Navigating the modern moral landscape is a complicated task. Fiber optics, television, bullet trains and commercialized space flights have brought us spiritual dangers no different in character from ages past but exponentially more voluminous. The incessant onslaught of information has numbed our eyes and dulled our spiritual senses.
At best, the moral lines are blurred. At worst we are witness to, and participants in, a massive, tangled skein of sin; our own threads, contributing to the interwoven jumble, are obscured by the countless other threads, snowballing us into a moral morass. As an immediate result, we now tend to overlook our own sin and make pronouncements about the sins of the world — “social sins,” if you will.
“The Well-Ordered Man Makes the Good Society”
For generations our gaze of contemplation has been shifting from internal concerns of character cultivated by habits of mind to our feelings about things. Instead of discerning the objective facts surrounding events and actions, we base our judgments on the shifting sands of emotion that they call up within us. We’re much less concerned about offending God than we are about hurting the feelings of our neighbors. Surely we ought to love our neighbor too, however, to ignore our duty of fraternal correction out of a desire to appear “nice” or “tolerant” isn’t charitable, but self-serving.
In this age of inversion, we ignore the wisdom of the ancients which tells us that it is the well-ordered man who makes the good society, not the well-ordered society that makes the good man. The result of the shift in focus from personal sins to “social sins” is troubling. There is such a thing as “social sin” but we must rescue the concept from misguided concepts of “social justice” that tend to focus almost exclusively on the material concerns of material poverty and unfair wages. Not that these are not important social concerns; they too are “sins that cry out to heaven”. But Catholic Social Teaching includes several other social sins against life, such as abortion, contraception, same-sex “marriage”, euthanasia and transgender issues.
Pope St. John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliation and Penance (1984), clearly elucidates the nature of sin, both personal and social. He explains, “Sin, in the proper sense, is always a personal act, since it is an act of freedom on the part of an individual person and not properly of a group or community.” An individual may be clearly influenced by many dominant external issues as well as internal weaknesses, such as habits and proclivities. However, “it is a truth of faith, also confirmed by our experience and reason, that the human person is free. This truth cannot be disregarded in order to place the blame for individuals’ sins on external factors such as structures, systems or other people.”
Social Structures and Personal Sin
Today, the manner in which we tend to attribute personal sin to social structures and “social sins” is a denial of our God-given freedom and dignity. St. John Paul concludes, “there is nothing so personal and untransferable in each individual as merit for virtue or responsibility for sin.”
It’s a most intractable misunderstanding of modernity to believe that our socio-economic status is the determining factor in our ability to be moral. Think of the musical My Fair Lady, when the impoverished rapscallion Alfred P. Doolittle proclaims, “I can’t afford morals, guv’ner!” This leads to the false notions that morality is dependent upon our social status, instead of human freedom and dignity, in reference to the objective moral law.
If we reduce morality to a material dialectic, then of course our focus will be on who “has” and who “has not”, and the politics of envy will rule our proclamations on “social sin.” If we completely lack the material means for survival, this would be a mitigating factor in considering the guilt of sinful actions concerning material sustenance, but not a carte blanche. The truth is, social sins don’t lead to personal sins; rather, personal sins lead to social sins.
Complicity in Others’ Sins
We’re never responsible for the sins of another; we are only responsible for our free choices to act against God and nature. However, there are a number of ways we can participate in social sin.
If we choose to stand idly by while those around us sin, we become complicit.
If we participate in other people’s sin in any way, either voluntarily or directly, we become complicit.
If we approve of or praise others’ sins, we become complicit.
If we do not speak out against sins and even go so far as to protect those who sin, we become complicit.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 1869, “sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. ‘Structures of sin’ are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a ‘social sin.’”
Illiberal “Tolerance” and Complicity
The very mechanism that drives our complicity in “social sins” is the distorted notion of “tolerance” which has become the illiberal order of the public square. We’re told we’re not only to be “tolerant” of social sins, but that we must accept and approve of them.
We’re compelled to actively and charitable stand against sins that “cry out to heaven” such as abortion, “gay marriage”, euthanasia, transgender issues, and many other offenses that are becoming normalized in this day and age. If we acquiesce, even by our silence, we’re complicit in the “social sins” of our day.
