dogma This quote is often misattributed to Saint Augustine. He did not write with similes. Those who considered themselves progressive, enlightened, and tolerant often ridicule Christians for our dogmas. They tell us they are old-fashion and that we need to get with the times.

They're lying to us!

Dogmas guide the Church to be who Jesus called us to be. In this essay, you will learn why dogmas are an important part of our lives. We will accomplish this by looking at:

why modern culture hates dogma what are dogmas and why we need them how dogmas are defined why dogmas are necessary for us to be joyful and peaceful as we try to conform ourselves to the image of our King What Is Truth, According To Modern Western Culture?

Let's start by looking at why our culture doesn't like dogma.

Jesus promises those that follow Him will not be accepted by the world (the culture). He wasn't, and -- as His followers (disciples) -- neither will we.

If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.[ref]John 15:18-19[/ref]

If we are doing something that our cultures accepts, we need to ensure that it's not opposed to what Jesus commanded us to do.

Western culture's standard of truth is relativism.

To understand why our culture is so hostile toward dogma, read the last verse in the book of Judges:

In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.[ref]Judges 21:25[/ref]

When Israel rejected God as King, they rejected His ways in favor of what they wanted. The book tells us how awful the results were. When the people repented, God sent judges to guide them back to Him.

Today’s western culture is doing the same thing.

dogma April 8, 1966 cover of Time magazine Since the social revolution of the late 1960’s, the culture has gone to extremes to reject God as king. They seek their own standard of truth to make them happy. By God's standards, the results have been awful.

Western culture is now guided by relative truths[ref]Relativism is the belief that -- according to Webster's -- “truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.” It means that all truths have the same relative importance as the rest, which means there is no one standard of truth.[/ref] rather than the standard of God's truth that has guided us for centuries.

Jesus' disciples cannot accept relative truth as our standard because our King is THE way, THE truth, and THE life.[ref]John 14:6[/ref] We don't settle for a fake when we are given THE real thing.

In Church-speak, we call Jesus' standard of truth dogmas. Those who based their life on dogmas are called dogmatic. Our culture uses being dogmatic as an insult because we are in opposition to their “a dictatorship of relativism.”[ref]Cardinal Ratzinger said this just before becoming Pope Benedict XVI[/ref]

Isn't Dogma Just Christian Judgmentalism

"The measure by which you will be judged is the measure by which you judge." Matthew 7:2 When I bring up the topics of dogma, some say I'm trying to make an excuse for Christians to be judgmental. Living according to dogmas is not about judging the way others live but striving toward a high standard by which we are called to live.

True, there are Christians who wake up each morning thanking God they are not as awful as others. Jesus specifically tells us not to do that.[ref]Luke 18:9-14[/ref] We can all agree this is a form of judgmentalism that is wrong.

I am going to spend some time addressing the common accusation that when we enter the marketplace of ideas and present Jesus' truths, the culture tells us not to judge them. What they want is for us to stop bringing Jesus to world issues.

What does it mean to be judgmental?

To make a judgment is compare something against a standard. If I say it's warm, how do you know what I mean? We need a standard reference so we both understand what I mean by warm.

If someone says I'm a hater or intolerant, by what standard are they comparing me to in order to make this judgment? Notice that for them to make that statement, they have become judgmental. Isn't that a textbook example of hypocrisy?

When we present the Jesus' truth particularly in moral issues, the culture claims we are judgmental. We need to know that when we present someone who lives according to relative truth ideas contrary to their standard of truth, they can't debate the issue so they accuse us of being judgmental.

Here is a situation I was involved in: To me, zombie stories are gross and I don't want any of that in my mind. At my day-job, a coworker was telling how much she loved watching The Walking Dead. When she asked my opinion of the show, I told her I don't watch it because I think zombies are gross. She immediately said, "Don't judge me." I asked her how I had judged her. She giggled and went on telling us about her love for the show.

Yes, it might be a filler phrase but think about what cued it. I offered a non-judgmental opinion she asked for. Because it was counter to her truth, she interpreted as judgmental. Was it her guilt that triggered the response? In the depths of her soul, did she know that the idea of watching undead people eating living people is not entertaining? I don't know, but something triggered her defenses.

Are Christians allowed to judge?

No, and yes.

As I mentioned earlier, Jesus says that we are not to judge or condemn.[ref]Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37[/ref] He also tells us the Father has given to Him alone the authority to judge people at the end of time; [ref]John 5:22[/ref] however, He tells us to judge with a right judgement[ref]John 7:24[/ref] and he promises the 12 that they will judge the 12 nations of Israel end of time.[ref]Matthew 19:28[/ref] These seem to contradict each other.

