Lawrence Luna
ANSWERING ABOUT THE ACCUSATION AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON MODESTY ISSUE
Issue: Mr. Eliseo Soriano, the leader of the Members of Church of God International, said in his Ang Dating Daan program that although not all Catholics are immodest, but most of its members are immodest because the Catholic Church didn’t teach all the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible and many of its members are not even wearing decent clothes wherever they go.
So what can you say about this issue?
Answer: The Catholic Church actually teaches all the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is the true church of Christ (Mat 16:18, Acts 9:31, Mar 11:17, Acts 23:11, Rom 1:7) and we all know that Christ’s church is the foundation and pillar of truth (1 Tim 3:15) since it is guided by the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:22-26, Jn 16). Also, he even promised that he will be in his church (Mat 28:19-20). So, no reason that the Catholic Church will be “incomplete” in its teachings including modesty.
Yes, it’s true that we can’t avoid that many Catholics are immodest, but we must not blame it to the church for the following reasons:
Despite of being a member of the church, we must remember that man has its free will, but every deed we make, there are consequences awaiting on it (Ecc 11:28, Sir 15). It means that some used their free will to do bad things instead of obeying the teachings of the church.
The evidences that the Catholic Church is serious with modesty is that the church used social media, disciplinary measures especially inside the church and Catholic schools, Catechism, and other systems just to be able to remind the Catholics to be sincere in obeying its teachings including modesty for the good welfare of everyone.
Even though no matter how the church will teach on this matter, still at the end it depends on the person to accept the message or not. Yes, we can’t convince everybody but the church did its best. Example of this situation is that even though Jesus preached the word of God and his apostles as well, but still their messages were not accepted by others. Remember that we will be judged according to our deeds, not basing other people ( Heb 9:27, Rev 20:12).
With these arguments, we can say that the Catholic Church is complete in its teachings, but it’s just some will not obey. We must be reminded that being a member of the true church is not just enough, we have to show and live in modesty then most of all; we must have faith and good works.