Hi there! My name is Ricardo Garcia. I'm studying computer engineering in the
UNAM, Mexico City. I met Jesus in 1996 after some events that changed my life
completely. What i want most is that everyone knows His love, and that people
stop suffering, specially for problems like domestic violence, prostitution
and pornography.Actually, this is not my page. It belongs to Jesus. He is the author. I wrote 'Rick's page' because i'm the one who edits it :) I'm just a catholic who lives in Mexico and i decided to write this web page for those christians that are interested in knowing more our faith. This page promotes the unity among christians (also called ecumenism - you'll see this word appearing often in here), as all catholics should do, according to the Council Vatican II.
But we also believe that Christ made St. Peter the rock on which He would build His church, and that Peter went to Rome and became bishop there. After that, the Pope, being bishop of Rome, is the successor of Peter (you can find some of that proof in here).
(By the way, if you speak both english and spanish, you'll notice that there are some differences between the two editions of my web page. The english version is directed to english speakers, with a majority of evangelicals. The spanish edition is directed to spanish speaking people, specially latins. The majority of these are catholic. So, to avoid confusions, i have spoken with some phrases or statements that the majority of the public accept, and i refrain to say some things (explicitly), that the majority don't. I would like to speak 100% freely, but this page is not only for catholics, but for the other christians as well. If some evangelical saw the page with things full of catholic teachings, they wouldn't even bother in reading it. So i divided my page in 'catholic' and 'christian in general', for benefit of the public.)
This page is also intended to stop catholics from getting away from the Catholic Church, because they have been influenced by other christians, or some others think that they *cannot* find Christ inside the Catholic Church.
This is NOT true. As Jesus Christ isn't divided, we shouldn't divide the Church - if anybody of you thinks that some people cannot get to heaven because they were raised in a different faith, know this: God loves us ALL - He wants that ALL of us will get to heaven - including those (i.e. pagans) who couldn't know well what christianity really is about.
How should we evangelize? NOT with fear, for sure. The key is the Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit act thru you. If you pray and you find yourself talking about Jesus' love, understanding, even NOT promoting your denomination, then don't worry. Maybe switching denominations is not God's way to bring that person towards Him. You know, the main problem with non-christians is that they have been so scared of hell if they don't convert immediately, that they think all christians are taught with fear (we aren't - are we? At least not those of who know well their faith)...
Jesus wouldn't talk that way. Yes, he talked about a hell, but did He threaten people with phrases like "If you don't accept me as your Lord and Saviour, you are going to burn in hell for eternity!". Do you know what Jesus would do? He would touch the people's hearts. That simple. And that's why we need to pray for those who don't know Him. If you feel that Jesus has called you to preach the gospel, do it. But if you feel something wrong when you start to talk about your denomination, like saying wrong phrases, like you feel clumsy (i.e. you say 'apostates' instead of 'apostles') or similar things, then you can know that the Holy Spirit is NOT talking thru you. Let God talk thru you. Don't force things, and you will convert many more people to Christ. Or increase their love, if they already are christians.
Let's follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi (yes, he was a catholic!); in his own words: "Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary." We shouldn't condemn those who cannot accept christianity because they have NO idea of what is it about. Would you trust your house to a stranger? Of course not. But if you knew it was Jesus, you would. But non-christians do NOT know Jesus. He is a stranger for them. That's why preaching is FIRST, and then (only them) goes the conversion. And we should have a conversion too! Not between denominations... if you feel your heart is not with God, you should have a conversion INSIDE your heart. An intense, spiritual conversion. (Asking for forgiveness is a good idea!) Like the one you had when Jesus touched your heart and helped you to accept Him.
Many of us just forget about christianity and, as some say, put Jesus in 'the cellar'. Look at how many 'born-again' christians aren't living as they should... is that good? Instead, we should take Him out of our cellar and let Him talk thru us.
Accepting Jesus is easy. The hard thing is following Him and not breaking our promise to follow Him. Now THAT's the problem with most christians. If we don't take care of our faith, it will fall down...
"So much God loved the world, that He gave His first-born son, so that everyone who believes in Him, won't get lost, but have eternal life".
Everyone who believes in Christ; but not just say "Yes, He is God". Those who REALLY believe in Him; those who REALLY believe that He loves us; those who REALLY believe that He is with us even on our most difficult times; those who REALLY believe he will not abandon us in our problems; those who REALLY believe that Jesus cannot accept divorces and re-marriages; those who REALLY believe that Jesus would not accept an abortion; those who REALLY believe that we must love each other, and that with faith, hope and love, we can work miracles. (Do you REALLY believe in Jesus?)
Many people, however, are against this inter-christian movement of unity called ecumenism, and they attack other denominations, based more on their doctrinal differences than on its similarities with their beliefs, and instead of wondering if the other doctrine is right, with an open mind, they 'shut down' and think: "i can't be wrong - how could i be following the wrong doctrine?" It is against that, what i am, and all christians, should be against. This closed-mindness and fear of unity must be gotten rid of, so that all of us will be one Church, and have One faith. Is Jesus Christ divided?
One of the purposes of this page is defending the Catholic faith, with some Apologetics to help other christians (and catholics themselves) to understand Catholic beliefs, based both on the Holy Scriptures and common sense. See, for example many people think papal infallibility means "that the pope will never be mistaken on anything" (which is wrong), and because a pope contradicted another pope (like the Galileo affair), they claim this to be false. Papal Infallibility means that when the Pope speaks: 1) As the successor of Peter ("from the chair of Peter"), 2) to All the Church (or all the world), 3) About Faith OR Morals (NOT science), then the Holy Spirit must be enlightening him -because an error would mean tragedy for ALL the Church!-. We call an pope's statement like this, a Dogma of Faith. Do you see now, why you have to learn and understand the others' point of view?
But this is not everything. Here you will also find many other things... things that make you think... texts that will touch your hearts (they're not mine, i borrowed them from Jesus :) , and will help you to become a better person, and a better christian.
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I'd like to apologize for any mistaken statements i had written in this webpage. So i'd be grateful if anybody (specially a priest) who detects an error (like claiming a non-catholic belief to be catholic, and so) in my statements, corrected me.
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