Jesus taught we do not have the authority to judge people. It's beyond the authority of any person to tell another they are going to Hell. We are not even allowed to make the judgment is a person is good or not.[ref]Luke 18:19[/ref] This is what Pope Francis meant when he said "Who am I to judge?" Not even the pope can judge a person.

HOWEVER, Jesus does give us the authority to judge the actions of another. My children and grandchild sometimes make bad choices (actions) based on a Christian moral standard (dogmas) but that does not them bad people.

One skill our culture has forgotten is separating the actions from the person. This is a fundamental Christian teaching. If actions make us a bad people, what is it point of seeking forgiveness?

Here is an example of the standard Christians are called to: Osama bin Laden did horrible things according to a Christian moral standards that are driven by dogmas. While we can judge his actions, every Christian who makes the judgment that bin Laden went to Hell is trying to push God off His throne.

Here is where is get harder: following Jesus teachings,[ref]Matthew 5:43-48[/ref] we are called to pray for bin Laden's soul.

Imagine if a priest offered a Mass for Osama bin Laden. The priest would be following Jesus' commands but the culture would not care. Most likely he would be the lead on international news and the entire Catholic Church would be accused of supporting terrorism.

Jesus calls us to a different standard.

Are dogmas judgmental?

dogma He went away sad because he was not willing to conform to the image of Jesus. What have we learned on this tangent? Dogmas set a standard of our actions but not of people. So in that sense, one can argue that they are the cause of judgmentalism.

Dogmas set a high standard of how we are to live -- our actions -- but dogmas are not used to judge people. For this reason, dogmas offend some because they do not want to be told what to do by old men in Rome. Translation: they are like the rich young man[ref]Mark 10:17-22[/ref]; willing to follow Jesus unless that means changing how we live.

Let's face facts: Christianity -- when lived as intended -- is an offensive and difficult religion. Dogmas play a major part of this by setting a high standard by which we and the whole world will be judged.

What Is A Dogma?

dogmaDogma is a Latin word meaning a “philosophical tenet.” Let's define each of these words separately and then we will put them back together.

First word: philosophical

Philosophy means "study of" or "pursuit of wisdom." Some may roll your eyes when hearing the word philosophy. It does require deeper thinking than most of us want to put in. For some, it brings back bad memories of huge lecture halls with a professor droning on; however, a basic working knowledge of philosophy helps us in being a better thinker and decision maker.

Did you know that most priests must earn a bachelor’s degree in philosophy BEFORE they earn their master’s in theology or divinity? This is why many of them are wonderful conversationalist or can usually cut to the chase during confession.

Second word: tenet

A tenet is “a belief or idea that is important to a group.” Some of our Christian tenets include the resurrection of Jesus, weekly Mass attendance, and the respect of all life.

Putting the words together

Therefore, a dogma is tenet considered to be a philosophical truth.

Dogmas are not thought up in the morning and published after lunch. Over the centuries, wise thinkers — most of whom are philosophers guided by the Holy Spirit — have looked at these tenets from all possible angles, with all possible logic, and found them to be a truth worthy of our belief.

How Are Dogmas Defined?

When the Church must settle a certain issue — most often at an Ecumenical Council — it defines dogma to set before the world exactly what we believe.

Take for example the First Council of Nicaea, called in 325AD. To combat the Arian heresy,[ref]Arianism is similar to the Mormon and Islamic beliefs about Jesus. They reject the Trinity believing God created Jesus. This removes Jesus divinity and puts Him on par with religious teachers like Joseph Smith, Muhammad, and Buddha. Worshiping Jesus as God is idolatry according to Arianism.[/ref] the Church released the Nicene Creed. It is filled with many dogmas that -- until that point -- were commonly believed by all Christians. Because the Arians denied some of these beliefs and were leading others to do the same, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, those first council fathers dogmatically define these beliefs.

One of these dogmas in the Creed is that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father. Jesus taught this[ref]John 10:30, John 17:21[/ref] and it's an element of our faith had been passed on by the Apostles and their successors for 300 years.

The Church had accepted this as a truth but it had to be dogmatically defined to ensure everyone understood this truth.

Does the church make up dogma?

A point we have to make clear for ourselves is that the Church does not belong to any human. Unlike other world religions founded by humans, the Church was established by Jesus[ref]Matthew 16:18-20[/ref] and breathed into life by the Holy Spirit.[ref]Acts 2[/ref]. The Holy Spirit protects the Church from the humans who manage it until Jesus returns.

We are workers in this vineyard (the Church) and not owners.[ref]Matthew 20:1-16[/ref] Therefore, we do not have the authority to create dogma. When we define dogmas, we are recognizing a truth given to us by God (more on how this is done in the next section).

This also means — and this is important for those formed by a relativistic culture — since we can't create dogma, the Church does not have the authority to change or remove dogma.

