Posted on 12/28/2006 8:37:27 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Pope Benedict's Christmas message was one of great importance, no matter one's spiritual bent. "Does a 'Saviour,' " he questioned, "still have any value and meaning for the men and women of the third millennium?" This, he queried in his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message to 10,000 faithful in St Peter's Square," Reuters reported.
Sounds to me like a man on a mission, a worried man on a worrisome mission. Would you be asking these questions if business were good, if your flocks were growing? He went on: People should not allow technology to trump theology. "Mankind, which has reached other planets and unraveled many of nature's secrets, should not presume it can live without God." Implicit in the positing of this presumption is the subliminal fear technology will lead to just that end.
Truth be told, Christianity is wilting if not dying in the continent that propelled it to global prominence, Europe. Europeans pay lip service but eschew church services. Christianity's growth markets are on other continents.
A Policy Review magazine article in 2003 recounted the following, "Of the roughly 2 billion Christians worldwide, Europe still claims a plurality, with 560 million believers -- although that number includes many who are counted as Christian only on the baptismal roles of their emptying churches."
If present trends continue, by 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa, 640 million in South America, and 460 million in (South) Asia. Europe's numbers will have remained constant, leaving it at third place among the continents and falling. By 2050, to extrapolate further, only a fifth of the world's Christians will be non-Hispanic whites. As author Philip Jenkins puts it, quoting a Kenyan scholar, "the centers of the church's universality are no longer in Geneva, Rome, Athens, Paris, London, New York, but Kinshasa, Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa and Manila."
What does this mean? Christianity is growing all right, but not in world financial centers, not in nations housing the world's foremost educational institutions, not in the world's technology hubs. It is growing most rapidly among the poor and the uneducated.
Does Pope Benedict's tone imply that God -- the Christian God in any event -- is dead? God's death has been debated since time immemorial. The answer is, of course not. At home among our own highly educated, financially savvy and technologically gifted populace, the most powerful and cohesive voting bloc remains that of evangelical Christians. Democrats took back both houses of Congress only by narrowing the so-called God gap and stealing Catholics and Evangelicals back from the Republican column.
At the same time, God as we know him/her/it is in mid-morph. Western culture is personalizing God and turning him into her, person into spirit and customizing God to fit all shapes, sizes, hair colors and beliefs. Gone are the days when one could walk into an African Methodist Episcopal church and witness a portrait of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus hovering above a room full of black believers. Gone is America's uniform vision of God as a bearded white man seated on a cumulonimbus.
Historical evidence places Jesus as a first-century Middle Eastern Jew. This means Jesus probably looked a lot more like Yasser Arafat than a Nordic prince with long blond locks. European transmogrification of this religion born in Israel imposed Eurocentric visions onto its icons. Thus, Jesus' features were magically overtaken by those of his more powerful followers: the Europeans.
Perhaps Pope Benedict's fears of a god-bereft populace are better explained by today's custom-fit God. The Pope wants God to remain as traditional Christianity sees him -- the God of the Crusaders, a God whose followers are on a short leash and allowed little by way of interpretation, questioning or free-thinking. A transgression of the 10 Commandments is a sin and that's all there is to it.
Educated believers are demanding more variety, having more doubts and reworking religion to fit their own mores, lifestyles and cultures. Religion without penance -- no hair shirts, no self-flagellation? No wonder the Pope is worried.
Let's put Pope Benedict over the top!
http://www.islamonline.net/polls/english/24-12-06/Survey.asp
Pass it on.
You sure look foolish trying to tell it to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father.
*What the Muslims understand about God is seriously deficient. Their knowledge of God is not unlike your knowledge of Catholicism.
Haniya 28%
Nasrallah 25.59%
Benedict 25.28%
LOL! Third place? That's amazing.
By Jimmy Akin
In the wake of 9/11 it has become more important than ever that Catholics have an accurate view of Islam. A starting point, though not the ending point, is reading what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say. It states, "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day" (CCC 841).
To understand this, one both has to look at the original context of the quote. The Catechism is not a freshly drafted document. It is in large measure a synthesis of other documents, and one has to look up quotations in the original sources to understand them fully. This is the case for the Catechism’s statement about Muslims, which is taken wholly from Vatican II.
