Posted on 07/14/2015 5:15:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week the Marxist quasi-dictator of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented Pope Francis with a gift — a carved wooden hammer-and-sickle cross on which the figure of Christ is crucified.
The Vatican announced that the pope had not been informed in advance about the gift. And some commentators said that photos of the pope and Morales show that the pope was actually offended. That was a false — probably wishful — interpretation. The pope himself later announced that he was keeping the hammer-and-sickle crucifix and taking it home, saying, “I understand this work. For me it wasn’t an offense.”
And “Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi . . . said he personally wasn’t offended by Morales’ gift” (the Guardian).
The pope’s acceptance of Morales’s gift — along with his attacks on capitalism during his Latin American tour — further confirms one of the most troubling moral developments of our time: The Roman Catholic Church is currently led by a man whose social, political, and economic views have been shaped by leftism more than by any other religious or moral system.
It also reconfirms what is probably the single most important development one needs to understand in order to make sense of the contemporary world: The most dynamic religion of the past hundred years has been leftism, not Christianity, not Islam, not any other traditional religion. Indeed, regarding traditional religions, leftism has influenced them — particularly Christianity and Judaism — far more than they have influenced the Left. Mainstream Protestant Christianity, much of Catholicism (especially in Latin America, where Pope Francis lived his whole life before becoming pope), and most of non-Orthodox Judaism have become essentially liberal/Left movements with religious (and in the case of Judaism, ethnic) identity.
In terms of evil committed, what is the difference between the hammer and sickle and the swastika? Would the pope receive, let alone keep, a Fascist, racist, or Nazi sculpture with a crucified Christ on it? Of course not. Yet the hammer and sickle represents more human suffering than all of them combined. The number of people enslaved and murdered under the hammer and sickle dwarfs the number of people enslaved and murdered by any other doctrine in history.
To make things worse, Pope Francis received this gift from a man (Morales) wearing a picture of Che Guevara on his jacket. Is that, too, not worthy of condemnation by the Vatican? Che Guevara devoted his life to undermining human liberty, and to killing innocents in the name of Communism.
The only institutions that can resist the left-wing takeover of contemporary life are religious ones. When they fail, upon which institutions can we depend? What if, in a visit to an American museum, American artist Andres Serrano had presented Pope Francis with a gift — his work of art, Piss Christ — that features a crucifix in a jar of Serrano’s urine?
Would the pope have accepted it? Would he have brought it home?
There could not have been a gift that more accurately represents this pope’s value system than Christ crucified on a hammer and sickle. First, in a literal sense, that is exactly what Communists have done wherever they have assumed power — crucified Christ by working to violently destroy Christianity and murder Christians. Second, in a figurative sense, the gift represents the mélange of Christianity and Marxism, precisely what much of the Church — again, especially in Latin America, and especially in the person of this pope — stands for.
My heart breaks for the millions of Catholics who feel that their beloved Church is being led over a moral and religious cliff by a leftist pope and innumerable other leftists among cardinals, bishops, and parish priests.
Though I am not a Catholic, my heart breaks too. The only institutions that can resist the left-wing takeover of contemporary life are religious ones. When they fail, upon which institutions can we depend?
Tragically, we cannot turn to the contemporary Catholic Church. When the pope keeps a hammer-and-sickle crucifix; when the pope declares free-market capitalism, the one economic system that has lifted masses of people out of poverty, to be largely evil (“the dung of the devil”); when Cuba’s Cardinal Jaime Ortega declares that there are no political prisoners in Cuba; and when the pope issues an encyclical on global warming while the oldest Christian communities in the world are exterminated, it is clear that while one can still turn to individual Catholic priests and lay leaders for moral guidance, one cannot turn to the Church and its pope for moral guidance. On the contrary. One must fight back.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His book, The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code, was published by Regnery. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.
Correctamundo Mama. We have two electric guitars, one acoustic guitar, a piano and drum set. The pastor's wife and oldest daughter lead the singing, the other daughter plays piano and their son plays the drums. It's a beautiful thing. No one is silent. Most of the time, he preaches in Bisaya, so I don't understand it, but for my benefit, he always gives me the scriptures. 😇
>>I get what you’re saying, but I was not referring to that at all. That’s been going on for many decades. A lot of what I’m talking about is much newer than that, and much more important.
