Posted on 09/25/2024 10:15:39 AM PDT by ebb tide
Sky News Australia issued a scathing critique of Pope Francis’ claim in Singapore that “every religion is a way to arrive at God,” denouncing this as an attempt at “inclusion based on denial of the truth.”
“Is the pope Catholic? All of a sudden that’s not a rhetorical question,” Sky News host James Macpherson noted. He highlighted Francis’ suggestion that “no one could say their religion was more important or truer than anyone else’s.”
“If you have to deny truth in order to be inclusive, then how valuable is that inclusion? If inclusion is based on denial of the truth, then aren’t you including people in a lie?” Macpherson remarked.
He pointed to the meaninglessness and absurdity of our culture’s valuing of inclusion for its own sake.
“But to be inclusive, you have to include people around something,” Macpherson said. “Culture, having given up on truth, is trying to include people around inclusion. And without shared values, thanks to decades of multiculturalism, we’re trying to create social cohesion around a shared desire for social cohesion. It’s a fool’s errand, because none of it makes sense.”
“And if inclusion is only made possible by inviting everyone to close their eyes to reality, then aren’t you seeking to include everyone in a kind of insanity?” he added.
The news host maintained that with all the crises the West is facing now, the “greatest crisis” is “one of reality and of meaning.”
As evidence of this fact, he shared clips showing prominent political figures who refuse to acknowledge the fact that one’s gender is defined by one’s biology. He featured the famous example of Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson claiming she could not define what a woman is, as well as UK politician Sir Edward Davey’s assertion that a woman “can have a penis.”
“China and Russia and North Korea may well be threats, but the greatest existential threat facing the Western world is the abandonment of truth,” Macpherson continued.
Quoting his predecessor John Paul II, Francis argued, “More perhaps than ever before in history the intrinsic link between an authentic religious attitude and the great good of peace has become evident to all.”
“The spirit of Assisi is a blessing for this world of ours, still torn by numerous wars and acts of violence. The ‘spirit’ of Assisi must blow even stronger in the sails of dialogue and friendship between peoples,” the Pope stated, adding his hope that the Sant’Egidio meeting might “encourage all believers to rediscover their vocation to nurture fraternity between peoples in our time.”
Neglecting to mention Jesus or the Catholic Church in his speech, Francis urged the group to “weave bonds of fraternity and to allow ourselves to be guided by the divine inspiration present in every faith,” building upon comments made during an interreligious gathering in Singapore just weeks ago in which he stated that “every religion is a way to arrive at God.”
Following criticism that he was undermining key teachings of the faith in his Singapore address, Pope Francis doubled down on his comments, telling an ecumenical group that their diverse religious beliefs are “a gift from God.”
Catholic Church teaching emphasizes the need to bring all people to God through the Church He established on Earth, and that Jesus is “the way” to salvation (Jn. 14:6).
While addressing the Sant’Egidio gathering, which historically has Francis’ backing, the Pope hearkened back to his joint declaration with Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb in Abu Dhabi, arguing that religions must reject the supposed “temptation” to “become a means of fueling forms of nationalism, ethnocentrism and populism.”
The Pontiff argued that “[a]ll too often in the past, religions were used to fuel conflicts and wars,” adding that this “danger” continues “even in our own day.”
The Pope also took the opportunity to reiterate a familiar call for climate change action and stressed that this, along with “pandemic” challenges, form part of “epochal changes” leading the world in an unknown direction.
Concluding his address, Francis insisted to the representatives of “the world’s great religions” that “God has placed also in our hands His dream for the world: fraternity between all peoples.”
Pope Francis has encouraged previous gatherings of the Sant’Egidio Community’s “prayer meeting for peace” to call for “more vaccines” as well as drawing on his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti to promote “interreligious dialogue” for the purpose of “fraternity,” preferring to condemn the act of “proselytizing” non-Catholics.
In contrast, the Baltimore Cathechism teaches:
God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.
Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:9)
To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world.
Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth; where the rust and moth consume and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven; where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. (Matthew 6:19-20)
We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
I have come a light into the world that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)
Ping
If there were other paths to God, Jesus would not have gone to the cross. He wasn’t stupid.
mark
It is entirely possible that all religions are equally wrong but impossible for them to all be equally right.
They have different conceptions of God, Heaven, Hell, and, requirements for salvation.
They aren’t all equal.
No, it's not impossible. That's nonsense.
while it is true, and every person will be face to face with God, I would not want to count on any other than Christ, for justification, and redemption. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess, that Jesus Christ is LORD.
impossible = possible
Isn’t there some bylaw in the official Roan Catholic church that allows for forcible removal of a church official for heresy?
If not, the Roman Catholic church is dead. Everyman, go to your tents.
Feel sorrow for the Orthodox faithful Roman Catholics.
Francis is like your embarrassing loony uncle who lives in a tree.
Exactly! Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven! There are NO OTHER ways!
HEY !!!
Frankie !!!
The LORD Jesus Christ said “I am the Way the Truth and the Life . No man comes to the Father except by Me.” John 14:6
Not my pope.
The Holy Spirit will replace this imPopestor soon....
Cain and Abel worshiped the same God.
How did that turn out?
Saul, of Tarsus, and Paul worshiped the same God.
It is entirely possible that all religions are equally wrong but impossible for them to all be equally right.
- - - - - - - -
Take 2 church groups, for example. Their doctrines differ:
It is the case that purgatory exists or will exist. Billions of people believe this.
It is NOT the case that purgatory exists or will exist. Billions of people believe this.
The Law of Noncontradiction requires that a logical proposition and its negation both cannot be true at the same time.
The possible results are:
1 Those billions who hold that purgatory is/will exist will be saved; the other billions will be lost.
2 Those billions who hold that purgatory is/will NOT exist will be saved; the other billions will be lost.
3 Both groups of billions will be lost.
4 It is impossible for both groups of billions to be saved.
This is on the assumption that Jesus will judge strictly. If Jesus, as judge, is wishy-washy, then he is not just nor is he truth.
That is why ‘rightly dividing the word’ is so important.
The church that, inarguably, will be saved is the one we see in the New Testament. There are a few around, but the signal to noise ratio is phenomenally low.
I don’t know if I am thinking more deeply, shallower, or just differently.
Either God exists or does not.
If God does not exist, then all religions are wrong
If God exists then what is the nature of God?
Several options
A. Pan Theism
B. Poly/Henno Theism
C. Diesim
D. Monotheism
These are all pretty much incompatible with each other.
But it gets worse.
Let’s focus on the three main branches of Monotheism.
A. Islam
B. Judaism
C. Christianity
For a moment, assume that all of these are monolithic and contain no divergent expressions. So no issues between Sunni-Shiite, Orthodox Jews vs Reform, or RC-Protestant-Eastern Orthodox. If you believe, really believe, the teachings of one faith you are, automatically a heretic to the others.
Therefore all religions can be false if there is no God.
But, by the tenants of those religions themselves, they cannot all be right, because they condemn each other.
They can all be wrong, they cannot all be right.
There appears from a distance, to be a “smorgasbord of different ‘paths to reach God.’”
Many people seek a light to show them the way.
Prefer Jesus, who spoke of our daily bread. Pray for help at digesting, that pride obscures the light and the way.
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