Let’s use the dogma of transubstantiation as an example.[ref]Transubstantiation is the moment during the Mass when the substance of the bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1373-1377 for more information). This is what is occurring while the bells are ringing during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.[/ref]

For the first 1,500 years, the Church accepted transubstantiation as a truth without the need to define it. Protestants rejected transubstantiation with Martin Luther's reinterpreted John 6:22-71. At the Council of Trent (1545-1563AD), transubstantiation was dogmatically defined to combat this hearsay. The council fathers did not create the dogma of transubstantiation; they defined a Scripturally-based truth as something all must believe. This leads us to what does it take for something to become a dogma.

What Are The Criteria of a Dogma?

For something to be a dogma it must be: [ref]Catholic Encyclopedia entry Dogma[/ref]

a truth revealed by God in Scripture or by Scared Tradition concerning faith or morals taught by the Apostles or the early Church Father (from Pentecost until the year 500) dogma

Knowing the Church does not create dogma but only defines it using the criteria above, can human-originated teachings to become dogma? No.

This is why the Church can never accept "same-sex marriage" as equal to marriage that is defined in Scripture.

This might offend some but as I said earlier, Christianity is an offensive and difficult religion. We are a people based on the Truth God reveals to us in Jesus.

God gives us dogmas to help us know the Truth so that we can be set free by it as we conform ourselves to the image of Jesus. The culture would prefer to conform Jesus to their image.

What If I Disagree With A Dogma?

dogma "The Judgment of the Nations" by Fra Angelico Some U.S. political representatives claim they can disagree with a dogma and still be a “good” Catholic. They are leading themselves and others astray because we CANNOT deny a truth from God presented to us by the Church and expect that He would welcome us as sheep when He comes to judge us.[ref]Matthew 25:31–46[/ref]

To explain this, let me first touch on our understanding of dogma as part of God's Revelation (all of His teachings summed up in Jesus).

Theological grades of certainty

Ludwig Ott, a German priest, theology professor, and author of the book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, popularized a classification system to help us better understand the importance of the Holy Spirit's teaching through the Church.

The highest level is where the dogmas are. These are the truths that God specifically reveals and those Church-defined dogmas.[ref]Mary’s Immaculate Conception (1854AD) and her Assumption (1950AD)[/ref] All of these are infallible teaching, which means they are free of error and must be believed.

As Catholic Christians, we are not free to develop our own theology. That is what the Protestants did at the Reformation and that's what relativistic "cafeteria Catholics"[ref]A pejorative for one who picks and choose the parts of Church teaching they will believe.[/ref] do. If you want to be a "good" Catholic, you must conform yourself to all of the teachings.

The second level are those teachings that have not been dogmatically defined but require our assent of faith[ref]Vatican II document Lumen Gentium article 25 defines assent of faith as a "submission of will and of mind." This assent must be shown in a special way to the teaching of the pope.[/ref] because they are based on dogmas. It is common to refer to this level as Church doctrine.

An example is Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae. In this document, he did not define dogma; instead, he reaffirmed the Church's teachings based on dogma concerning the moral issues of birth control.

The third level or grade of certainty is theological opinion. This is where theologians and others have plenty to debate about. What many of social media post presents as truths -- i.e., condemning those who hold hand during the "Our Father" Mass -- fits in this category.

Rejecting dogma

God gives us truths to establish our relationship with Him, with our fellow humans, and with the rest of creation. When we intentionally reject these truths, we're rejecting God. Like Lucifer did, we're telling God that we know better.

Rejecting Christian dogma is a sin. Recall that a sin is “any willful thought, word, deed or omission contrary to the law of God.”[ref]Baltimore Catechism, Question 51[/ref] Knowing what God wants and doing the opposite damages our relationship with Him (sin). This is what puts us on the wide path rather than on the narrow.[ref]Matthew 7:13-14[/ref]

Notice it's only rejecting dogma (the first level of Theological Certainty) that is sinful. Not so the second and third level. We're called to give our assent of faith to the second level but it is not sinful to have honest difficulties with certain teachings. We are not permitted to outright reject the second level but we can withhold our full assent until we have prayerfully considered the topic.

Why Are Dogmas A Good Thing?

dogmaWe are on Earth "to know God, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next."[ref]Baltimore Catechism, Question 6[/ref] Dogmas are a good thing because they help us to accomplish this mighty work by knowing and living His Truth.

Don't believe the lie: we can’t “get with the times” because dogmas guide us with timeless Truths established by the One who created time. Being dogmatic is never old-fashion because Truth never goes out of fashion.

The world hates this stance. This is why they call us “hateful, inflexibility, and intolerance.” When we are living the dogmas, we cannot be any of those.

So the next time someone calls you dogmatic, take it as a compliment.