Monday, June 9, 2014

Pick a Religion and Run with the Ball.


I have been thinking about the latest headscratcher - we pray to our God, you pray to yours, six of one, halfdozen of the other, all the same.

One must ask oneself, where's he going with this one?

Last week, our beloved Pope Francis repeatedly told muslim audiences that people have the freedom to choose religion one judges to be true.

This upset a lot of people, but I actually think his motive was to tell the muslims to stop killing the Christians. Chistians have a right to their religion and so on.

“May no one abuse the name of God through violence!” Pope Francis told the Muslim religious leaders.

We are not obligated to spring everyone from their delusions under every circumstance.

Time and place, circumstances and substance of soul are/have to be taken into account.

Christ went into the temple on many occasions to convert the uncatechized and village idiots but he did not attempt to convert Pilate or Herod and he definitely excluded excluded the entire race of Gentiles, saying, do not give what is holy to the dogs.

Christ did make exceptions to his exclusion but He always, in each exception, drew a public expression of belief in Christ as the living God before He responded to their request for healing or freedom from demons or vice.

Drawing a public expression that Jesus is Lord is an important gesture, then and now.

While I totally get his request to muslims to stop killing Christians, opening Catholic holy ground to a prayer that blasphemes "Jesus is Lord" is the antithesis of our Feast of Pentecost.

I'm going to break my own cardinal rule and link to this post on patheos, as it gives a whole new meaning to 'standing on my head'.

Fr. Longenecker said:

My post asking whether Muslims and Catholics worship the same God was probably the most mis-understood post I have ever written. I’ve had a good number of comments from people who understood and appreciated it, and a good number of comments from people who did not seem to understand what I was saying at all.

What I said: Christians and Muslims worship the same God because there is only one God. However, the Islamic understanding of the one God is defective.

He then goes on to attempt to explain what he didn't say as he perceived there was a big misunderstanding with his post.

Oh...I think people understood exactly what was said brother. And, what wasn't said.

You said there is a schmogasboard of religions that in reality are all worshiping the Truine God.

According to that logic, the Father sent His Only Son to be executed so that we may draw from His Blood through the Sacraments and be saved for absolutely nothing as everyone worshiping in every religion is worshiping God.

And as far as the index of things Fr. Longenecker says he didnt say, what we all learn with this papacy is, what you don't say is as important as what you do.

Our Pope is making a lot of folks stand on their heads to defend the indefensible.

A word to the wise: the air is thin down there.



6 comments:

Steve Dalton said...

Longenecker and others who are claiming we're all worshipping the one true God, but the understanding of other faiths is "defective" has got to be the most duplicitous statement I've ever heard from a Catholic clergyman. Of course their understanding is "defective'. The "one true God" these other religions worship are demons. (Ps. 95:5) To pray with them as if their gods are the equal to the Triune God is an act of sacrilege. It should be clear to all who refuse to be b.s.'ed that this Pope and his brown nosing supporters are telling us 'to move along, there's nothing to see here'. Even Michael Voris has told us not to publically criticize the Pope, just write him a private letter. Well, how well has that idea worked out? The clergy and laity who are trying to spin this foolishness have got to wake up and realize that souls are being lost inside and outside the church because of this nonsense.

Anonymous said...

FWIW, the idea that Muslims worship a "different God" is mostly of American Protestant derivation. The Catholic tradition, coming from the time of the last of the Church Fathers through the Scholastic era, was largely in the idea that Islam is a *heresy* about the true God, not a belief in a *different God*. Hence why Vatican II acknowledged that Muslims worship the one true God. Muslims, btw, are closer to the Christian understanding of God than, say, Mormons. Muslims are at least monotheists; Mormons arguable are not. How often do we say that Mormons worship a different God?

Netmilsmom said...

This silliness of "the worship the same god" is slander.
It's like photoshopping your husband's head on Obama's body and saying he is President.

The only people who don't see the Photoshop are those who don't want to.

Steve Dalton said...

Anonymous, if you're not worshipping the Holy Trinity, you're worshipping a different god who is a demon.

Dymphna said...

Mormons are not Christians. Since they believe that God was once a man and that we may become gods its safe to say that they dont worship the same Lord we do.

Sheila said...

Mormons don't believe God was once a man; they believe God has been and was always will be a man; they will also become a god.