Posted on 06/10/2007 3:02:20 PM PDT by NYer
Many modern people have the notion that the principal mission of the Catholic Church is to impose belief on unbelievers. The reality is that most of its time is spent trying to restrain belief in everything from spoon-bending to the aliens who allegedly speak to us through a cat in Poughkeepsie.
The riptides and cross-currents of religious enthusiasm in American culture are kaleidoscopic and dizzying. Cradle Catholics can be forgiven for just ignoring the whole thing and many of them do. But it’s still worth taking into account because some religious trends can have decided real-world effects.
Some of the effects of unrestrained belief can be amusing.
For instance, after five centuries of being told by Protestant polemicists that we “Romanists” do not trust the saving grace of Jesus Christ and ignorantly seek salvation by the works of the law, it is a weird thing for a Catholic to see the spectacle of kooky apocalyptic Protestants eagerly excited about the birth of red heifers because this will (they hope) be the prelude to rebuilding the Temple of Solomon and the re-institution of the Mosaic sacrificial system. Just how that Temple will be rebuilt when the Dome of the Rock is situated on the site of the Temple is not quite as clearly worked out.
Which brings me to something just as kooky, but less amusing.
Recently, James Dobson, a leading Evangelical and a usually sensible man, hosted on his show one Joel Rosenberg, author of something called Epicenter: Why Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. Rosenberg claims to know “what the Bible says” about what is happening in the Mideast and is not shy about making “predictions regarding the fate of the Middle East regarding issues such as Iran’s nuclear threats against Israel, the arms race and ultimately ... Armageddon.” Here’s a snippet:
Dobson: “Well, Joel, let’s explain to everybody how Ezekiel 38 turns out, because Israel is about to be attacked, and a huge number of troops from Russia and Iran are coming toward Israel to destroy it, and what happens?”
Rosenberg: “Well, God is going to move. You won’t find in the Scriptures that the United States is coming to rescue Israel or the European Union, but God says he is going to supernaturally intervene — we’re talking about fire from heaven, a massive earthquake, diseases spreading through the enemy forces. It is going to be such a clear judgment against the enemies of Israel that Ezekiel 39 says that it will take seven months to bury all the bodies of the slain enemies of Israel. “
Such standard-issue Evangelical prophetic cocksureness is an excellent example of why a magisterium is so useful and necessary.
Not only does the magisterium help us know what is essential to the faith, it also helps us remain free of what is unessential. For the various species of Protestantism, in addition to denying real biblical truths such as the Real Presence or infant baptism, also have a tendency to invent “biblical truths” that do not exist and impose them by means of a sort of cultural pressure via charismatic preachers with pet theories who, in their own sphere, are granted an infallibility the Pope could never dream of.
Now, a Catholic is quite free to have a kooky private reading of Ezekiel 38-39 as a prophecy of the “coming resurgent Soviet Union” and its alliance with Muslims, communist Chinese or whoever, all in a vast Cecil B. DeMille battle against Israel. The Church has all sorts of room for eccentrics, and everybody needs a hobby.
But a Catholic is not free to go around telling everybody that “this is the clear teaching of the Bible” and demand it be believed. For the fact is, this kooky theory is emphatically not the clear teaching of the Bible, nor does it have any sanction whatsoever from the Church, the tradition, the Fathers, the councils or the popes. It is a pure novelty we can and should ignore.
What we should not ignore is Rosenberg’s claim that, “Given the events going on in our world today, people at the Pentagon, people at the CIA, people at the White House are asking to sit down and talk about these issues, to understand the Biblical perspective, because it is uncanny what is happening out there and it deserves some study.”
I suspect that Rosenberg is exaggerating his clout with the big cheeses in DC. I doubt that the Pentagon’s intel meetings are dominated by exegeses of Ezekiel 38.
But I do think it matters if a significant portion of the American polity drinks in such bizarre theories as if they were God’s revealed Truth.
Ideas have consequences, especially crazy ones. Most crazy ideas do no harm.
Crazy ideas about the Middle East, backed by the force of arms, stand a better than average chance of killing millions.
No. But that's how it works out here.
That's what you do when you state that my religion is wrong because of your misinterpretations and misrepresentations.
I'm glad you understand it now, but point the finger at yourself.
HINT, Petronski . . .
DISAGREEMENT—EVEN FIERCE, FORCEFUL, POINTED DISAGREEMENT
is
NOT
hate speech . . . no matter how much you seem to hate the content or the poster for posting it.
Which, now that I think of it . . . is the only evidence of hate I see on the thread . . .
I do not buy into your construction on spiritual reality
nor of posting reality
nor of supposed hate speech reality.
I did not sign a contract to be your thought robot nor thought puppet.
It may well surprise many RC’s that God disagrees with and hates things in probably every denomination on the planet. Thankfully, His mercy triumphs over His judgment.
If you wish to follow Christ, that would be a good area to follow Him in.
As you have personally chosen to interpret it.
And nothing more.
Amen. Fits for me.
Thx.
But that is what I am called to do whenever your personal interpretation of scripture leads you to insinuate my religion is riddled with errors.
No RC ever said such in 2,000 years? WOW! What an assertion!
That’s a lot of RC’s to have polled.
Must have cost a bundle.
ARE ALL INCLUSIVE, ABSOLUTEST STATEMENTS
a doctrine or a dogma?
Did this doctrine or dogma arise out of the magicsterical or from one of
supposedly Mary’s apparition appearances?
You see, that's a great example right there.
In six words you have insinuated that I do not now follow Christ.
That’s a lot of RC’s to have polled.
BTW, how did you poll those who’ve graduated from this life? Have the departed saints taken to emailing replies to questions, now?
Do they have to be Yes or No questions or will any sort do?
Do they disclose winning bingo number sequences?
Not what I said.
I said no Catholic claims that.
Present tense.
You’re too snarky for your own good. Present tense. Present tense.
Now, Dr E.
you know we’re SUPPOSED
to
EQUATE, at least functionally,
the magicsterical with Scripture.
Ain’t yo learnt nuthin yet, child?
Yes, quite so.
Words have meaning.
So do all inclusive absurd pronouncements, assertions, inferences, extrapolations, assumptions, pontifications based on . . .
. . . groping . . .
air gel?
“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
Or to put it more succinctly:
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
Thanks. I love both versions.
Keep discrediting yourself with the mockery. Thanks.
It does appear that some
. . . respondents . . .
do have trouble finding it in their rubber Bibles.
Methinks they need another version.
LOL.
The snarky makes you look bad too. Thanks.
Personally,
there’s plenty to reject in authentic statements from the magicstericals of most denominations
own house-organ publications.
I find the same true with the RC variety.
When you bring the aggression post after post, it becomes clear whose faith is being attacked and who is bringing the attack.
I maintain you are entitled to believe whatever you want and interpret the scripture as you want.
One of the strengths of the Catholic Church is that we do not rely on ourselves alone, or on our own individual interpretation of Scripture.
= = =
Am I to understand that you find it PREFERABLE to rely on the collective flaws of too often power mongering bureaucrats puffed up with their own self-importance and RELIGIOUS insights?
Frightful.
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