Our greatest social sin is that of the legal termination of an innocent human life in the womb. Every year in our country alone we sacrifice around one million innocent human lives at the altar of sexual license. The yearly world toll is staggering. This holocaust of the unborn is exacerbated by public endorsement of contraception. Abortion’s step-child and the next step for the advancement of the Culture of Death is the up-and-coming movement towards euthanasia.
Further social sin crying out to heaven is our societal embrace of unnatural sexual relationships. It began with same-sex “marriage”; where it will end is yet to be seen. Now we face an onslaught of issues in which the capriciously subjective “gender” claims preference over the inconveniently objective biological sex. We’re trying to rewrite the book of nature in our own hand; and to the extent that we participate, accept or approve, we are complicit in this “social sin” as well.
Our Call to Witness
We’re in a tough position right now as Catholics. The world claims that “social sin” is the cause of personal sin, and we must assert that it’s just the opposite. The world has inverted the order of morality: sins such as abortion, sodomy, euthanasia, and many other offenses against God and nature are now called “good”; and it’s a “sin”, according to the world, to oppose them.
As Catholics, if we don’t take a stand against these sins, our complicity in the larger social sins which are eclipsing the moral good become personal sins. It takes faith and courage in this day to stand up for the moral truths expressed by Holy Mother Church, but this is our call to witness.
We can speak out against these sins with charity and grace if we take these things to prayer. Let us stand united as the members of the Body of Christ against the real social sins that plague this land, that we might by fraternal correction colonize heaven.
30 thoughts on ““Sin Makes Men Accomplices of One Another””
“Transgender”? A transgendered human is a condition from birth…one’s biological assigned sex is not in congruence with one’s psychology of self. It is an incongruence … a state from birth. Who declared this a “sin” or “social sin”? Are all disabilities “social sins.”?
Perhaps rather than an inordinate and repeated focus on sin, we should focus on Matt 25…the parable of the sheep and goats….that parable defines the real “social sins” of all time, the unchanging sins of all time….this is the year of mercy, so let’s talk about that.
Adam, this is a Catholic site, and the positions of the article are an exposition of Catholic Teaching based on revelation- you have absolutely no authority behind the assertion that “a transgendered human is a condition from birth… one’s biological assigned sex is not in congruence with one’s psychology of self.” It is most assuredly not an “incongruence… a state from birth.” It is not a sin to be deluded about one’s sexual or gender identity- no one said it was- We are not duelists, we do not have the mind body problem DesCartes introduced that you espouse here- we understand that the soul and body are a composite, not compound- there is no chance of this error with God because the body is a manifestation of the soul- the problem is psychological, not any kind of state of birth. We must talk about mercy, but there is no real relationship between the untruth you express is contrary to mercy it is falsehood, so let’s talk about Truth and Charity first and then mercy.
My assertion that transgendered is a function of nature is correct, as you have no data to support your assertion
https://www.quora.com/What-causes-a-person-to-be-transgender
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TScauses.html
And yes this a Catholic site, so what does the Church say definitively about transgendered people? Nothing really
https://catholictrans.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/what-does-the-catholic-church-actually-say-about-transgenderism/
So if the issue is not one of nature…provide evidence that it is purely psychological…you are right, let’s talk about Truth…not your opinion.
Adam, we believe in revealed Truth far above any human interpretation of empirical data- The truth of Genesis outweighs the feelings of people who claim the dualism of body and soul- So by revelation alone “male and female He created them” it is clear that God made man and woman and to say He did it wrong is to say God is less than perfect- now of course, there are defects and defects are not license to “use applied science to conquer nature” as Sir Francis Bacon may have us do to materially change our bodies to match our own subjective idea of what we ought to be in this confused age- Also we have first principles of philosophy from Aristotelian physics, metaphysics, ontology etc…. to deduce quite clearly that body and soul are composite- What you say about this issue is your opinion and it doesn’t square with revealed truth, philosophical truth or common sense- also, the empirical evidence has no solid ground either- The Church speaks very clearly on transgender and it is your choice to deny that or not.
