Posted on 12/31/2011 1:45:02 PM PST by marshmallow
The Pope will on Sunday launch a renewed attack on the "moral relativism" that he has blamed for Britain's summer riots.
In a message for the 2012 World Peace Day of January 1, Pope Benedict said that neither peace nor justice was obtainable if the objective norms of morality expressed in the Ten Commandments continue to be rejected.
His words represent another severe criticism of moral relativism, the humanistic creed that holds there can be no objective standard on which to base morality.
They come just months after the Pope told Nigel Baker, Britain's Ambassador to the Holy See, that the spread of the ideology was to blame for the riots that convulsed British cities over four days in August, saying it produced "frustration, despair, selfishness and a disregard for the life and liberty of others".
In his New Year's Day message, the Pontiff warned all societies that justice and peace will remain "words without content" unless they are informed instead by the natural moral law, the key precepts of which are expressed in the Ten Commandments.
He said that every person 'must move beyond the relativistic horizon and come to know the truth about himself and the truth about good and evil'.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Societies based on relativistic ethics cannot help but be victims of "the permissiveness syndrome", a syndrome which was present in various forms and degrees during previous civilizations. As a rule, it developed in nations which were in decline, in disintegration, or in serious trouble.
Moslems don`t have the Ten Commandments.
That`s the problem.
Excellent post! Thank you.
For more on how pervasive the problem is, see the late Michael Kelley’s op-ed:
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/courses01/rrtw/Kelly.htm
Natural law ping!
Does the Pope know that “Peace and Justice” are code words for communism? My ancestors, the pilgrims who came to this country in 1620, tried a communistic form of farming the first year they were here, and you know what happened? Half the people didn’t do any work,but they took a share of the harvest anyway.
The next year my ancestor gave each one a plot, and they could do whatever they wanted with the harvest. Communism only works if the people in charge are saints.
Yes, the Pope does know what “Peace and Justice” means. He has written extensively on the issues. Marxists have twisted and co-opted words and terms like Social Justice-—the twisting of words is a Marxist trick to destroy the meaning of language—so no true debate can occur and people are easily confused and can’t know the Truth.
Marxists knew in the early 20th century that to destroy and undermine Western Civilization they had to destroy the two pillars that created individualism and Virtue and freedom. That is Christianity and the Natural Family. They infiltrated Christian Churches which morphed them into Liberation Theology Churches-—Marxist “Christian” Churches—NOT POSSIBLE-—Marxism kills off the concept of God.
Social Justice to Marxists meant State forced confiscation of private property from producers. The Pope, as all Christians should understand, believes in subsidiarity—fundamental to Christianity, and also the idea that forcing “Charity” can NEVER be Charity. Government is force—always—and is evil when used in unjust ways to confiscate property even if it is for the “greater good”. The end NEVER justifies the means-—which is fundamental to Christians-—every single person has to be treated with dignity and respect and not expendable for the whole. Moral Absolutes—there is a set standard (God’s) of Right and Wrong-—the SAME as for the Constitution which is also based on the Moral Absolutes of inalienable Natural Rights. St. Thomas Aquinas aligned Catholic Theology with Natural Law Theory and as such Christianity is the perfect religion for the Founding of the US.
No other religious group would have founded such a great nation which offered the most freedom to minorities, unprecedented in the history of the world. No other country ever gave such individual rights to women and minorities as the government of the USA. It all stems from Christianity and their belief in individual dignity and worth of all human beings-—the unborn—the minority, women, children—etc.
Freedom will exist, as long as we remain a Christian country with Judeo/Christian Ethics. No other ideology/Theology comes close for the dignity and worth of all individuals.
That is why our Court has to reverse their unconstitutional rulings which give special rights to urges which defy Virtue and moral rectitude. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land and all Positive Laws HAVE to be in line with the fundamental philosophy of the Constitution-—which means GOD’s standards-—not Barney Frank’s and Marx’s and Hitler’s standards.
Thank you for giving my ancestors credit for establishing a country with Judeo-Christian values. My eighth great grandfather, Gov. William Bradford, thanks you too. We are unique in the world in that we have never established a state religion. Also, we have never had a dictator or king ruling us - at least until now.
But I have one question - what is subsidiarity? I keep hearing about it, especially from the German Catholics in this country, but I’m English and I don’t understand it.
Subsidiarity basically means that anything that can be taken care of at a lower level should be handled at that level. It’s basically the US principle.