Corruption of the church goes back to the 1st century. The corruption began almost as soon as the people walked out of the Upper Room. It seems worse now because we’re in the waning days of the American revival that began 300 years ago. America will cease to be a nation where Christianity is the default worldview and the Elect will finally stand out from the chaff as a beacon of hope in a nation of hopelessness. God’s people will be attracted to them. The rest will laugh, then cautiously laugh, then laugh questioningly, and then will begin to understand that they missed out.
I wonder who has the in on what kind of music God likes, and how they know.
I have the "in" on what kind of music God likes. He likes traditional hymns. 😃😀😂😇😎
If you (all) were the least bit honest you would admit that the highest rate of molestation/ abuse is from familial relations.
BTW before you ask for a link I am still waiting for the link from you claiming it was Catholics that began the JPI murder.
"I-have-no-idea-what-you-are-talking-about-so-here-is-a-picture-of-a-bunny-with-pancake-on-its-head."
picture?
I'm at a loss for words about this Pope.
Yes ok I stand corrected. Yes he must intend to confect the Host, use proper form and matter. My only point was to speak to the implication that he needed to be sinless to some degree.
Thank you.
okay fine, you win....there’s NOTHING NEW in the Body of Christ today...it’s just like it’s always been...
Happy now?
Yes he must intend to confect the Host, use proper form and matter.
tell that to miss marmelstein, please...he/she is having an issue understanding this basic premise...
There is no discussion about our beliefs either because they come from the Bible. I am 71 and have never been in a church where beliefs were discussed. Everyone knows that if the Bible says it. it is true. I do not know where you get these nutty ideas. Let’s see: I have been to Assembly of God, Baptists, Church of God, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of Christ, independents, Methodists, etc. I do not remember people ever discussing what the beliefs should be. Back when I was a kid, no minister went to any seminary. They were called by God and led by the Holy Spirit and they were some of the best teachers I have ever heard. May they all RIP.
Sinless to some degree? You're either sinless or your not.
However, there's a difference between having sinned as we all do being human, and deliberately engaging in willful, defiant, unrepentant sin, living a willfully sinful lifestyle.
Such men are not qualified by the very Scripture that Catholics claims their very own church wrote, to be in positions of leadership in the church.
In effect, the Catholic church doesn't even follow the book is claims it authored.
Matthew 7:1-3
Truth divides. Truth is important. Truth is Jesus. Don't confuse adherence to truth to be "control."
There is freedom in truth. The truth will set you free.
Honestly, preferences in style of worship music are just that. Preferences.
Personal preference is really the essence of Protestantism.
How do you know that there is no objective way to determine the quality of music? Is rap v. Mozart purely personal preference? Or is one objectively better?
Or does the Catholic magisterium think it has an in on what kind of music God likes or approves of?
Yes. The Church's musical tradition is ancient, but it's not my specialty or area of interest.
From before the time of Saint Gregory the Great, through the Council of Trent, via Pope Saint Pius X, to the Second Vatican Council, to the recent chirography by Pope John II, the Holy See has continuously affirmed plain-chant as the most appropriate music to carry the sacred texts of the Liturgy.Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, stated that chant was to be given "pride of place" -- a phrase echoed by Pope Paul VI in Musicam Sacram (March 5, 1967) and repeated in the current General Instruction of the Roman Missal. (41)
Chant is eminently suitable for the sacred Liturgy because it is sacred in nature. That is, its form and structure make it separate and distinct from the music of the popular culture. Chant in its pure form evolved solely to serve the Liturgy. Deriving from Hebraic cantillations of Jewish worship, its long lines weave around the sacred texts, reaching upward like gothic spires or hands raised in prayer. It has no pounding rhythm, no strong downbeat; it does not induce dancing, frenzy, clapping, finger-snapping, swaying, or other earth-bound activity. Its sole purpose is to carry the sacred texts, pulling our hearts and minds away from the mundane and up toward God.
Good point. It’s given en masse.
>>Happy now?
Not really, because you don’t believe it. But most people think that this is a unique era of ‘bad churchianity”.
Sorry. Really meant it more as a suggestion. Such circumstances were never really covered in “Father Smith Instructs Jackson”, IIRC.
So I take it most RC's are unaware that the sacrament they are partaking may not be valid at all ??
Nonsense. That’s not what Jesus is talking about.
He tells us to judge with righteous judgment.
God tells us what sin is and when someone is engaging in it, they’re wrong. Telling them so isn’t judging them. It’s just telling them what GOD has already determined.
I rest my case.
Wrong again, that makes three for day for you.
Maybe this is exactly what God meant, when He said whatever you bind on earth, will be bound in Heaven. 😂😇😎
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