Air conditioned cooler system, yo, the tec glisten
on a mission, shoot your back out position
found missing, 2-5 deep in prison
kid listen, die on the cross like a Christian
so fuck you, plus your weak religion
in disguise, nowdays I cut prize
the invincible, untouchable CNN
is boldfaced, written in gold with ink pen

Capone -n- Noreage – T.O.N.Y.

Yesterday, Millions of Christians celebrated Easter Sunday. The day where we commemorate Jesus’s rise from the dead, to save us from ours sins and grant everlasting life in Heaven. It’s days like this where all Christians, united by faith, join together to revel in the word of the Lord and remember his sacrifice.  Although I’m a firm believer in Christ, I hate the divisive nature of religion at times. We have so many facets of Christianity it’s amazing. What upsets me even more is the level of misinformation about various denominations, most notably Catholics.

I had a conversation with someone I met on a recent trip. She told me that she knew of a few women interested in me, but they wanted to know if I was a Christian. Fair enough. I jokingly replied “Well, I’m Catholic, so I don’t know if they’ll like me” to which she replied “Well do you believe in Christ, because I was told that not all Catholics believe in the idea of Jesus Christ”. This shocked me.  As someone born and raised in the Catholic faith, to hear that statement made me wonder what fake Catholics she knew! I realized then, that people get it seriously twisted when it comes to my church, so let me clear a few things up.

All Catholics Believe in Jesus Christ! – I can’t even believe I’m writing this as a point.  We actually have a Nicene Creed, where we reaffirm all our beliefs, which include the divine mystery of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn’t freestylin in Jerusalem. Anyone who says they’re a Catholic and doesn’t believe in a core principles of Christianity are NOT Catholics OR Christians!

The Roman Catholic Church was the first church – This fact, cosigned by many scholars, makes the Roman Catholic church the first institution and original institution of Christianity. When Jesus told Peter, regarded as the firs Pope “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, ¹³ and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:13-18), this began the concept of the New Testament worship of God. The Catholic Church,  in over 2000 years of existence, is the oldest Christian institution. How could we be a different sect. of Christianity when this church preceded all others? This isn’t to say “We da Best”, just historical fact.

Politics separated denominations, not core beliefs - Someone asked me once what’s the difference between a Baptist and a Catholic. I usually say about 30-40 sacraments c*ck sucka beat it church political ideologies.  This mainly stemmed from Martin Luther and Reformation where he, and a group of his followers, took issues with many of the Catholic churches practices, and decided to break off into Protestants (key word: protest). From protestants came Baptists, Seven Day Adventists, Lutherans, and all other denominations. We basically went through a period in Christianity where if we didn’t agree with a certain practice of our church, we started our own denomination.  Whether the disagreement concerned sacraments, women as reverends/priests, statues in the church, etc, we as Christians disagreed and did our own thing. The CORE belief in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remained.

Think of it like the U.S.A. Anyone born in the 50 states is an American recognized by the Federal government as Americans. When we classify ourselves, we classify further by state. I’m a New Yorker, Texan, etc. Then you classify further by city, borough, and other regional distinction.  At the end of the day, we are ALL Americans, and without the core belief of the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, we wouldn’t be American. Even though we have different laws at the state level, the laws all fall under an American practice.  Even “non-denominational” Christians are a denomination, “because a  religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition and identity.” Catholics all have this core Christian belief, so we don’t conjure spells and potions during Lent and Christmas.

I just wanted to clarify those points about my denomination of Christianity. We let politics split us as a unit and continue to let misconception hinder us in our faith and belief.  Ireland has even seen a country divided and in war over this situation! I feel as comfortable celebrating service in a Baptist church doing the stanky leg and catching the Holy Ghost, as I do in the Catholic church where the mass feels like a P90x workout session/business meetings with all the sitting/standing/kneeling we do! I don’t care if you call it Resurrection Sunday or Easter, the Holy Ghost or Spirit, God or J-Hova, if you believe in Christ then we share an equal plane as Christians. Our faith, divided by politics, remains united by faith. Let’s not let false truths and misinformation permeate our beautiful religion and allow unwarranted prejudice. Do your research, ask, and let’s learn and grow in Christ as one base of followers.

What other misconceptions have you heard about Catholics or Protestants (other denominations)?Does it truly matter?

P.S – My twitter message on Easter Sunday. Applaud Me:

Jesus snt me a txt “Rose up from the DEAD, turn my swag onnn! Took a look at my disciples sd wzup! YEA, we getn blessings O!” Happy Easter!