CBS News, with Charlie Rose, was all excited this morning!! The lead story was the Pope's comments about gays, abortion and contraception.
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.
“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.”
“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.”
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.
“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.”
Yea!! The Pope is wildly popular among American Catholics!!!
Listen friends, I agree that the liberal media and the homo lobby has gotten followers of Christ to spend an ENORMOUS amount of time on this particular sin.....but how can we not when the gay agenda is literally in the headline news every single day, when gay marriage is in the news every single day and every new TV show has gay characters being shoved down our throats??
So what are we to do??
Let's be VERY clear.....it is not attractive for a morbidly obese follower of Christ to point fingers at gay people and say, "YOU ARE A SINNER!!" Jesus was very clear when he told us to remove the plank from our own eye so that we can see clearly to remove the splinter from our brother's eye. The sin of gluttony, which haunts morbidly obese people, is mentioned as something that God does not approve of. He also does not approve of adultery, gossiping, selfishness, fornication, pride, etc... etc...
But on the flip side, if the only person would could talk about sin has to be a sinless person....then no one (save Christ) could ever say anything to anyone!! What would that look like? Well, the married man could be screwing his secretary and still serve as Elder! The man taking his brothers to court to sue them could also sing in the church choir and serve communion! The drunkard could be a confirmation teacher! The man stoned on pain killers could preach from the pulpit! And of course that would damage the church and make her a laughing stock in front of the entire community...to which Apostle Paul would say, "No!!"
So let's get back to the Pope....could his words be another step towards the ONE WORLD RELIGION that the Bible speaks of in the Last Days? Is he just one more man who is telling people "what their itchy ears want to hear", that sin really doesn't exist because whatever we want to do, Christ will still love us and there will be no penalty for sin??
If Christians stop speaking out about the travesty of abortion and quit speaking out about gay marriage, polygamy and eventually bestiality....WHO WILL SPEAK UP?? The pagans?? The atheists??? The agnostics???
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Yes, of course we all want to be told that hell doesn't exist and "if it feels good then do it!"...and that divorce really won't bother your kids, and that "fat is beautiful", and that the definition of perversion "depends of societal norms", etc....
And now if we can get the Pope to come out and say he is going to quit speaking of sin and simply focus on helping the poor....that certainly seems to play right into the hand of the Antichrist.
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