Sola Scriptura, Literal Translationalist, KJV Only oopsie

 John 14:2a In my Father's house there are many mansions.

This was a prime verse for memorization for us young evangelicals. I remember memorizing it, quoting it back to my teachers, and listening to lessons about how cool it is that Jesus is preparing us each our individual mansions in heaven!  Yes, we believed that Jesus was literally giving each and every one of us saved people our very own mansion in heaven.  

As a child I was perplexed by this, but didn't speak my questioning out loud because we HAD to believe the Bible literally (unless a pastor or authority declared it figurative, like the institution of the Eucharist as the literal body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ).  First of all, I didn't want a huge mansion.  I sweet, little Cotswolds-style cottage with a garden would suffice for me.  Other kids who voiced not wanting a mansion were told that Jesus knew better than ourselves what we wanted, so we're getting a mansion.  I also wondered why we needed mansions in a place where we wouldn't have need for shelter from the rain and cold or a place to sleep or raise a family, etc.  

The other day I was listening to EWTN and the person on the radio quoted this Bible verse, but used the word rooms instead of mansions.  Suddenly, the verse made sense and I didn't feel perplexed and put off.  I also realized how the translation of mansions doesn't even make sense.  Why would a house have mansions inside?  A house has rooms.  It doesn't contain other houses.  

I am pleased to see other translations are using room.  I wonder why some decided that mansions would be their chosen word?

Unofficially Catholic?

One of my biggest struggles in looking into Catholicism is wanting to be right.  I don't know if it's just my personality, or the ingrained systemic belief system of the Evangelical church to be right and proclaim it (or perhaps a bit of both), but as soon as I could refute the lies I was told about Catholicism, I started arguing about Catholicism.  However, if I couldn't get them to at least stop and go, "hmmm" I got very emotionally distraught.  

Without the ability to even get my family to consider, to see, to think, to understand, even if they didn't wind up agreeing, I felt lost to coming Home to Rome.  It is very difficult to not have their blessing or understanding, but it is so much more difficult to have their heated dissent about it.

Therefore, during the Covid lockdown, I quit RCIA and stepped away from the Church completely for a time.  The Lord continued to work on me, though, and I realized some of these wrongful ways of thinking I had.  I really explored my initial walk back into Holy Mother Church, and my walk away.

Now, I'm walking back in very differently from when I walked out.  I'm being very quiet and very peaceful.  I noticed it just this morning.  I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a Catholic article about Our Lady.  In the comments I saw an Evangelical family member had typed: "Mary can't hear or answer our prayers."  Now, old me would have gotten very upset.  My heart would have started racing and I would have begun and argument with this family member.  I would have gotten very frustrated at my inability to change her mind.  I would have even felt twinges of doubt.  

Instead, I felt a sense of peace and faith.  I simply said a Hail, Mary, and kept scrolling.  That surprised even me and I rejoiced in the peace!  

Somehow, I feel like that makes me "unofficially Catholic."  (I am Catholic because I was baptized Catholic, but I'm not fully in the Church.)  So many Catholics I meet have approached reproach similarly.  They smile and stand firm and steadfast in their beliefs. Catholics are used to be attacked for their beliefs by Evangelicals, and they know it is most often futile to argue with people who have no intention of listening.  It is a beautiful thing to simply be at peace and move on.