Posted on 04/24/2015 2:44:02 PM PDT by prairiebreeze
~snip~
"What I call the Benedict Option is this: a limited, strategic withdrawal of Christians from the mainstream of American popular culture, for the sake of shoring up our understanding of what the church is, and what we must do to be the church. We must do this because the strongly anti-Christian nature of contemporary popular culture occludes the meaning of the Gospel, and hides from us the kinds of habits and practices we need to engage in to be truly faithful to what we have been given."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
If you refuse to fight evil, eventually all you will have is evil.
After 50 years of liberal indoctrination through public schools and the media, I fear that there just aren’t enough of us left to reverse this spiral into communism. As an agnostic, by “us” I mean conservatives.
Nature abhors a vaccum.
The same is true spiritually.
The Holy Spirit in believers is the only thing that brings salt, which prevents corruption, and light to this fallen world.
We have a promise from God that the gates of hell shall not prevail against us.
Perhaps it is time we started acting once again like we believe that promise.
No compromise with evil. No fear.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
— II Timothy 1;7
I don’t know how it got the name “The Benedict Option,” but it’s suicide. Obama (elected by Catholics) is allowing ISIS to stream into the U.S. We will see Catholics and other Christians getting their throats cut before Obama leaves office.
But the Catholic bishops in the U.S. have been murdering the Church for decades.
Joseph Bernardin probably did more to murder the Catholic Church in the U.S. than any other prelate. His “Seamless Garment” was the theory that pro-abortion politicians will govern with compassion, justice, and wisdom—and will give us peace. And that pro-life politicians want to kill the poor, serve the rich, and blow up the world. And almost all American bishops pushed this excrement on their priests and people.
The elections of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are the gifts Bernardin has given the United States.
Obama (once on the payroll of Bernardin) is allowing ISIS to stream across the border. ISIS will want to strike against Christians in the U.S. while they have an ally in the White House—that is, before January 20, 2017.
The last four (or so) Popes have sent the United States wave after wave of anti-American, anti-Catholic bishops, intent on destroying both the country and the Catholic Church. Then, surveying the wreckage, the same Popes have whined about the lack of orthodoxy in the hierarchy.
The Democrat party is a demonic cult that still has the loyalty of many, many American bishops, priests, and laity.
I agree with you.
You bad.....Heh!
We should not disengage and hide our faith. But we should also recognize that we live in a age when the numbers of the reprobates are much larger than us. We must preach and teach the gospel, but know when to kick the sand of our sandals and move on to new house. The reprobates will not change so every extra minute we waste on them is time not being spent on those who can hear.
I'm reminded of complaints about Rev. D. James Kennedy's replacement, Tullian Tchividjian, at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. I believe the "Benedict Option" argument begins with the assumption that a large portion of Christians have ceased to be cultural conservatives because they've grown illiterate regarding their own faith. Thus, a renewed emphasis on teaching them the faith, so that they will embrace the application to the rest of life:
....The feud at Coral Ridge appears mostly to be a matter of style, not substance. Under the leadership of Kennedy, who died in 2007, the church was a forerunner to modern evangelical megachurches, a fiercely conservative voice on social issues including homosexuality and abortion, and a powerful political voice. Tchividjian, 37, took over earlier this year. While he has shown no sign of theological differences with Kennedy, he has rejected politics as the most important force for change, and his sermons have not focused on divisive issues.
-- from the thread Hundreds leave pioneering Fla. megachurch'Preachers these days are expected to major in “Christian moral renovation.” They are expected to provide a practical “to-do” list, rather than announce, “It is finished.” They are expected to do something other than, “more than”, placarding before their congregations eyes Christ’s finished work, preaching a full absolution solely on the basis of the complete righteousness of Another. The irony is, of course, that when preachers cave in to this pressure, moral renovation does not happen. To focus on how I’m doing more than on what Christ has done is Christian narcissism (an oxymoron if I ever heard one)–the poison of self-absorption which undermines the power of the gospel in our lives. Martin Luther noted that “the sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands.”'
-- Tullian Tchividjian, from the thread God's Final Solution
If that is true, then how do you explain the successes of “God’s Not Dead”, Hobby Lobby, Chik-Fil-A, and the others mentioned in the article?
Obama was re-elected.
The muslims are way ahead of you - remember the woman who was beheaded at a meat packing plant in Oklahoma last fall by Acute Jihadi Sydrome? This affliction is incurable, it appears- the only way to put it into remission is a treatment of even harsher severity. Everyone must have the tools and willingness (i.e., guns and ammo) to defend themselves in all Nations. Muslim survivors must then be forced to live peacefully or suffer the ultimate consequence. Communism/islam- it’s all the same in its evilness - We cannot accomodate or compromise with the Devil’s foot soldiers, or we will see history repeat itself.
The illiteracy of their own faith may be an important observation, it is undoubtedly true in many cases. How do Christians pull off a “strategic withdrawal {of Christians} from the mainstream of American popular culture” and then reenter the culture with any organized strength or credibility? Can’t the congregants be strengthened in genuine faith without churches backing off and giving toe-holds to the left about issues of homosexual marriage, homosexuality or abortion?
I appreciate your post, BTW.
bambaboy was illegally re-elected by voter fraud....why do you think he is bringing all these illegals in from other countries and why do you think “Jade Helm” is being planned...because he wants to be a ‘dictator’.....
So was G. W. Bush. FWIW.
I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, just stating a viewpoint. I’ll mark the two of you down in the “disagrees” column. Be well.
The “Benedict Option”, as I have inferred anyway, means taking rather, a bunker mentality. Benedict was under tremendous oppression from the Enemy inside and outside the Church. He hadn’t the physical strength to play whack a mole, but he was and remains a spiritual saint on wheels and very wise. So he gathered up his robe and prayer shawl and took to prayer.
He took to the cottage and to prayer alone.
Otherwise, it seems to be hand to hand combat and shoe leather. Which is it? Which are we reasonably called to do. Battle outwardly, or Benedict interiorly? That decision will come to all.
Hobby Lobby chickened out, Dan Cathy surrendered to the gay lobby and stopped supporting pro-family organizations.
The Catholic Church was at its strongest point in this country's history for about 100 years -- from the 1850s through the 1950s. One reason for this was that the Catholic Church had gone to such great lengths to demonstrate its revulsion of "popular American culture" in those days (a dominant Protestant culture, for the most part). The Church even went so far as to establish its own parochial schools and hospitals, specifically to erect a barrier between its own faith/morals and those of the country at large.
That all came crashing down in just a couple of decades after 1960.
The Catholic Church has no business involving itself in the American political and cultural scene until it figures out what it means to be Catholic, first and foremost.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.