Posted on 02/04/2016 12:52:08 PM PST by wagglebee
ORLANDO, February 4, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- “It is no longer easy to be a faithful Christian, a good Catholic, an authentic witness to the truths of the Gospel,” said Princeton Professor Robert George to a large crowd at the Legatus Summit in Orlando, Florida last weekend. Professor George added that people can still safely identify as “Catholic” as long as they don’t believe, or will at least be completely silent about, “what the Church teaches on issues such as marriage and sexual morality and the sanctity of human life.”
He said “the guardians of those norms of cultural orthodoxy that we have come to call ‘political correctness,’” will still grant a comfort to a Catholic ashamed of the Gospel, “or who is willing to act publicly as if he or she were ashamed.”
The Princeton professor, who has been a leader in the fight for life and marriage, reminded his audience of Christ’s words: “If anyone wants to be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me.” “We American Catholics, having become comfortable, had forgotten, or ignored, that timeless Gospel truth. There will be no ignoring it now,” he remarked.
Are we “prepared to give public witness to the massively politically incorrect truths of the Gospel, truths that the mandarins of an elite culture shaped by the dogmas of expressive individualism and me-generation liberalism do not wish to hear spoken?” he asked.
For Catholics, and Evangelicals in America, he said, “it is now Good Friday.” To a rousing standing ovation Professor George concluded:
The memory of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem has faded. Yes, he had been greeted—and not long ago—by throngs of people waving palm branches and shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ He rode into the Jerusalem of Europe and the Jerusalem of the Americas and was proclaimed Lord and King. But all that is now in the past. Friday has come. The love affair with Jesus and his Gospel and his Church is over.
Fearing to place in jeopardy the wealth we have piled up, the businesses we have built, the professional and social standing we have earned, the security and tranquility we enjoy, the opportunities for worldly advancement we cherish, the connections we have cultivated, the relationships we treasure, will we silently acquiesce to the destruction of innocent human lives or the demolition of marriage? Will we seek to ‘fit in,’ to be accepted, to live comfortably in the new Babylon? If so, our silence will speak. Its words will be the words of Peter, warming himself by the fire: ‘Jesus the Nazorean? I tell you, I do not know the man.’
The saving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ includes, integrally, the teachings of His church on the profound and inherent dignity of the human person and the nature of marriage as a conjugal bond—a one-flesh union….
The question of faith and fidelity that is put to us today is not in the form it was put to Peter—“surely you are you this man’s disciple”—it is, rather, do you stand for the sanctity of human life and the dignity of marriage as the union of husband and wife? These teachings are not the whole Gospel—Christianity requires much more than their affirmation. But they are integral to the Gospel—they are not optional or dispensable. To be an authentic witness to the Gospel is to proclaim these truths among the rest. The Gospel is, as St. John Paul the Great said, a Gospel of Life. And it is a Gospel of family life, too. And it is these integral dimensions of the Gospel that powerful cultural forces and currents today demand that we deny or suppress.
One day we will give an account of all we have done and failed to do. …
One thing alone will matter: let me say this with maximum clarity—whether we stood up for the truth, speaking it out loud and in public, bearing the costs of discipleship that are inevitably imposed on faithful witnesses to truth by cultures that turn away from God and his law. Or were we ashamed of the Gospel?
If we deny truths of the Gospel, we really are like Peter, avowing that “I do not know the man.” If we go silent about them, we really are like the other apostles, fleeing in fear. But when we proclaim the truths of the Gospel, we really do stand at the foot of the cross with Mary the Mother of Jesus and John the disciple whom Jesus loved. We show by our faithfulness that we are not ashamed of the Gospel. We prove that we are truly Jesus’s disciples, willing to take up his cross and follow him—even to Calvary.
But lest we fail the test, as perhaps many will do, let us remember that Easter is coming. Jesus will vanquish sin and death. We will experience fear, just as the apostles did—that is inevitable. Like Jesus himself in Gethsemane, we would prefer not to drink this cup. We would much rather be acceptable Christians, comfortable Catholics. But our trust in him, our hope in his resurrection, our faith in the sovereignty of his heavenly Father can conquer fear. By the grace of Almighty God, Easter is indeed coming. Do not be ashamed of the Gospel. Never be ashamed of the Gospel.
One must be skeptical regarding the pronouncements of present day Christian leaders and “spokesman” as they interpret Christian doctrines and beliefs.
Yep!
” - - it deserves the coming consequences.”
The America of today has many, many evil facets. The mere fact that obama got reelected says so much.
If we cannot get a Trump, Cruz, or even a Carson into office, the nation will continue on it’s decline and those consequences will not be far off.
I’m surprised he’d be allowed to be a professor at Princeton.
It’s becoming socially unacceptable “on our side” of the political spectrum too I think
Yes, that’s quite the fact. But it has always been my position that I resent *having* to look over politicians’ shoulders all the time to keep them in line because they can’t be trusted any other way.
In doing some research about Robert George, I clicked on a link about a recent illness he had regarding a bleed in his aorta, I think it was. A box popped up and I couldn’t get out of it, and I and my husband have spent the last 30 minutes or so working on getting out, checking to see if I had indeed downloaded some malware, and so on. Anyway, it seems that Robert George is a very brilliant and ethical man.
Nice to see you, Kolokotronis.
you forgot the part about services are to be limited to one hour and sermons are not to mention anything to do with moral judgment with in society.
What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall.
Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America.
He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer “Yes, sir,” “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full on Sunday ... where Christ is not preached.
Regardless what FDRs state sovereignty-ignoring activist justices wanted everybody to believe about the scope of Congresss Commerce Clause powers (1.8.3), note that a previous generation of state sovereignty-respecting justices had clarified the following about Congresss constitutionally limited powers.
Not only have the states never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate INTRAstate commerce, but also that Congress is also prohibited from appropriating taxes in the name of state power issues, basically anything that it cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.
”State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” - Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
So regarding Congresss Section 8-limited powers where federal domestic policy is concerned, if you hear politicians promising funding for anything not connected with the US Mail Service (1.8.7), then you can bet it is unconstitutional and be right most of the time.
So what is so difficult about keeping an eye on federal politicians?
:)
Bttt
Twasn’t that way before 1968! Due to the murder of Robert Kennedy any form of the most mild violence was banned on TV for years, so excessive sex began to be the drawing card for commercial TV.
After Cable became common, sex became the real drawing card. R rated movies were only shown in the late evenings, now it is anytime of day.
Now violence and soft porn are back with a vengeance since 1980, but some commercial cable stations still chop the movies to pieces as if it was still post 1968. Most do not.
“So what is so difficult about keeping an eye on federal politicians? “
I don’t have the time or the inclination to pore over pieces of 2000+ page legislation to see if/where anything devious is hidden within.
I ought to be able to go about my life without waking up to find that half of my gun collection is now illegal, or that more of my paycheck is being looted to give to people I wouldn’t allow in my house. /rant
On one hand, I hear you.
Otherwise, probably most of us are guilty of not heeding Jeffersons following warning.
”Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature.” - Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Edward Carrington January 16, 1787)
I have been there.
bfl
I’m not afraid.
Agreed. I have read some of his works and he is similar to the original Princeton professors who trained the likes of James Madison.
Robert George is a renowned professor at Princeton, a stalwart pro-life advocate and defender of life, an eloquent speaker. Absolutely top notch. You can see him sometimes on EWTN, the Catholic cable station. None say bad of him. Glad to hear that he is out speaking - the aorta bleed could easily have been fatal.
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