We all long to find our own utopia our own spiritual Shangri La, where the world can fit into what suits us rather than change who we are to a higher calling. In our efforts to find this societal utopia we have transformed the society we live in to resemble the 'collective man' where man is no longer allowed to think for himself but instead must obey the latest laws and trends so as not to cause offense to whom?
In our lawmakers efforts not to cause offense to anyone, have they not instead made themselves emperors with no clothes? As many buy into this political correctness, where the truth can no longer be spoken but a nice lie is acceptable rather than have the truth cause offense, once again to whom?
The very people who embrace this philosophy of anything goes so long as it feels good negate this very idea when anyone challenges this theory. If a group of people do not agree with this 'feel good' philosophy they are immediately attacked as either racist, a basher or intellectually backward, what happened to 'free thinking'? Is this form of intellectual dictatorship only correct so long as the majority fall into line to follow the minority? Have these very 'enlightened people who embrace this agenda not contradicted themselves when they attack others who may disagree with them, if so what happened to free thought?
When a society decides to have as it's foundation the moral of the 'if it feels good then do it' should we then be shocked when children give birth to children? When children murder their parents rather than follow their parents discipline? Where mothers can lawfully murder their own unborn babies, at taxpayers expense! Where same sex marriages are being rushed into law while many universities and organizations promote casual sex rather than embrace the dinosaur idea of living a chaste life followed by a monogamous marriage. All of these mixed messages are subtly fed to the masses via the cinema, TV, internet and music, which no longer simply entertains us but rather promotes their own agenda's as they seek to distort the truth with their own warped version of what they think others should believe.
Though these organizations may try and distort the truth for their own nefarious reasons this very reason becomes unstuck when one disagrees with their agenda, for if one is for freedom of thought, does this only apply when one agrees with the liberal trend? If freedom of thought is to be truly embraced should not everyone's different ideas be respected rather than have a minority dictate to the majority what they think is right and moral? As G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice." Have we reached a time where wrong is now right and right is now wrong?
Yet in all this free thinking one aspect is left out, who is the guiding principle behind this subtle attack on all that we hold to be decent and true, to quote Pope Benedict XVI, "Whatever the less discerning theologians may say, the devil, as far as Christian belief is concerned, is a puzzling but real, personal and not merely symbolical presence." As we touch upon the Demonic Principality what do these liberal thinkers actually think of the Devil, or have they spent so much time in the realm of darkness that their vision between good and evil no longer exists?
When we ignore the Devils very existence, how then are we to judge what is good and what is evil? Do we leave it to Hollywood to dictate what our moral compass should be? Do we leave it with our Judiciary who wish to protect child predators from the full force of the law in an attempt without foundation to 'heal' them of their 'illness'? These very same Judiciary bodies who believe it is a woman's right to murder the unborn and where some Judges decide to go against the law of the State and allow their office to administer same sex marriages? Who has the right to dictate what is good and evil? It is a dangerous thing to place the power of good and evil unto man for if this were the case was Adolf Hitler perfectly in his rights to commit genocide against those he deemed unfit to live? The same holds true for Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and other evil regimes, for as Edmund Burke once said, "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." More tellingly the famous Albert Einstein himself said, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
The thought that man can rationalise and determine what is good and evil is not new, the Catholic Church has fought against this very rationalism for centuries. As that wonderful Saint of the Church, Pope Pius X wrote, "With truly lamentable results, our age, casting aside all restraint in its search for the ultimate causes of things, frequently pursues novelties so ardently that it rejects the legacy of the human race. Thus it falls into very serious errors, which are even more serious when they concern sacred authority, the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and the principal mysteries of Faith. The fact that many Catholic writers also go beyond the limits determined by the Fathers and the Church herself is extremely regrettable. In the name of higher knowledge and historical research (they say), they are looking for that progress of dogmas which is, in reality, nothing but the corruption of dogmas." Also Pope Benedict XVI continues in the same vein when he said, "The more one understands the holiness of God, the more one understands the opposite of what is holy, namely, the deceptive masks of the devil." It is when we ignore that evil has a source that we also deny the source of all goodness and purity! Once again Saint Pius X warns us, "Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: "There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man."
Two of the men who stood against the Church in the name of 'liberation' were Voltaire and Rosseau. Voltaire himself who seemed to have such affinity with the poor yet he failed to give them all his wealth and live amongst them, is it not more the case that he used the poor to further his own hatred of the Church by blaming the Church for every misfortune. This man who called for 'religious tolerance' yet did all he could to bring down the Catholic Church, surely that is a contradiction in terms? Religious tolerance except for the Catholic Church and those who remained devout Catholics? Yet this is exactly what Voltaire espoused, which shows that though one may be gifted intellectually that does not equate to wisdom. Another 'enlightened' figure is that of Rosseau who with the same zeal as shown by Voltaire spoke virulently against the Catholic Church, while he embraced the Protestant Church, though he had numerous children out of wedlock and various mistresses, this did not strike Rosseau as the very thing he accused the Catholic Church, hypocritical? Once again the gift of expressing one's thought need not imply that the person is at all wise, as is shown by the two individuals above!
In the world we live in now, evil has another name and that name is toleration. We are called not only to 'tolerate' evil but indeed we are being dictated to accept sin as good and wholesome. As we have seen the modernistic trend being expressed today is not new to the world they have been around since the garden of Eden when the devil enticed Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and she too would be like god, unfortunately Eve believed him! Though many may like to live in a world where the devil is no longer acknowledged that does not mean that he does not exist, as the late Pope John Paul II wrote, "The devil, the 'prince of this world', even today continues his deceitful action. Every man, over and above his own concupiscence and the bad example of others, is also tempted by the devil, and the more so when he is least aware of it." Do we relegate these wise words from some of our great Saints and Popes as mere illusionary imaginings in favour of what?
Do we throw out the Teachings of the Catholic Church as a mere fairytale, for as the Catechism instructs the faithful, 'In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. the devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.' To the Catholic Church Satan is a being, the Church does not treat the devil as the imaginings of an over wrought imagination as many liberal thinkers would like to convey to the less discerning!
We are not called to follow the world or the worldly or to accommodate sin in order for others to be more comfortable as they embrace a sinful lifestyle, neither are we to judge those who fall into sin for we are all sinners. What we are called to do is correct those in error in a spirit of loving compassion, as Scripture teaches us, 'I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.' When we fail to correct those in error we have not only failed ourselves and God but most importantly we have failed the one in error who will continue to sin because some failed to love enough to correct those engaged in sinful behaviour.
Those who do not heed the Church and its Teachings are little more than Esau's who throw away their inheritance in order to gain what? The worlds acclaim? Is the price not only worth your soul but the soul of others who are guided by your words?
If we place our moral compass into the hands of the Esau's what price then Salvation...to paraphrase when the Son of Man returns will He find any Faith on earth?
Peace of Christ to ALL
Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.
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