Is this good science Adam?
” From my first hand experience both with myself and with others, most transgender people know they are uncomfortable with their gender from early on. The question tends to be how long does it take for that discomfort to become unbearable or how long can they fool themselves into thinking they are their birth sex. Certainly some people may come to the realization later in life but even then many of them had other gender nonconforming behaviors before that such as occasional cross dressing. The ages for transition can be at any age but the ages for when they knew they felt more like a girl (or boy) tends to average much lower. In many people like myself, as low as early childhood and as young as 6″
This is really the kind of evidence that works for you? Over divine revelation? Solid theoretical speculation adhering to logical consistency? Or just plain spoken common sense?
“current scientific results strongly suggest neurobiological origins for transsexualism: Something appears to happen during the in-utero development of the transsexual child’s central nervous system (CNS) so that the child is left with innate, strongly perceived cross-gender body feelings and self-perceptions. We still don’t know for sure what causes this neurological development, and more research needs to be done. But the neurobiological direction for these explorations seem clear.”
Do you guys really believe this stuff?
Here is what a Faithful Catholic would say about these absurd sites Adam
“In a culture where freedom has been redefined as a right to choose anything and liberty has degenerated into license, the newspeak of the age has declared the instrumental use of the body of another to be sexual freedom. It is not freedom. It turns people into objects of use and degrades the dignity of human sexuality. Sadly, the same spirit of the age fails to recognize the integral unity of the human person, body, soul and spirit, and has turned the human body into a machine with parts which the revolutionaries think can simply be interchanged. Removal of genitals and attachment of artificially constructed ones which are absolutely incapable of ovulation or conception, does not change the structure of reality. The removal constitutes mutilation and the construction of artificial organs with no reproductive function does not alter the gender or sex of the person. Medical science confirms that our identity as male or female affects even our brains. In addition, even the physical appearance must be sustained by massive doses of synthetic hormones.”
Let’s talk about truth, not your opinion.
For a secular psychiatrist view, dare to read what a Dr. with 3 decades of experience has to say about transgender-
“Dr McHugh is a distinguished service professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins and served as their chief psychiatrist for almost three decades. He further opined that those who promote sex change operations are not helping but hurting people with this disorder.
One of the few members of the secular Press with the courage to report on this now politically incorrect topic was Michael W. Chapman. In an article in CNS News entitled Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is ‘Mental Disorder;’ Sex Change ‘Biologically Impossible'”
Read his article here and then assemble your rationalizations for why he is wrong, the Church is wrong, and the philosophers are wrong- but do have the courage to admit that you hold purely subjective opinions about subjective feelings of people have documented as “science” to further an unrealistic agenda of licentiousness- Adam, I think you are in the wrong place.
I value science, longitudinal study, medicine moer than unsubstantiated opinion. Give me some doctrinal reference to support your position, please. Just what Divine Revelation substantiates your position that transsexual individuals are NOT born that way….data. please
Adam, there is objective truth is data, but it is of a kind that supports no ought- the ought requires moral-philosophical positions- unless by data you are referring to philosophical or divinely revealed data, which I assume you are not, because that is not only self-evident, but has already been placed before you by a faithful Deacon and a secular humanist psychiatrist. You hold the position that a transgender is born that way, and you cite longitudinal studies that are laughably incomplete- you willfully assert your own opinion with no real data, just subjective opinion presented as if it were conclusion data from studies- There is no rel debate here it goes against Church teaching to self-mutilate because of the personal claim of feeling like a different sex- there is nothing scientific about it, it is a moral issue- As Catholics we are called to carry the cross, medically attempting to change sex is to throw the cross off, and it is unreal anyway- Bruce Jenner is still a man biologically, scientifically- So, I realize you take your opinion of even Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, so be it, but don’t try to tell anyone here that he is not expressing Catholic teaching- he was the Pope-
“Catholic teachings on transgender issues
Catholics are called to treat all—including all within the LGBT community—with compassion. Yet the Church maintains that people may not change what Pope Benedict XVI has called “their very essence.” In a speech at the Vatican last December, Pope Benedict directly addressed transgender issues by cautioning Catholics about “destroying the very essence of the human creature through manipulating their God-given gender to suit their sexual choices.” Pope Benedict warned that “when freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.””
