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Christianity, Faith, love, sin
Now there’s a provocative title from an old Baptist – ho, ho, ho, a believer in the sky fairy calling for a reality check. Well, there’s not much you can do with a fellow who thinks Christians believe in a sky fairy; anyone who misuses their intellect to that degree isn’t going to be won over until the Spirit moves them. Anyone with any skills in introspection who cannot find original sin, is not looking and will not see what they do not wish to see. Good and evil we do, but why we incline so easily to the bad and find it so difficult to do the good, are questions more easily answered by Christian theology and anthropology than by a secular mindset.
Be that as it may, what reality do I think folk should be connecting with? The first and overwhelming reality is the flaws in our own nature. We see a lot of folk bandying the word ‘Modernism’ about without defining it – for Catholics it is first and foremost the belief whereby people imagine they’ve a right to pick and choose which of the Church teachings to follow, and which to reject – thereby setting up themselves as the highest authority. It’s something common across the spectrum, though, and not just confined to Catholicism.
We live in a society where freedom has become license, and where our natural disinclination to obey receives perpetual encouragement: ‘love’ that cannot express itself in personal sexual gratification is disregarded, which is why the various churches not only have trouble with homosexuality, but with heterosexual sins: fornication and even adultery seem fine as long as ‘you love each other’; in such a moral climate it is no wonder homosexuals feel discriminated against – why should they be the last group to feel the effects of traditional Christian teaching?
The reality we recognise is that of our fallen nature, and instead, as Christianity has traditionally taught, struggling against it with the help of God’s Grace, we are taught to relax into it – to ‘be ourself’. Which self? The self who, given half a hint of a chance will do whatever is easiest and most selfish, or that other self who will go the further mile? It’s not accidental that Jesus so often uses examples from family life, because it is there our best nature is so often revealed. We’ll do things for our children by way of self-sacrifice that we’d not do for anyone else. I can never read the parable of the Prodigal without tears welling up. We are so often at our best when we deal with our children, and the smaller, nastier, more selfish parts of us tend to fall away.
It is that, redeemed and restored reality with which we need to be in touch, it is the Grace working in us upon which we need to concentrate – then we can be who we really are – made in God’s image. It is to that we should aspire – not be ‘being ourself’ in this fallen world’s fallen vision.
joseph elon lillie said:
It is for this very reason our adversary, the devil attacks and warps the very idea of family. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that marriage was a representation of our relationship to God. In destroying the representation the Devil steals from us our best picture of how we are to relate to our Lord.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
Very true, Joseph – the devil knows where best to attack.
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joseph elon lillie said:
Yes he does. He has been at it longer than we have.
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Servus Fidelis said:
From humanism to evolution, Christian teaching is now undergoing the ‘modernist’ temptation to expunge God from society, the state from religious morality and propose a new Church that is modern: one that believes constant teaching can change both in substance and in expression and is willing to expunge the old for newer beliefs for novel beliefs. The idea of a ‘fossilized’ Church is now used, sadly, not to merely indicate an institution that is no longer relevant by expression but by its substantive teaching as well. Thus we have new and novel expressions of the faith (which do not reflect the substance of our belief) but new and novel substances of Truths that point to the new truths we find in our expresseion which we must now adhere. This is seen as the acceptance of evolution in the Church that is not dissimilar to that of evolution: that the Church not only can change its expression like an animal through survival of the fittest rules but changes its species; chucking out the old animal and replacing it with a new species.
Redemption is indeed needed and a restoration of that which is foundational to our faith unless we as Christians wish to allow the tail of the modernist dog to wag the whole. Seems to me we are overdue in recognizing the tail as the problem and lopping it off for the sake of the dog.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
That’s right, and we have simply to resist it. There are enough of us, and if we stand firm, this too will pass.
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Servus Fidelis said:
I hope you are right that there are enough of us, my friend. I often wonder if that will turn out to be the case. I guess we might even live to see that question answered, as fast as things are moving.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
Well, we must remain faithful, and despite what the Modernists say, truth is not intrnal and mutable, it is external, from God, and immutable.
