Pope
Francis has spoken recently about the church's “obsession” with
gays, abortion and birth control.
What
he does not talk about, which is his SIN of OMISSION,
Is the
moral tragedy of the acceptance of the larger culture of these SINS
Against God, His Christ Jesus and His Word.
That
will lead many to a Devil's Hell.
The
first word that Christ Jesus uttered
In His
three and one-half year ministry was REPENT!
Without
REPENTANCE every man stays in his SIN;
The
SIN he was born into and is therefore without hope.
Christ
Jesus said that unless an person is “Born Again” [John
3:7]
Born
of the Spirit of God, they cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Entering
the Kingdom of God is the ultimate challenge of this life;
Eternal
LIFE in Heaven, the ultimate and only meaningful goal.
That
is why God has given us this life;
To
make a decision about where we will spend Eternity.
Christ
Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only LIFE;
No one
goes to the Father in Heaven but through Him. (John 14:6)
Christ
Jesus is the only access to Heaven.
Christ
Jesus calls everyone to a holy life,
Because
without holiness no one will see God. (Hebrews 12:14)
This
holy life that Christ Jesus calls us to can only be lived
By
Christ living in and through us; becoming One with Him;
Having
His heart, His mind and His Spirit;
Being
Water washed, blood washed, filled with the Holy Spirit
And
walking in the Light of Christ. (1 John 2:6)
Unless
we walk in the Light of Christ we remain in our SIN.
Abortion
is murder, and no murderer will go to Heaven.
Homosexuality
is SIN against God as is made clear in His Word;
The
SIN that lead to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Christ
Jesus said:
"The
Spirit gives LIFE; the flesh counts for NOTHING!” (John 6:63)
Pope
Francis is ignoring most of Scripture in his speaking.
His is
a SIN of OMISSION, a SIN that is plaguing
Much
of what is called Christianity, today.
A SIN
that is allowing the larger culture to feel comfortable in their SIN.
This
SIN of OMISSION will lead many to Hell.
Every Christian is to treat his neighbor has himself; the poor must be helped
But the larger issue is the Salvation of the Soul and Eternity.
Christ's Great Commission was that we go into the world
And make disciples of all nations,
Baptizing them in the Name of the Father the son and the Holy Spirit,
And teaching them to obey everything He commanded.
(Matthew 28:18-20)
The
following is an article that was published in the New York Times
About
Pope Francis and these issues:
Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control
Pope
Francis' surprising comments came in a lengthy interview in which he
criticized the church for putting dogma before love, and for
prioritizing moral doctrines over serving the poor and marginalized.
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 19, 2013 , New York Times
Six
months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the
Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks
that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage
and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those
issues despite recriminations from critics.
His
surprising comments came in a lengthy interview in which he
criticized the church for putting dogma before love, and for
prioritizing moral doctrines over serving the poor and marginalized.
He articulated his vision of an inclusive church, a “home for all”
— which is a striking contrast with his predecessor, Pope Benedict
XVI, the doctrinal defender who envisioned a smaller, purer church.
Francis
told the interviewer, a fellow Jesuit: “It is not necessary to talk
about these issues all the time. The dogmatic and moral teachings of
the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry
cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of
doctrines to be imposed insistently.
“We
have to find a new balance,” the pope continued, “otherwise even
the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of
cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”
The
pope’s interview did not change church doctrine or policies, but it
instantly changed its tone. His words evoked gratitude and hope from
many liberal Catholics who had felt left out in the cold during the
papacies of Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, which
together lasted 35 years. Some lapsed Catholics suggested on social
media a return to the church, and leaders of gay rights and gay
Catholic groups called on bishops to abandon their fight against gay
marriage.
But
it left conservative and traditionalist Catholics, and those who have
devoted themselves to the struggles against abortion, gay marriage
and artificial contraception, on the defensive, though some cast it
as nothing new.
“Nobody
should try to use the words of the pope to minimize the urgent need
to preach and teach about abortion,” said the Rev. Frank Pavone,
national director of Priests for Life, who said he spoke Thursday
about the “priority of the abortion issue” at a Vatican
conference.