To attempt to surgically alter one’s sex is to deny God, simply a personal choice concerning sex, and strips a human of his “dignity as a creature of God.” that is Church Teaching and therefore it is impermissible to act on the impulse that one is in the wrong sexed body- This is enough data to explain it to someone who doesn’t know, but not nearly enough to someone who is willfully ignorant- So let this be the end of our discussion unless you have something reasonable to say.
Excellent exposition.
Zollistar, Thanks for the good words! This is a nearly impossible conversation because we don’t share first principles- the foundational problem is one of authority- My words are grounded in the authority of Christ and anything that deviates from the mind of Christ is my error, and there is plenty of that too, but Adam has for his authority, at least as he claims, empirical science. It is more likely self-reference as the confusion is immense- but I do appreciate to nod of encouragement.
So…let’s ask this question,Jonathan: A presumably “normal” 6-year old girl walks up to her mother one day and out of the blue announces:”Mama, I want to be a boy”… (A scenario that has actually happened numerous times,and vice versa.)—you would say or do what? Despite the parents'(or parent,singular)best efforts to convince this little girl otherwise,she persists in wishing that she was a “he”…you would do what,exactly? Again,remember that this is a real-world scenario that has,and is,playing out in homes all over the world,primarily in Western nations.In fact,as you well know,many of these children do indeed opt for the various surgeries as soon as they are legally and financially able. NO attempts at persuasion has,or can,convince them that they are wrong,from childhood on…So,again,Mr.Jonathan: What’s a parent to do? Because YOU KNOW IT HAPPENS.And,as a believing Catholic,I will assume that you hold to the doctrines of The Fall of Man,and Original Sin,and if you do hold to these realities,how is it that you are lacking in understanding the devastating effects of said Fall; that various ailments,defects,and anomalies have,and will plague humanity until Christ’s Return…”makes all things new”…I mean,seriously,Mr.Jonathan…Who DOESN’T know that? Our children come into the world in some cases bringing cancers WITH them; you don’t expect some to enter the world feeling that they are,as the saying goes…”boys trapped in girls bodies”…and vice versa and will say so,even at 6-years old?? If you actually believe otherwise,you’re either bad at your job,or incredibly naive,sir.WAKE UP!!
Mr. Ringo, I am not sure what you are getting at here. You mention that I “know what happens” and I am not sure exactly what you are alluding to- but let’s slow this down a little bit- you seem to be comfortable with mixing apples oranges and zebras- a person saying “I want to be a girl” and having a disease are two distinct and qualitatively different things- If you can’t appreciate the distinction then we have no conversation here- but to give you the end run- to be sick has nothing to do with the human will or with human choice concerning action other than the human response to disease and of course that is to cure the disease- if you are saying that a 6 year old feeling “gender confusion” is a disease and you believe we ought to cure it that is one thing- but I am afraid you have only conflated the two with muddled results.
So to confront someone with this kind of confusion the choice is to act or not to act, this is not a question of being but a question of doing- if one believes he is a lizard, does that mean he should get surgeries when he is able? If one is attracted to children does that mean he should act on it? If one has a proclivity towards alcoholism does that mean he should drink?
If one has a six year old who is as you describe, there are many things to do- encouraging surgery, hormones and cross dressing are not on the list of appropriate things to do, and Mr. Ringo, we are talking here about doing things, not about being- it is a gross misunderstanding of the Christian anthropology and the nature of the Fall to suggest that anyone go under the knife in response to psychological difficulty- or sinful inclinations- We are Catholic here and of course we are to act compassionately, but we are not to allow ourselves to be complicit in sin- so honesty is the best policy and the end of all this is charity, not persuasion-
If you would like to settle down and have a conversation grounded in reason, then begin with a single point you would like cleared up and we can begin as men would, by the right use of reason unmarred by emotion and hyperbole- please try again.