If a town can deal with an issue, fine; if not, if the county can deal with it, fine; if not, if the state can deal with it, fine; if not, up to another level of government.
This is a classic Catholic principle. If the parish priest can handle something, great; if not, the local bishop can do it; if not the bishop, then the next step, all the way up to Rome.
The truth? That following the ten commandments saves? That following the ten commandments is good and not following them is evil?
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20.
Whether a person does good or evil according to the law, NO ONE shall be justified by the law.
"For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but NOT according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD." Rom. 10:2,3.
"FOR CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH." Rom. 10:4.
It isn't about the Ten Commandments. It's about the finished work of Christ.
"To wit, that God was in Christ, RECONCILING the world unto himself, NOT imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of RECONCILIATION." 2 Cor. 5:19.
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21.
Shame on the pope. Either he thinks God's righteousness comes through following the Ten Commandments, or he completely disregards the finished work of Christ, which is how we receive God's righteousness.
His words are in vain. And deceitful. It is the gospel that saves. Not the Ten Commandments. Either the pope is deceived himself, or he is deceiving others. Does it really matter? It seems so "peaceful" and "endearing" to the world..
"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Rom. 2:16.
Yes. It matters.
God Bless B16, doing the Lord’s work of evangelization in his messages.
Remember, Jesus did not come to get rid of the law, but that He came to fufill it.
Did not Blessed John Paul II stood up against the nonsense of “liberation thelogy” during the time he was Pope? I do believe he did, which in turn he discredited it.
Why twist everything? He speaks as the vicar of Christ on earth, so he knows quite well that final peace and justice will be had when Jesus comes again in Glory. But we must live our lives in anticipation of that, and so long as we do not build our society on the common moral ground represented by the 10 Commandments, but each live according to our own lights, then risk our own physical destruction here and now.
Plus also the two great comandments to love God and neighbor.
He knows that you can't earn your way into heaven by following the Ten Commandments, but you can only receive heaven as a free gift. He knows that because the Catholic Church has always taught it, and teaches it today, infallibly.
On the other hand, Scripture says "Woe to those who call evil, 'good,' and good, 'evil'." Do you seriously think that admonition doesn't matter? Do you seriously think ranting about "the finished work of Christ" can make it not matter?
It's both-and, not either-or. Christ died for us to make us holy and righteous before God, not in "imputed" fiction as Luther taught, but in reality, because God's declared word enacts reality. Always! And holiness, by its nature, calls sin, "sin", and evil, "evil".
Boy, did he hit the nail on the head with his
1. naming of our biggest "sin" of this 21st century, moral relativism,
2. his definition of moral relativism and
3. his continuing battle against this original sin of PRIDE/ARROGANCE.
Really, how dare we decide what is right and wrong. God laid it out so clearly. Sigh, I have those folks in my own life as co-workers, neighbors, friends and family/relatives. I do, once in a while, speak out about it. Most get it but...the straight and narrow is hard. Hah, hell is "hard." I'd rather do the "hard" now in this puff of smoke we call life. Well, who wouldn't?
VERY nice post.
I would have thought you would have been on board with this. It's standard evangelical stuff:
The law is good. it can't save, but that doesn't mean it's not good.
Without a solid concept of an objective moral law and of its goodness, people are less likely to become aware of their need for something more than the law.
I think people have guilt feelings. Because of sin they are disordered. Sometimes we feel guilty when we aren't, and we don't feel guilty when we are.
For a hundred years or so, a number of people have argued that "guilt" is not a moral state, but merely an unpleasant feeling. This argument is set in a context which makes a misunderstood saying of our Lord's supreme: Judge not lest ye be judged.
A great part of the moral law is accessible to anyone who believes it exists. For example, very few people think it right to break one's word casually or to have sex with whomever (or whatever) one wants whenever one wants.
But even that generally accessible law is broken.
BUT if everyone is encouraged to think that there is no objective law, then people do break their word and they do have sex with whomever whenever. And bad things eventuate.
So the Pope speaks truly when he says people 'must move beyond the relativistic horizon.' And when they try to, two things happen.
(1) Things get marginally better because at least some people are trying to be trustworthy and sexually responsible (etc.)
(2) SOME people learn an uncomfortable truth about themselves: they can't do good as they think they should. Such a person is beginning "to know the truth about himself." And he may even cry out, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
THEN -- and, for some, only then -- will they hear when somebody responds, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
I think the Pope did just fine. You can't just reel in a 20 lb fish if you've got a 10 lb. leader. You have to be patient.
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