Anti-skid braking
You can look at the introduction any number of automotive safety features and not find a commensurate reduction in deaths.
ABS was hailed as a HUGE improvement. The number of accidents didn't change.
The current, best-thinking is that drivers (in aggregate) have an innate tolerance for risk and adjust their driving habits to maximize other benefits (like spending less time on the road) and still stay within their risk-tolerance. In other words, they took more operator risks because they were confident that ABS would pull their bacon out of the fire.
Four Wheel Drive
Tow-truck operators joke that 4WD vehicles get stuck just as often as 2WD vehicles. The difference is that 2WD vehicles get stuck in the driveway or, at worst, beside the road and it is only an $85 bill to get unstuck.
4WD vehicles get stuck on mountain tops and in the middle of swamps and the bill runs north of $500.
Progressive, Pro-abortion Catholics and Communion
Catholics have an intimate relationship with the sacrament of Communion that seems weird to most non-Catholics.
It is a crude analogy, but let's say it is the Salvation equivalent of ABS, Air bags and 4WD combined.
My personal take on Progressive Catholic's coughing up a hairball upon being denied Communion if they are publicly "pro-abortion" is the same as the next-of-kin of a Lambo or Maserati owner having a hissy-fit because the safety features didn't save them when they went off an icy road while driving 125 MPH.
Communion is not a "Get out of Jail" free card. Among other things, it is a tangible sign that the person receiving it chooses to be a member of the Catholic-Christian family and accepts the duties, responsibilities and privileges therein.
As the member of a family, you cannot cherry-pick. You are in or you are out.
Catholic here, I like your analysis. We also belive that receiving Holy Communion while embracing major sin, like support for abortion, is a sure ticket to hell (unless sincerely repented and confessed). Thus, barring public sinners is a way of saying "please do not additionally damn yourself."
ReplyDeleteXiden, Pelosi, et al are 'good' catholics on Sunday, back to business as usual Monday-Saturday.
ReplyDeleteSomeone on the Interweb has countered that scores of pedophile priests have been allowed to continue receiving communion, which only introduces more unfortunate parallels to Crazy Uncle Joe while also dialing the cognitive dissonance factors. We'll only keep hearing about this issue while the negotiation is continuing. Once the price is agreed, the fix will be in and the problem will go away after we see a picture of Joe getting fed at the altar.
ReplyDeleteFirst there's the Gate issue. Matthew 7:13,14. NIV
ReplyDeleteThe Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Then there's the Fruit issue. Luke 6:43-45. NIV
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Or as He says in Matthew, "You'll know them by their fruit."
Happy Gardening.
Joe, please correct me if I am wrong, but the Priest that offers communion to one known to have mortally sinned, is HIMSELF responsible NOT TO GIVE communion to that person, or be damned eternally.
ReplyDeleteThatsa lotsa responsibility. Binary decision. Heaven or Hell. For two.
Catholic priests are responsible for trying to lead their flock, through the narrow gate, ultimately to Heaven. Here is one priest that fully accepts that responsibility:
https://www.lifenews.com/2020/09/01/catholic-priest-you-cannot-be-catholic-and-be-a-democrat-because-democrats-are-pro-abortion/
I would encourage all to watch the 9 minute embedded video of Father Altman giving a homily where he lays it all on the line.
He is a man in every sense of the word. One I would follow into battle. And democrats, y'all ought to pay attention to what Father Altman has to say. He may just help to save your soul.
2WD to get you INTO trouble(stuck)..
ReplyDelete4WD to get yourself out of trouble.
"Chooses to be a member"? I believe I am more interested in being an adoptee in a household where the Patriarch chose me.
ReplyDeleteHe did choose you (first) but you have to reciprocate. Salvation is a two way street in that sense. You have responsibilities.
Delete'Have' to reciprocate? I thought unconditional love does not require reciprocation. When I comprehend the value of the the gift I have received, I will eagerly seek to obey Christ's commands, but that obedience will not save me.
DeleteWell, good luck with that then.
Deletewant to, vs. have to...very easy to see the difference.
DeleteCKG, perhaps you conflate love of the Father (unconditional love) with salvation.
DeleteYou do not 'have to' but look at it the other way; the opposite of obedience is disobedience. Disobedience is sin. The wages of sin is death. Even one sin, unrepented, is sufficient to condemn to death.
As for seeking God, wanting to be obedient to Him, I have found as I get deeper into His word, the more I am stirred to seek Him, center my life on Him. My use of 'deeper' does not necessarily mean profound theological study, although that will come. I mean the physical act of reading, therefore, contemplating the word. God's word leaps off the page and comes alive.
Rick, I agree completely with your third paragraph, and that is why I can see that your second paragraph is absolutely true. Therefore, when I read Matthew 1:21 and see "you shall call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins," I understand that to mean that His shed blood on that Roman cross paid for every single sin of every single one of "His people." Our task is to search the Scriptures to determine if we are one of His people, and then respond appropriately with wonder, love, and praise.
Delete