Hmm…It would appear that you are one of those people who have the unfortunate tendency to talk past others,or worse,fixate on the voice(s) in your own head,Mr.Jonathan. (1),I don’t think that I made any mention of…”encouraging surgery,hormones,and cross dressing”…it’s doubtful that that would be the parents first thoughts if the aforementioned 6-year girl came to them announcing she wants to be a boy,so don’t put words in my mouth,sir. (Read my post again,if it’ll help.)—(2), I did not confuse so-called ” gender confusion”with diseases like childhood cancers,cystic fibrosis,or any number of conditions children are sometimes born with; what I said was that all of these issues and disorders are the results of The Fall/Original Sin.That IS part of Christian/Catholic teachings,isn’t it? And again,my question was as the child in my”want to be a/thinkt
Perhaps I am one of those people who has the unfortunate tendency to not understand what others are saying when they respond to my comments- I did preface my comments by stating that I am not sure what you are saying, and I will repeat myself here- I have no idea what you conclusion is Mr. Ringo- you have given me advice to “wake up!” and have made no small amount of insults and yet I am still not sure what you are saying- but still I will try to have a conversation with you-
Yes, confusion is a result of original sin- darkened intellect and all that follows. So
what are you saying by
“And again,my question was as the child in my”want to be a/thinkt”
This really makes no sense to me- why don’t you give the answer if you know it- what do you tell or do with the 6 year old that says they want to be a different sex. The Catholic truth is clear on all this.
I did reread your post and I still have no idea what you are getting at, are you sure you have clearly expressed yourself? Perhaps the voices in my head are distracting me from the clarity of your words-
Well…as I stated,I’m done with this issue,Mr.Jonathan.I apologize if I came across as insulting; I confess that I have little patience with someone whom I feel is being deliberately obtuse.The scenarios I presented to you happen on a regular basis,as I said; a few months ago a child made front-page news in my hometown for making just such an announcement to her parents: she felt that she was a boy trapped in a girl’s body.I didn’t really keep up with the story,but the fact is,again,all over the United States and the world children are trying to screw up their courage to tell their parents the same thing.Now,call it the effects of the Fall of Man,the vagaries of evolution,whichever you want to believe,physical defects and psychological aberrations are the commonplace results for humans everywhere(That’s why medicine exists,no?), and trying to claim that all can be remedied by”Church teachings” is either naive or just plain idiocy.As a 39-years+ child / servant of Almighty God, I have NEVER doubted His ability to both heal AND deliver,but I also believe that He does so in HIS time,and the words of mere men,no matter how exalted in the eyes of other men,cannot effect the deliverance from our maladies that ONLY GOD CAN…at any rate,believe what you will, Mr.Jonathan.I stand by everything I said,and you stay Blessed,sir.PEACE!
Mr. Ringo
you said
“physical defects and psychological aberrations are the commonplace results for humans everywhere(That’s why medicine exists,no?), and trying to claim that all can be remedied by”Church teachings” is either naive or just plain idiocy.”
pretty open ended here.
I don’t stand by what I say, I stand by everything Christ says- and whatever I say that deviates from Him is my error.
Please do go in peace proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Mr. Ringo.
Adam, you probably don’t have it in you to read and understand this, but the US Bishops clearly explain the Church’s teaching on gender theory- it is better than any longitudinal study or pseudo-scientific rationalization you are able to produce. The secular world disagrees with the Church that is a given, but one cannot call themselves “Catholic” and disagree with the Church, so these truths appear to be binding only to faithful Catholics, but they are actually binding on all human persons regardless of affiliation, because they are true. If you are honest you will have to agree or at least admit that you disagree with the Church.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/us-bishops-issue-new-document-decrying-liberal-gender-theory
I forgive the snippy, condescending comment and I did read your citation which is irrelevant and not based upon medicine nor doctrine. As I stated, transgender means that at birth a person is assigned a biological sex, yet as the person develops his “self” is not congruent with his biological assignment. PERIOD! It has nothing to do with the vague concept of gender theory, it has to do with dissonance and this people who are dissonant are our brothers and sisters.