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Servus Fidelis said:
Yes and now all we need is a sound, clear expression of that from the bully pulpit of the world and at every Mass and Christian Service offered every Sunday. Prayers for a return to order and sanity and away from disorder and insanity. It should be a global effort: I don’t think we can wait any longer.
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Mark Citadel said:
One thing that can be done actively by any faithful Christian is a harsher scorn for those who do embrace Modernity. Sympathizing with the Liberal take on the Holy Christian Religion is no longer an abstract ‘opinion’. It has become now an endorsement of persecution and oppression against the believers. What words can be reserved for people who would endorse this? These people are not Christians. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing with an undying allegiance to the culture of death.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
Yes, ditch the hirelings and call them out.
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Mark Citadel said:
Indubitably. Christians really have to get over this concept of “criticizing any other Christians is counter-productive”. No, it is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. The longer that these people are able to hold the regalia of the religion, the more of a misleading and thus degenerative influence they can have.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
As I say in the piece, ‘Christian’ has become too broad a canvass – if you don’t believe Jesus rose form the dead, if you don’t believe he saved you, if you don’t believe that we have to follow God’s law as it has been given to us, then call yourself what you like – but that’s anohter gospel to me. I don’t care if you call yourself a Catholic, Orthodox or whatever, if you believe these things you are my brother or sister and I will stand with you. All these demonnations divide us and leave us exposed to the Enemy. In the catacombs we unite!
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Mark Citadel said:
I think one of the key distinctions here is the obedience to the Moral Law of God, as interpreted by Ancient Christianity rather than the Modernist take. Nobody really takes seriously those who deny Christ’s divinity but call themselves Christian. The problem is so-called Christians who believe that things like the ‘Constitution’ are holy documents that trump biblical law.
There has been unity between Orthodoxy and Traditional Catholicity on this issue, and I refer to it as ‘Political Ecumenism’. Obviously our theological disputes continue to exist, but in the face of an enemy that in my opinion is more insidious and formidable than Bolshevism, we should recognize that our political goals are essentially the same.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
I agree entirely. If we stay divided politically, we shall be picked off one by one.
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NEO said:
This may be slightly off-topic, but I think it fits the general tone well enough, Many have heard that our Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last week, and yes, the calls for ending the religious tax exempt status have already started, which surprised no one..But you know, Americans are not known for passivity, and neither are Christians, actually. There’s not enough in this for a post, but there is encouraging news. From RedState:
“I expected that most evangelical pastors across America today would ignore Friday’s ruling on marriage. I’m delighted to say I appear to be wrong. Based on a ton of feedback from across the nation and conversations with a lot of evangelical leaders, it appears pastors went to their pulpits with a mission today.
Across the nation, they made sure congregants knew that churches were more interested in God’s word than the Supreme Court’s word. God’s word affirms that marriage is between a man and a woman. In my own church, the pastor preached on Habakkuk 2, focusing on the line “The righteous shall live by faith.” It was a sermon text planned before Friday, but fit perfectly with Friday’s Supreme Court ruling on marriage and the two were tied together.
A great many secularists have been calling for Christians to alter their faith to make way for the sexual revolution. Those that have, however, have been on a steep decline out of existence. Those who have held firm have been emboldened. The history of the Christian religion shows that it does pretty well rebounding in the face of persecution.”
http://www.redstate.com/2015/06/28/they-went-to-their-pulpits-with-a-mission-today/
It looks like we lost a battle, both as Christians and for the “Law of the Land”. It may be so, but the war continues, as it has for 2000 years.
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Geoffrey RS Sales said:
It’s a mystery how a tiny minority who wish to engage in this stuff have managed to con whole Government – unless, as I suspect, there are a lot of closeted gay man and women in government.
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NEO said:
I’d guess there are, but still how they can manage this, and so fast, is, indeed a mystery.
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trof4st said:
I think the tactics outlined here might have had something to do with it: http://cnsnews.com/blog/pete-winn/gay-playbook-and-how-its-overhauling-america
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