The
interview with Francis was conducted by the Rev. Antonio Spadaro,
editor in chief of La
Civiltà Cattolica,
an Italian Jesuit journal whose content is approved by the Vatican.
Francis, the first Jesuit to become a pope, agreed to grant the
interview after
requests from Father Spadaro and the editors of America, a Jesuit
magazine based in New York.
Father
Spadaro conducted the interview during three meetings in August in
the pope’s spartan quarters in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guest
house, where Francis said he had chosen to live because it is less
isolated than the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace. “I
cannot live without people,” Francis told Father Spadaro.
The
interview, kept under wraps for weeks by the Jesuits, was released
simultaneously on Thursday morning by 16 Jesuit journals
around the world. Francis personally reviewed the Italian transcript,
and it was translated by a team into English, said the Rev. James
Martin, an editor at large of America.
“We
have a great pope,” said Father Spadaro in a phone interview from
his office, surrounded by Italian journalists. “There is a big
vision, not a big shift. His big vision is to see the church in the
middle of the persons who need to be healed. It is in the middle of
the world.”
The
pope’s words are likely to have repercussions in a church whose
bishops and priests in many countries, including the United States,
have often seemed to make combating abortion, gay marriage and
contraception their top public policy priorities. Francis said that
those teachings have to be presented in a larger context.
“I
see the church as a field hospital after battle,” Francis said. “It
is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high
cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal
his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”
From
the outset of his papacy in March, Francis, who is 76, has chosen to
use the global spotlight to focus on the church’s mandate to serve
the poor and oppressed. He has washed the feet of juvenile prisoners,
visited a center for refugees and hugged disabled pilgrims at his
audiences. His pastoral presence and humble gestures have made him
wildly popular among American Catholics, according to a recent Pew
survey.
But
there has been a low rumble of discontent from some Catholic advocacy
groups, and even from some bishops, who have taken note of his
silence on abortion and gay marriage. This month, Bishop Thomas Tobin
of Providence, R.I., told his diocesan newspaper that he was “a
little bit disappointed in Pope Francis” because he had not spoken
about abortion. “Many people have noticed that,” he said.
The
interview is the first time Francis has explained the reasoning
behind both his actions and omissions. He also expanded on the
comments he made about homosexuality in July, on an airplane
returning to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, where he had celebrated World
Youth Day. In a remark then that produced headlines worldwide, the
new pope said, “Who
am I to judge?”
At the time, some questioned whether he was referring only to gays in
the priesthood, but in this interview he made clear that he had been
speaking of gay men and lesbians in general.
“A
person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of
homosexuality,” he told Father Spadaro. “I replied with another
question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse
the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this
person?’ We must always consider the person.”
The
interview also serves to present the pope as a human being, who loves
Mozart and Dostoyevsky and his grandmother, and whose favorite film
is Fellini’s
“La Strada.”
Francis said
some had assumed he was an “ultraconservative” because of his
reputation when he served as the superior of his Jesuit province in
Argentina. He said that he was made superior at the “crazy” young
age of 36, and that his leadership style was too authoritarian.
“But
I have never been a right-winger,” he said. “It was my
authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.”
Now, Francis
said, he prefers a more consultative leadership style. He has
appointed an advisory group of eight cardinals, a step he said was
recommended by the cardinals at the conclave that elected him. They
were demanding reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, he said, adding
that from the eight, “I want to see that this is a real, not
ceremonial, consultation.”
The pope said
he has found it “amazing” to see complaints about “lack of
orthodoxy” flowing into the Vatican offices in Rome from
conservative Catholics around the world. They ask the Vatican to
investigate or discipline their priests, bishops or nuns. Such
complaints, he said, “are better dealt with locally,” or else the
Vatican offices risk becoming “institutions of censorship.”
Asked what it
means for him to “think with the church,” a phrase used by the
Jesuit founder St. Ignatius, Francis said that it did not mean
“thinking with the hierarchy of the church.”
“This
church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a
small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people,”
he said. “We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a
nest protecting our mediocrity.”
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