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| Rebellious Sinners Claiming:
Modern, Progressive, Inclusive, Personal Choice, or Legal Right. |
| Contraception a Culture of Death. Feigned Ignorance. |
| False Identity vs Everlasting Identity. |
| Lessons from the Trial of Albert Speer. Feigned Ignorance. |
| Protestant Reformers of the 16th Century. |
|Playing with Fire. |
| Natural Law. |
| Sin has a Double Consequence. |
God's Art Work.
175.jpg photographs.
History: Salvation History | Canon | Scripture | Covenant
In Brief on Consequences on Interpreting the Bible and the Authority Having Jurisdiction.
The Authority Having Jurisdiction.
By Frederick Peter Pogorzelski, Licensed General Journeyman Electrician and Catholic Catechist.
( A Brief Analogy on Authority Interpreting the Bible and Authority Interpreting the National Electrical Code and Consequences. )
The Magisterium:
"This teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it..."
The process of recognizing the written word of God involved a human process of discernment by the Magisterium ( teaching authority ) of the Catholic Church over many centuries of time. Quoting from one of the 16 documents of Vatican 11, Dei Verbum* ( Word of God ) "...but the task of authentically interpreting the Word of God, whether written or handed down, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on... with the help of the Holy Spirit; it draws from this one deposit of faith everything it presents for belief as divinely revealed."
Risking Your Salvation in The Avalanche of Protestant "truths"
Playing with Fire.
Like the Holy Bible, the National Electrical Code ( NEC )** is not a self-interpreting book. It is the "authority having jurisdiction" that shall be permitted to render interpretations of this code. This "authority having jurisdiction" is defined in the NEC. If every person or each individual electrician was an authority unto himself, interpreting the NEC, we would have chaos in the electrical industry, and in the country. It would be like "playing with fire." The Bible also needs an "authority having jurisdiction" to interpret it. And it has one – the Catholic Church. Unlike the Catholic Church, Protestant Churches do not have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, ( authority ) to keep them from falling into error as a body, in matters of faith and morals. Therefore, we have well over 20,000 Protestant denominations with a wide variety of doctrines, each claiming to be correct ( or more correct ) than the other on interpreting the Bible. For example, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other early Protestant reformers condemned contraception. In 1930, at the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Bishops of the Church of England decided to no longer consider contraception sinful, leaving the matter up to individual consciences. This has lead to confusion and division, and again, this is like "playing with fire." Soon thereafter, most Protestant denominations followed the Anglican Bishops and allowed contraception. The Protestant reformation ( deformation ) was a turning away from the unity and fullness of the truth in the One True Catholic Church. It was a turn towards chaos, cascading divisions, a shorter Bible, and an avalanche of lesser "truths" in many Protestant churches. Just recently ( Nov. 2003 ), a major Protestant church ordained an openly homosexual bishop. This may result in yet another cascading division, another "truth". Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. "...I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me..." ( John 14:6 ). When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life..." ( John 8:12 ). Once known, rejecting Catholic Church authority and also the "truth" and "the light of life" has grave consequences for any individual or society. We now have a culture of death, lack of harmony and beauty, and growing moral chaos and moral backsliding ( contraception, abortion ) in the United States. Truth then is a matter of life and death; choose life. "...For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it..." ( Wisdom 2:23-24 ).
Consequences of 16th Century Protestantism
and Individual Authority:
An Avalanche of Confusion, Disorder, and Legions of "truths."It is readily acknowledged that in the 16th century, individual persons within the Catholic Church needed to reform themselves on matters concerning their own personal morals. ( Of course, to varying degrees, this will always be true in every century. ) However, as a universal body in matters of truth in faith and morals, the Catholic Church has the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church, to keep it from falling into error. Truth is immutable - does not change "our understanding of truth changes. "...Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings..." ( Hebrews 13:8-9 ). What the Protestant reformers ( deformers ) did was to promote individual interpretation and understanding of the Truth as revealed in the Holy Bible without having the guarantee of the Holy Spirit of God to keep them ( as individuals and church communions ) from falling into error. It was not a Holy Spirit that guided Protestantism on this historical and spiritual "Wrong Way" turn into cascading divisions, lack of harmony and beauty, protracted dissension, and Legions of "truths." There is an echo here of the fall of man in Genesis 3:4-6 "...You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it..." This is the primordial lie, the quintessential lie. You in your pride and envy, and on your own subjective authority decide - what is truth? The lie in effect is still the same as in Genesis 3, "...you will be like God..." In part then, the fall of man in Genesis 3 is about the idea of "sacred space". Some areas are proper to man and some areas are proper to God. Man, for example, cooperates with God in procreating new life, but man is not the arbitrator of life. Couples should be open to the possibility of new life within marriage. In part, the fall of man in Genesis 3 is about disobedience; a violation of "sacred space." The individual sin and corruption within the Catholic Church that initiated Protestantism occurred centuries ago and this corruption and sins ( real or imagined ) has in large measure been corrected. Again though, church doctrine ( Catholic Church Truth ) is immutable. Again, readily acknowledging that in every century there will always be individual sin and scandal within the Church – Why continue with this very, very long protracted protest now, by not forgiving the sins of other persons who lived and died centuries ago? Why "play with fire" by continuing to protest and by risking your own individual salvation now? The protracted Protestant Church protest of someone else’s sin( s ) of long ago will not be an acceptable excuse for you as an individual before God, on your own individual judgment day, for you to practice contraception, abortion, or some other sinful lifestyle now. Also, deliberately "choosing not to know" the truth ( 1 Timothy 3:15 ) for some selfish matter of convenience of lifestyle will not be an acceptable excuse for you when you stand before God on your own individual judgment day. The Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ ( Apocalypse 19, 20, 21 ), ( Ephesians 5 ), and you as an individual, will have to stand before her Bridegroom ( Christ ) and explain why you rejected/protested His Bride. You will have to explain to the Bridegroom why The Bride ( The Church ), although good enough for Him, is not good enough for you. Are you "playing with fire", risking your salvation, by rejecting Catholic Church authority? Are you proud, using terms like faith alone, personal choice, progressive, and modern? Are your protracted protestations and prideful words all just a masquerade for your own convenient lifestyle; a sinful lifestyle which is not pleasing to God?
We echo the prayer of Jesus Christ.
Christ prayed "...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us..." ( John 17:21-26 ). Come home and find your family in the Church, which has the fullness of divine revelation, and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit to keep it from falling into error as a universal body on matters of faith and morals. Come home to the Church founded by Jesus Christ; we echo His prayer. We pray that our Protestant brothers and sisters will be one family with us in the Church which is the universal family of God. We pray that our Protestant brothers and sisters will receive the grace available from the seven sacraments, the communion of saints, and have full integration into the universal family of God.
Footnotes:
* The Sixteen Documents of Vatican II, By Pauline Books and Media, Boston, Massachusetts
** National Fire Protection Association, ( NFPA 70 ); National Electrical Code 2002 Edition, Articles 80, 90, 100, Pages 70-23 through 70-33, One Batterymarch Park, Quincy, Massachusetts 02269