Many find the first part of the quote perplexing: "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims." To many this sounds like Muslims can be saved by adhering to Islam. That isn’t what it means, as shown by the original context.
If you look at Lumen Gentium (LG), the Vatican II document from which the quote is drawn, it becomes clear that the phrase is not meant to say that Islam is a method of salvation parallel to Christianity. The quote comes from LG 16, but it is part of a larger context in the document. To appreciate how it fits into the picture, one needs to go back at least as far as LG 13, which starts by proclaiming, "All men are called to belong to the new people of God"—i.e., to the Church. Section 13 concludes by stating, "All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the people of God. . . . And in different ways to it belong, or are related: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation."
All mankind is called to the "Catholic unity of the people of God"—in other words, to become Catholics. Some have done so, and so LG states that some "belong to" the Catholic Church while others are related to it "in different ways." Those who belong to it are "the Catholic faithful," while those who are related in various ways include "others who believe in Christ" (who are related to the Church in one way) and "all mankind" (who are related to the Church in a different way).
The next three sections of LG (14–16) are taken up with elaborating on these three groups.
LG 14 concerns itself with Catholics. It begins by stating: "This sacred council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. . . . Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved."
This of itself repudiates the idea that Islam or any other religions are as good as the Catholic Church. LG 15 turns to non-Catholic Christians and states, "The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety [e.g., Protestants] or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter [e.g., Orthodox]."
Note that it does not say that these Christians are part of the Church, only that they are "linked" to it many ways, some of which it then goes on to name (Scripture, faith in Christ, baptism). While noting that God works among them, LG does not say that it is okay for them to remain where they are: "In all of Christ's disciples the Spirit arouses the desire to be peacefully united, in the manner determined by Christ, as one flock under one shepherd, and he prompts them to pursue this end." In other words, God’s grace leads them toward becoming Catholics too.
After this, the attentive reader will scarcely find it plausible that LG is going to present non-Christian religions as on a par with the Church, and it doesn’t.
LG 16 turns to the case of non-Christians, stating, "Finally, those who have not yet received the gospel are related in various ways to the people of God." The section speaks of the Jewish people in the first place, for they are more closely related to the Church than any other non-Christian religion. It is only after this that the text states, "But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims." Note that the subject under discussion is not everyone who is saved. The overarching theme of the passage is how various people are related to the Catholic Church, not how many paths to salvation there are. The Council has been describing people who are progressively more distant from the Church. The Council has already stated that the Church is necessary for salvation. And since it expressly places non-Jewish theists in a distant position from the Church, when we encounter the statement that "the plan of salvation also includes," we should not understand it as saying that non-Jewish theists are saved.
It means that God desires their salvation and has made plans for their salvation—plans that include giving them graces that lead in the direction of salvation and the Church. But that doesn’t mean that they can be saved by being nothing more than non-Jewish theists.
Within the category of non-Jewish theists, Muslims today hold the first place in that they are the largest such group and have a number of commonalities with Judaism and Christianity, several of which the council goes on to note:
(1) They "profess to hold the faith of Abraham." The operative word here is "profess"—they claim to hold the faith of Abraham. In reality, their faith is an imperfect version of the faith that comes from Abraham, but they are trying to follow in the footsteps of Abraham, and the Council gives them credit for that.
(2) "Together with us they adore the one, merciful God." For many, this statement is perplexing. However, as we saw in last issue’s "Brass Tacks" column, God is aware of and acknowledges all that is good and true in the worship offered to him, however imperfect an understanding of him a worshiper may have. While Muslims, like Jews, do not accept the Trinity, they do acknowledge that God is the only true God and that he is merciful. This means that they honor things that are true about God but have a limited understanding of him.
Christians have a fuller understanding of God because he has revealed more to us about himself: specifically, that he is a Trinity. This doctrine cannot be deduced by human reason; it can only be known by revelation.
Failure to accept this revelation of the Christian age does not stop Muslims from worshiping God any more than it stops Jews. It means only that they know less about God and that they have erroneous corollary ideas (for instance, that Jesus is not the Son of God).
To make clear how this works, allow me to take an example from pop culture: Suppose that you and I both knew millionaire Bruce Wayne. I might know, because he revealed it to me, that he is also Batman. You may hear this claim and reject it, in which case you adopt the false corollary belief "Batman is not Bruce Wayne." That does not mean that you don’t know and relate to either Bruce or Batman, it means only that you misunderstand the relationship between them.
