Posted on 07/04/2011 8:49:43 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
And, I might add, there are as many opinions as there are human minds.
You got that right. In one breath they quote someone like Calvin who in reality was just another power hungry jerk with a pen and a desire to avoid taking up his cross to follow Christ. Then in the next breath they insist that no one has any special authority since everyone can interpret Scriptures on their own according to their own understanding. Who wouldn't be aware of their own failure when their argument relies on a stool with three legs, but with two attached to one side of the surface and the third leg attached to the opposite side of the surface?
Like TUPLIP, that Terribly Useful Lie Infecting Protestants, it's all self-gratification and nothing else. It's a scam created by the master of scams who always appeals to pride first and hardens the heart of the fallen when they succumb to other temptations once pride hides the Truth. What is more appealing to human pride than being as god knowing both good and evil without the need to take up the cross of obedience before we can know His ways?
Ok, you tell me which pope of the era preceding the American Revolution advocated that men should live free from oppression of earthly kings.
Please refrain from posting any longer on the religion forum until that pope can be named. Links and footnotes also required, of course.
July 4th, 2011 by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.
Fireworks. Baseball games. Picnics. This is what the Fourth of July means to most Americans today. But July 4, 1776, was a very solemn day for the 55 men who affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. For in so doing, they were risking their lives and fortunes to defend the proposition that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Liberty was a corollary of human dignity, and to safeguard human dignity was the reason for their war of independence.
So what does the Fourth of July have to do with the teaching of the Catholic Church?
To answer this question, we must remember that the Catholic Church is the original Bible Church. Its official teaching is no more than interpretation and application of God’s Word.
So when we ask how the Church reaffirms the inherent dignity of human beings, we have to start with the Bible. The various religions that existed in biblical times had gods who were made in man’s image and likeness – the pagan gods had all the foibles and vices that can be viewed in a soap opera. They played favorites, schemed to destroy their enemies, cheated on their spouses, and held grudges.
The Bible proclaims that human beings are made in God’s image and likeness. And the God of the Bible is a community of persons who give themselves to each other eternally in love. And this God of love is a sublime artist who creates the world in love as a masterpiece of beauty and nobility. In creating man and woman in his image and likeness, he invites them to an intimate personal relationship with himself and offers them the incredible privilege of being co-creators with him.
Sin gets in the way of all this, of course, defacing God’s likeness in us. Every sin is an offense against God precisely because it debases us as well as others. But how does God respond to the outrage and ugliness of sin? He does not draw back in revulsion but instead draws close. He even assumes our human nature so he can come to our rescue. He never loses sight of the divine dignity hiding underneath the rags of our sin. He loves Matthew and Zaccheus, the tax-collectors, back into their dignity. He takes time to listen to the Samaritan woman with five husbands and to offer her a new life.
The Second Vatican Council does nothing but draw out the implications of this biblical witness.
It bases the right to freedom of religion on human dignity. It teaches that morality can never just be imposed from without, as so many rules and regulations, but must be internalized in a sanctuary called conscience. It teaches that not just a select few, but all, are called to the heights of holiness, regardless of their state in life or occupation. It teaches that if all are created in God’s image and likeness, then all are equal in dignity, whether man or woman, adult or child, born, or unborn, cleric or lay. It teaches that societies must strive to bring about living conditions that correspond to human dignity.
The teaching of Church is beautifully expressed in councils, encyclicals, and the Catechism. But it is expressed even more beautifully in the lives of its saints. The life of St. Teresa of Calcutta is a moving testimony to the dignity of the human person. Plunging into one of world’s most disgusting slums, she recognized and honored the image of God in people cast off by society and left to die in the gutter. Many would judge such creatures useless and revolting. Mother Teresa and her sisters befriended them. Others would judge unwanted children, conceived “by accident,” as equally useless and inconvenient. Mother Teresa spoke out in their defense, making even presidents squirm.
And then there is Blessed John Paul, the apostle of human dignity. His courageous witness helped bring about the collapse of communist tyranny in his native Poland and the entire Soviet bloc. His opposition to the death penalty on grounds of human dignity caused a quite a stir. But let’s not forget how he himself responded when gravely wounded by an assassin. He did not simmer in resentment and outrage. Neither did he simply forget about the man. As the Good Shepherd went out after the lost sheep, the wounded Pope went to the prison cell of his attacker, looked him in the eye, and spoke to him of his forgiveness and God’s love.
In raising these two witnesses to the dignity of the altar, the Church is reaffirming the dignity of every single human person without exception. It is also affirming the duty to stand up for that dignity. It is insisting that indeed “all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” – which means rights that no government can take away.
ROTFLMAO. Along with claiming to have enslaved Christ to do their bidding, the followers of the Pope of Geneva now claim ownership of FR.
It is readily apparent that there are cases where no historical fact of evangelistic endeavor is going impede a good diatribe. This seems like one of those instances.
Cordially,
Yes, the Presbyterians and Methodists whom were a majority among the framers of the Constitution, had read their bibles, and were strongly influenced by the ideas and principles expounded upon, illustrated and illuminated by the text(s).
Cordially
By the way, I'm no Calvinist. Your little pet theory fails, when aimed in my direction.
Cordially
Something of a modern teaching (and a good a proper one).
At the time of the likes of John Calvin, and just prior, with popish armies on the march, it's doubtful that teaching held much sway. The popes of that time certainly can not be found to have been following it.
The Reformation helped the Catholic church reform itself (to an extent) from within. For that, we can all be grateful.
The American experience is to a large degree indebted to the changes that were wrought...
...if not for the Reformers, I doubt there would have ever been a United States of America. I thank them, instead of hating them (for being less than perfect).
Nailed it in one.
Christ set this nation up to play a role in His plan. The Reformation had nothing to do with it other than to generate the very divisions that now keep Christians from fighting for the nation to return to Christ rather than fighting one another. Reformation or not Christ would have made of this nation what he wanted just as Christ is now rewarding this nation for turning away from Him with exactly what the people of this nation have begged for, the fetish of selfishness. Prideful selfishness that refuses to recognize the earnestness and faithfulness of anyone they don't agree with.
At this point, I'm sort-of missing that guy...nasty, manipulative, schmoozing liar that he was...
Thank you. It takes willful disregard of well established history to not recognize the progression.
This has nothing to do with "myself" in particular, nor my own private (or novel) interpretation of history. Personal attacks, like being called a bigot (by bigots) is still par for the course around here, I see.
When the facts cannot be refuted --- the flame baiting follows almost as surely as a knee-twitch following a light hammer tap from a doctor...
I’m sure people who think creating thousands of divisions in the body of Christ is a good thing and led to the creation of this nation do like the kind of guy Rasputin was. It’s no wonder the same sort don’t recognize differences in spelling since they’re avowed Alice in Wonderland types who have their own meanings for everything.
When a group’s religion is not based on Christ (as in Dr. Eck’s group), but based on hatred, what more can be expected?
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