to judge and do good, and avoid evil.

In short, every moment we live is placed in the Creator's embrace. And we can easily guess that the Creator is very kind, which is why he has such loving behaviors.
So who is the Creator or God? People are used to calling Creator or God, while Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are all called Creator, while Catholicism is called Creator or God.
So, when we recognize that without the materials around us, especially the air to breathe, can we live?
And so, when we recognize that there is the hand of God that always takes care of us, we must have an attitude of gratitude and worship God, and that is the duty of a human being with dignity. We must know how to respect and be grateful to our benefactors and everyone, and above all, our God. We have a duty to follow a religion. And first of all, the religion of being human. Then there is the higher realm, where one learns about a sacred being to worship.

If you would like to learn more about religion, please contact us by email: Quinn.Nuyen@CBP-USA.net. Please specify the subject: Nguyen That Khe.

Nguyen That Khe,