In the same way, one may worship God and honor Jesus as a prophet (which he was) without understanding that Jesus is God. Indeed, many people in his own day did that: They knew the historical Jesus but had a false understanding of his identity.
(3) Muslims recognize that God is "mankind’s judge on the last day." This is another link they have to biblical faith. Muslims may have erroneous ideas about some of the things that will occur before, after, or around this event, but that much they have right.
Additional elements of truth that Muslims have are listed in another conciliar document (Nostra Aetate 3), but in no place does the Council indicate that Islam—or Judaism or any non-Christian religion—is a path of salvation. There may be elements of truth in these religions, and God may give his grace to whomever he wants, non-Christian religions aren’t vehicles of salvation.
Some in these religions can be saved, but not because of their religions. This is underlined in the document Dominus Jesus that was released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000. According to the document, "It would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions, seen as complementary to the Church or substantially equivalent to her" (DJ 21).
Further, "If it is true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation" (DJ 22).
There should be no doubt that the Church recognizes that followers of Islam have elements of truth. But while it is possible for them—as for all men—to be saved if they live up to the light God has given them, it cannot be said that Islam is a path of salvation or that Muslims do not need to become Christians.
So then do Catholics and Muslims adore the same God as the Catechism states?
He got my vote. He's in second place now.
Dear Nihil Obstat,
Note that you can vote multiple times. The poll is actually set up to permit each respondent to vote about half a dozen times or so before generating this message:
"Sorry.. You reached the maximum permitted voting."
LOL!
sitetest
And when that happens will chr*stianity become politically correct, or will liberals turn on the Third Worlders whose primitive beliefs they've defended and apologized for for so long?
Maybe their heads wille explode as they try to figure it out. Sounds like a "Captain Kirk" moment to me!
Not as foolish as you'll look when the man-god isn't seated there at all.
Why do you hate the King of the Jews so much?
Is this an attempt to provoke to wrath? Or is this your witness? Either one isn't very "Christianlike"....
No. He still exists, is alive and provides joy not available from any other person.
I don't understand why somebody would lay claim to His heritage and then hate the primary reason for that heritage.
I'm happy for ya.
I don't understand why somebody would lay claim to His heritage and then hate the primary reason for that heritage.
Proclamations and interpretations based on faith. Again, I'm happy for ya. You don't need my approval, be secure.
An interesting facet of faith which is provided by God, not simply the type of faith provided by a man thinking with his soul, is that the faith He provides is trustworthy no matter the time or place or circumstance.
It's the same faith He exhibited on the Cross. It's the same faith of Abraham. It's the same faith God finds to be righteous without any work of our own inthat it is non-meritorious from us.
Once we exercise just a little bit of that God given faith, more than absolutely no faith, He is free in His immutable nature to regenerate our spirit, giving us an eternal living spirit. This is purely the work of God and not the thinking of any other man.
Once one has that new spirit added to body and soul, we are a different type of person, not knowable to somebody who only has body and soul, never having exercised a God given faith, which He uses to regenerate our spirit.
Once with eternal life, there is no need for any other to feel secure, rather there is a desire out of a simple love of our fellow man to let them also be aware that such life actually does exist. No hocus-pocus,...merely the actual real work of God the Holy Spirit whcih is available to anybody who believes, without any cognizance of any other man.
GB
Please don't make me barf. If faith in Jesus is a gift shouldn't you be humbly thankful and not barge in and berate another for not sharing it with you? I didn't just jump off the turnup truck, I can smell a hypocrite from far away. Be well.
Three parties are involved.
I'm not berating anybody.
I do owe loyalty to Christ when some imply He doesn't exist.
(PS, the phrase, I didn't just jump off the TURNIP truck refers to a time when fresh turnips were harvested and shipped to the city by truck. Some who journeyed to the city from the country without much formal education, were associated with those who hitchhiked from the farm in the back of a turnip truck. Later, the phrase, "I just didn't jump off the back of a turnip truck" was used to imply the person was either street saavy in the big city, or not unawares of formal education. We don't witness many turnip trucks anymore, but I understand your intent to communicate you are a very well educated person.)
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