I do disagree with the church because this opinion of gender identity is not rooted in infallible doctrine, as were the Church’s errors on refusing to acknowledge a heliocentric solar system. evolution of man, multigenesis, etc. When Church opinion is contracted by verifiable science, reason dictates that we side with science of man/woman. Transgender people exist, transgender people can not be cured, transgendered people must be loved and respected…that are as made by God and that is not sin. The UCCB also spent years denying the clergy abuse crisis…who do you believe? I respect dialogue, not when people turn to meanness and rudeness.
Thank you Aquinas for forgiving me! I too respect dialogue- but I don’t consider that that is what is going on here. You do say some things that are surely true- but otherwise you have things out of order- First off, if one perceives himself as “transgender” there is no sin in that, but if he acts on it, there is sin in that- and it leads to social sin of others promote and support acting on this very troubling inclination. We are certainly to love our brothers and sisters no matter how confused they are about sex and gender.
Here is where you go off the rails- clearly you don’t understand the Galileo affair- I don’t have time to explain it to you, but it is not the Church being wrong about the helio-centric solar system- also, the Church is not wrong on evolution- And it is very clear what the Church teaches on sex and gender. And of course gender theory is an integral part of understanding the transgender ordeal- how absurd to say it is not. Clearly you confuse confused men in the Church for Holy Mother Church Herself- there is not a single doctrine or dogma that has changed since the inception of the Church- There will never be a day when the Church will embrace disorder that goes against nature and against divine law.
“there is not a single doctrine or dogma that has changed since the inception of the Church” well, how about the Catholic Doctrine of Discovery; how about the absolutist “outside the Church, there is no salvation.” And the Church disavowed evolution of the species for many years….things change when faith-reason conflicts with science or human dignity….blessings to you!
Adam, your misunderstandings of the things you mention doesn’t speak to anything about the Church or changes, so those are not rebuttals. And by the way, there is no salvation outside the Church- that was is and always will be true- but it is your understanding of the Church that needs remediation to learn that that is always true.
You make so little rational sense that it is appalling. Understanding Christ is important and it is important to put Christ back into Catholicism.
You really believe that Christ would say that the “uncontacted” peoples of the jungles, the stillborm, the totally disabled, the believers of other religions…are not in line for salvation if they are not baptized members of the Church…God, Christ and the Hold Spirit are greater than your very limited vision and understanding of nostalgic Catholicism. Salvation is for good people, in and out of the Church. Of course you never addressed the Catholic Doctrine of Discovery, multigenesis, etc….I would suggest a period of spiritual reflection and a meditation in union with the Source (God). He is not as limited as your understanding portrays.
Adam, Honestly, your comments are silly because obviously you have no idea what I am saying- There is no Salvation outside the Church- Jesus Christ Himself said it “the only way to the Father is through me.” His Body, those “called out” the ecclesia is the Church, the Body of Christ, not “official” members of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, which is the surest way to become an authentic member of the Body of Christ, but the Body of Christ de facto- St. Augustine said “there are many in the Church whom God does not hold and many out of the Church whom God does hold.” And if you read C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, there is a beautiful scene of a Calorman who had been worshiping Tash, the wrong god and when he met Alsan, Aslan explained “every time you did something good, even if it was in the name of Tash you did it for me, and if one does something evil in my name he did it for Tash.” You said if yourself but your words deny it, but there is more in the world and heavens that is in your mind Adam, and your material reductions make your points absurdly narrow- what do we know about God’s relationship with “”uncontacted” peoples of the jungles, the stillborm, the totally disabled, the believers of other religions…” That is a matter that lies outside not only of our judgement, but of our understanding- it is reasonable and grounded in Faith to trust that God has a plan that we have not yet thought of. It is certain that I need many times of spiritual reflection so I thank you the suggestion, but everything else you seem to get woefully wrong, and ironically it is because what you express is not in accord with right reason and revealed truth, but an expression of your interpretation of the data you perceive from your five senses.
Let me conclude this conversation with a simple reference since you address so few of the issues I raise. There is only one path to eternal salvation, as Jesus said and it is contained purely in the parable of the goats and sheep in Matthew 25. That is is the only path….Christ never focused on a catalog of sins which appears to be a preoccupation of yours…he focused on his clear message in Matthew 25:
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Christ did not catalog sins and human frailty as keys to the kingdom…he spoke of actions we do to Him. No, I am not confused, I just read the Bible and study the words of Christ Himself…that is all that is required.
