Posted on 02/24/2017 10:39:49 AM PST by ebb tide
In Christian life, truth is not negotiable. There is no doubt. However, we must be fair in mercy and not think of faith only in terms of “you can” or “you cannot.” This is what Jesus teaches us. Pope Francis begins his homely in Casa Santa Marta by warning of a hypocrite and deceitful faith when reduced to the logic of classification.
Reports radio Vatican: today’s Gospel, February 24 2017, by St. Mark San Marco reads the question “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”. This question was asked to the son of God by the doctors of the Law who followed him when preaching in Judea. But Jesus does not respond, he doesn’t surrender to the logic of “classification” . As always, he explains the truth.
Francis observes that the query is once again set to put “to the test” the Son of God. Francis draws inspiration from Christ’s response to explain what matters most in faith: “Jesus does not answer whether it is lawful or unlawful; he does not enter their logic of “classification”. Because they think of faith only in terms of “can” or “cannot”, until where one can or cannot go. The logic of classification: Jesus does not care for it. He asks a question: “But what did Moses command you? What is in your law? “. And they explain the permission that Moses gave to divorce from the wife, but they are the ones who fall into the trap, “because Jesus” called them “hard-hearted”: “He wrote this commandment for the hardness of your heart,” and He tells the truth. No case study. No permits. The truth”.
Jesus “always tells the truth - says the Pope – He explains how things were created,” even when questioned on adultery by his disciples, he reiterates: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery to her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. “
Francis points out that the logic of classification is hypocritical and deceptive. If the truth is that adultery is ’a serious sin’, how can we explain, the Pope asks, the fact that Christ converses “many times with an adulteress, pagan”? He has even “drank from her glass, which was not purified.” And then he tells her: “I do not condemn you. Sin no more “; how is it possible? Because, the Bishop of Rome explains, “the path of Jesus - it is quite clear - is the path from the logic of classification to truth and mercy. Jesus leaves out the classification. Those who challenge him, Those who think based on a “ you can/can’t” logic, Jesus calls them - not here, but in another part of the Gospel – hypocrites “. And continues, “with the fourth commandment, they denied to assist their parents using the excuse that they had given a good offer to the Church. Hypocrites. Classification is hypocritical. It is a self-righteous thinking. “you can - you cannot” ... which then becomes more subtle, more evil: Can I go here? But from here to here I can’t. It is the deception of classification. “
The Christian path goes from the classification logic to truth and mercy; i.e. it does not yield to the logic of classification, but follows Jesus’ model and responds with truth and mercy. “Because He is the embodiment of the Father’s Mercy, and cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself because he is the Father’s Truth, he cannot deny himself because he is the Father’s Mercy. “This is the way that Jesus teaches us”, of course, it is difficult to apply, the Pope recognized, when facing life’s temptations.
When “temptation touches our heart - it is not an easy path to emerge from the logic of classification to truth and mercy. We need God’s grace to help us move on. We must always ask for it. “Lord, may I be righteous, but righteous with mercy “and not “righteous the logic of classification. Righteous in mercy. As you are. Righteous in mercy”. A person with a classification mindset could ask:” But, what is more important in God? Justice or mercy? “. This is another sick thought trying to get out ... What is more important? It’s not two, it’s just one, just one thing. In God, justice is mercy, and mercy is justice. “
May the Lord “help us to understand this road – he invokes in conclusion - which is not easy, but it will make us happy, it will make so many people happy.”
Words, those of Pope Francis in this homily that can be easily interpreted as a renewed response to the debate and controversy on the post synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia, in particular Chapter VIII on the pastoral attitude towards the divorced and remarried.
Francis observes that the query is once again set to put “to the test” the Son of God. Francis draws inspiration from Christ’s response to explain what matters most in faith: “Jesus does not answer whether it is lawful or unlawful; he does not enter their logic of “classification”. Because they think of faith only in terms of “can” or “cannot”, until where one can or cannot go.
The man is an outright heretic.
Faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ establishes the basis for our Hope in our Resurrection, which is lived out each day in Love for God and man. It really is that simple.
NOTE: Hope has become wishful, but that is not the way it is used in the Bible. Hope is the certified effect of a life lived for Jesus.
So, if the question is asked if divorce should be allowed,......the answer is,...that depends. If the man is fulfilling his covenant, why would the wife leave? The Bible gives permission if the wife commits adultery. In spiritual terms that would be worshiping other gods. In carnal terms, that would be the wife fornicating with another man. If the husband breaks the covenant,( Jesus will never break Covenant with the church) he is NOT following the Jesus example and the wife is free. Trying to make a rule to follow is just legalism in the church.
You can either live under legalistic laws, or follow the spiritual practices explained in Scripture. Everything in Scripture is a picture of our Father in Heaven. In Heaven, there is no male/female, bond/free, or Jew/Greek. There is no sex and the only "wedding" is between the church and Jesus. The picture drawn on Earth is a copy of what it will be like Heaven. Just as the Tabernacle was a copy of what's in Heaven, the Ark of the Covenant, Mercy Seat, Temple, and all the furniture of the Temple, were all copies of what God has in Heaven. Marriage is one of those copies used to explain how a Spirit God feels about His people.
What a mess of pretentious foolishness. By what logic does he argue? None that I can see, he simply asserts and expects us to accept his “non classification” innovation. I cannot even understand how expects us to apply this except to take the most permissive interpretation of Amoris Letitia allowing communion to those in adulterous relationships.
I believe what the Pope is trying to say is the way the Church has taught for 2000 years is hypocritical and evil.
His thinking appears to issue from a basis of subjectivism (oxymoron?)
Screwtape's.
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