Pope: God will judge you on whether you cared for Earth

Yahoo ^ | 5/12/2015 | NICOLE WINFIELD

[Gamecock]

Pope Francis warned the rich and powerful on Tuesday that God will judge them on whether they fed the poor and cared for the Earth

"We must do what we can so that everyone has something to eat. But we must also remind the powerful of the Earth that God will call them to judgment one day," he said. "And there it will be revealed if they really tried to provide for him in every person, and if they did what they could to preserve the environment so that it could produce this food."

[Secret Agent Man]

Wow, he’s really getting tough on the atheists and muslims.

They are not going to like this attack.

Oh wait, he’s just bashing on Christians...

[Boogieman]

I’ll stick with what the Bible says, not what you say it says.

[editor-surveyor]

The “New Heaven and New Earth” will be in the realm of God, not in the physical universe.

[HomerBohn]

Before Vatican II Catholics didn’t try to destroy their surroundings.

[Boogieman]

Believe whatever you want to believe, just leave me out of it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't think it's been spelled out what kinds of environmental modification would constitute a sin, because that would require technical specifications which are outside of the competence of the teaching Magisterium.

I do know that deliberate (not just collateral) damage for the sake of harm (for instance deliberate destruction of cropland so as to cause directly-intended starvation to populations in time of war) would be a sin, because it would be targeting things that noncombatant populations need for their survival.

As to the very sensible questions, "No drilling for oil? No burning fossil fuel of any kind? No dumping at sea? No eating meat? No GMO? No air travel? " I think those are considered prudential questions, which is to say, they would be outside of the competence of the clergy.

This ties to you other sensible question, "Then who decides?"

It would have to be a whole lot of people acting responsibly within the sphere of their competence: me to my kids (don't damage the trees in the public park), a municipal ordinance (no throwing trash on city property), the county (no dumping construction rubble into stream beds), the TVA--- I'm a Tennesseean --- (reforest denuded slopes), --- many things handled by public authorities on the basis of subsidiarity.

Roughly, "subsidiarity" means "conducted at the lowest, most local level of organization that can adequately do the job."

[HomerBohn]

Mrs. Don:

There is a lot more in satisfying God and His Commandments on this earth than merely stating that mankind must do so.

When the mass that was guaranteed to remain unchanged until the Second Coming and most tenets, rubrics and those laws enacted by the successor to Peter were tossed out the window....you indeed have a new religion based on the desires of man.

The Tridentine Mass contained in the Roman Missal was codified by Pope Saint Pius V. In so doing he was speaking as Peter’s successor and in doing so was’ binding on earth’.

Surely it is not impossible to understand that Vatican II was heretical. To think otherwise is to believe that the Church is no different than present day America where politicians change the morals of the people simply by edicting stacks of laws upon laws to satisfy the child-like citizens.

[HomerBohn]

Right-O!

[Charles Martel]

So how does the confession/penance thing work in this instance?

<><><><><><><><><>

"Bless me father, for I have sinned. It has been six months since my last confession"

****
Confess your sins and be forgiven, my son.
****

"Between 1968 and 1988, I poured between 60 and 100 gallons of used crankcase oil into the storm drain."

****
And are you truly remorseful, my son?
****

"I guess so. Catechism didn't cover this. Is this a mortal or venial sin?"

****

We're still sorting that out. For your penance, work for the EPA as an unpaid intern for one summer. Go forth and sin no more..."
****

[Mrs. Don-o]

I prefer not to be drawn into a controversy about liturgical abuse. I've had the deeply distressing experience of being present at clearly sacrilegious liturgies: I left. But I don't think that the Second Vatican Council in its doctrines and documents was per se heretical.

You may disagree. But I am not the one you want to argue with.

[editor-surveyor]

Oh, you like surprises!

OKBM.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Did he say “just Christians”?

[Dutchboy88]

"Really? So you look to the Bible for what is true on EVERY matter and don’t use your God-given reason to figure anything out for yourself? That must be painful, as I imagine you keep grabbing hot things off stoves and such, since the Bible doesn’t tell you not to do so."

Au contraire...the Bible does give much information about how people think...and it has much to say about this topic. But, I am curious...and so we don't miss one another...do you understand "free will" to mean the unaided ability to decide a future choice without the intervention of God? If not, please provide a definition of "free will".

[Mrs. Don-o]

Yes, I think that's right. I mentioned to a different FReeper that would be Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, and Genesis 8:17.

At the end of the episode with Noah, -- the end of Genesis 8, and all of Genesis 9--- God makes a covenant with all the living things on earth, and with Noah and his family, telling Noah to let all the wild animals come out and mate and breed and fill the earth. He also pledges, on His part, not to send another devastating flood. That clearly shows that God values the lives of all His creatures, and enlists man in His efforts to save them as well.

The whole of the Creation story shows that God thinks everything He made is good. That in itself would be a strong indicator that we should avoid wanton or reckless destructive behavior.

[Dutchboy88]

"but every time the Lord says to "choose," (and there are many), it logically entails the ability to choose, i.e. to exercise one's will."

Please understand...I am not defining "free will" as the ability (or lack thereof) to choose. I am defining it as the ability to choose without the intervention of God to guide and control that choice. That is the technical definition of truly "free" will. You are defining "will".

[piusv]

So the point being out of 2 encyclicals he found it critical to write one on the environment. mmmmkay.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

My POINT is, the Pope should make a stand for Christians (against ISIS) instead of picking on them!

[trisham]

The whole of the Creation story shows that God thinks everything He made is good. That in itself would be a strong indicator that we should avoid wanton or reckless destructive behavior.

****************************

Exactly right. God gave us this wonderful gift, and to destroy it would be an affront to His generosity.

[piusv]

"I guess so. Catechism didn't cover this. Is this a mortal or venial sin?"

And as absurd as my previous comment may have been to SpirituTuo, there is good reason to ask this. Given just how important this topic is to Francis and the fact that he found it necessary to point out how those who do not "preserve the environment" will be "called to judgment one day", it sure sounds like he considers it a mortal sin.

Now THAT is absurd.

[Finny]

How can we show love not just one another today, but also to generations to come?

I cannot answer that question, but I can state with certainty: thinking we must show our love by enforcing often wrong and misguided standards of environmental "good stewardship" on others, individuals or whole nations, is solely an exercise in vanity.

You ask the wrong question when you frame it in terms of "how can we show love," because you presume to ask it for me. I already have my answer, thank you. See my tagline -- that "personal relationship" -- Psalms doesn't talk about His word as a lamp unto our feet, but mine.

Serving God is a personal business. When government presumes to do it for "us," amoral tyranny results.