What happened to science here Adam?
“I just read the Bible and study the words of Christ Himself…that is all that is required.”
I would agree partially with your conclusion, but that is hardly what you have said in your other posts- if you are Catholic then you are not at liberty to draw your own conclusions about the meaning of Christ’s words but to be obedient to the Magisterium and cooperate with the gift of Understanding freely given by the Holy Spirit to those who submit their wills to the will of the Father. No Bible quotes you mention would include supporting false notions of transgenderism, but your duty to those children is to tell them the truth in charity.
But by all means Adam, have this be your conclusion and the end of our discussion, for if one thing is clear, we seem not to speak the same language.
Sin is what separates us from God. Jesus said…..Neither do I condemn you (compassion); go, and do not sin again (conversion)
Compassion for this life, conversion for the next. Both are pastoral and done out of love but many in the Church today don’t want to talk about that second part. We hear so much about how we need to ‘meet people where they are’ or ‘walk with them’. Well Jesus didn’t walk very far with the adulteress woman before He told her not to sin again. Because sin is deadly.
One of the key missions given to the Catholic Church by Christ is the salvation of souls. The identification and condemnation of sin is necessary in carrying out that mission. To avoid talking about sin, satan and hell in order to be a more ‘welcoming’ Church is ‘falling down on the job’.
Another problem, especially with liberal ‘catholics’, is equating or even placing more importance on one’s political ideology than on the teachings of Jesus and His Church, the Catholic Church. Take for instance ‘gun control’. Gun control is just politics. The teaching of Jesus is ‘thou shall not murder’ The gun is a tool that can be used for evil purposes just as the scalpel and forceps are tools that can be used for evil purposes. What needs to be addressed is the why, and not the how of evil actions. One of the biggest whys being that if we are not respectful of life at it’s conception than we should not be surprised when there is no concern for life at other stages whether it’s a gun, redefining marriage or pulling a plug.
No, we can not give up in speaking the truth. WE are not called to convert the hearts of others. Conversion is God’s work. We ARE called to speak the truth and in doing so, we plant seeds. At the very least, the people we speak to have heard or read the truth. It’s there in their brains and we leave God to do what He wills with that.
Among those of us who do do this, the pit we tend to fall into (myself included) is that of anger and dislike. It’s easy to start disliking that pro-abort person and it gets reflected in how we talk or post. I have found the things that help curb this is: prayer, confession and the Eucharist.
Other helps: you don’t have to answer every question or point someone directs to you; Internet time is forever, so you don’t have to answer immediately… you can take your time, research and give a good answer when ready; recognize that those who promote evil are very good at pushing your emotional buttons… they don’t have facts and logic to back them up so they try to distract by getting you into an emotional exchange. Reading up on common logical fallacies can help you spot this tactic in its various forms thus neutralizing it’s effect.
I think fraternal correction is a lost cause. All karma has a way of teaching the individual, then society
and finally the world what works and what does not. No one had to tell Cain what he did was wrong as
God indicated He would handle that taking of life. The CC teaches her truths but in the end everyone
takes this advice and does what they please. Produce good fruit, that’s what each of us is called to do.
Hi James, Happy New Year to you! Let me give you a little fraternal correction right here, it is a spiritual work of mercy to give charitable fraternal correction, it is not for us to say whether or not it is a lost cause, we are called to it regardless of the effects- so I correct you here and whether or not you accept it has nothing to do with my duty to clarify this truth to you. Surely you will reject my fraternal correction as you have every other attempt I have made, but that is not my concern, it is still my duty to try because my prayer is for you as it is for myself, that we get to Heaven. Fraternal correction on deaf ears and hard hearts is still our duty.
Happy New Year to you too ! I believe the CC speaks for all Catholics when it uses fraternal correction to the world. Eastern deism fraternally corrects ( as is their duty ) you too by giving the world a better understanding of … purgatory, but you don’t buy
it because your ears are as deaf and your heart is as hard as mine relatively speaking. Plus one and minus one equals 0.