"Who am I to judge?"
-- Pope Francis, July 2013
Some thoughts on Pope Francis
It’s another week and thus another interview with Pope Francis. This one, I’m sorry to say, is more than just confusing. It’s a theological wreck.
In an interview with La Repubblica, in response to a question about whether there is a “single vision of good,” the Pope said, “Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place,” and “The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood.” When the reporter commented, “Some of my colleagues who know you told me that you will try to convert me,” the Pope also said “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.”
From Augustine’s Confessions to “Well, everyone has his own ideas about good and bad…” is a mighty long path.
First of all, I am a Protestant so, of course, I do not accept the church’s claims about the papal chair as Vicar of Christ. But though I protest; I don’t throw rocks (no Petrine pun intended). My mother’s side of the family was and is Roman Catholic, and some of the most significant influences in my life personally and intellectually are Roman Catholics.
Second, I don’t dislike Pope Francis. I think he is quite right about the primacy of the gospel over culture wars. In my much smaller pool and from my much smaller perch, I’ve tried to say that outrage itself isn’t a Christian virtue. Our mission ought to be toward reconciliation, not the vaporization of our perceived enemies.
But.
If Pope Francis wishes to reclaim the primacy of the gospel, he must simultaneously speak with kindness to those outside of its reach and speak of the need for good news. What these interviews seem continually to do is what evangelical theologian Carl Henry warned Protestants of in the 20th century, of severing the love of God from the holiness of God. God is, Henry said against both the liberal Social Gospel and obscurantist and angry fundamentalism, the God of both justice and justification.
Without speaking to the conscience, and addressing what the sinner already knows to be true about the day of giving an account, there is not love, only the consigning of the guilty conscience to accusation and condemnation. If the church is right about the personhood of unborn children (and I think it is), then why would we not be “obsessed” about speaking for them, and for the women and men whose consciences are tyrannized by their past sins?
It is not good news to say to such consciences, “Well, we’re all brothers and sisters,” if what they feel in their psyches and read in their Bibles (and in their Catholic catechisms) is that those who commit such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. We must speak with tenderness and gentleness, but with an authoritative word from God, that there is a means of reconciliation. The burdened conscience doesn’t wish to hear “It’s all okay.” The burdened conscience is freed by “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Rom. 8:1).
There’s little purpose in refighting the Protestant Reformation here, but we do, in some sense, return to Martin Luther’s problem. With a guilty conscience, he could find no way to reconciliation in himself or by the purported economy of grace. In the church, he saw rules and rituals but felt in that only condemnation.
But opposite a harsh, rule-oriented Christianity is a way that is just as condemning, a way that we’ve seen often in hyper-Protestant communions: the tendency to downplay sin at all. This leaves sinners like us in a kind of earthly purgatory that never purges, and leads us to hide from the face of God because, like our first parents, we know who we are and what we’ve done.
I’m in no position to advise the Bishop of Rome, but I hope we’ll see a fuller-orbed message from him. I’m with Pope Francis on the need for kindness, but I pray it will be a convictional kindness that addresses both the reality of God’s holy justice and his reconciling love.
- See more at:
http://erlc.com/article/some-thoughts-on-pope-francis#sthash.3dFgyxLr.dpuf
Additional Comments from Dr.
Morris:
I have always been cynical about organized religion. The
nearer I got to the top in any group (professional, political, or religious),
the more I realized that greatness cannot be voted in-- even the vicar of the
catholic church. No one just happens to become great. The supposed first pope
of the catholic church, Apostle Peter, was picked by God, Himself. The road to
Hell is paved with religion. Only the redeemed, redeemed by the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, are righteous. Only the righteous can worship a holy God.
Put Hitler, Stalin, all the popes, including Peter, even the
apostle Paul, and Mother Teresa at one end of a vacuum and God at the other
end-- and we know something about the separation of mortal man from the
holiness of an immortal God, in comparison. This is the very length and breadth
of the Christian belief system: worship of a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent, creator of the world and everything in it. For God to be God, He
does not need anything-- certainly not a mere man, even a pope.
When our blessed Lord was crucified, the veil of the temple reant
top to bottom. Man achieved the ultimate, a personal relationship with God.
What is religious freedom if you cannot bring your personal
relationship with God into the public square. This is what we are all about.
You can believe this: in America,
and indeed around the world, your relationship will soon be restricted to your
church house. Just as governments, under the guise of political correctness,
are restricting education to a state-controlled school house, justice to a
state-controlled courthouse. What happens at your house will greatly determine
the future of your family.... your country.
This world traveler noted that in every Muslim country (40),
even when riding a bus, the bus driver would exit the bus with his prayer rug,
kneel, and have his prayer at prayer time. For Catholics, protestants, Baptists,
and all others who claim the name of Christ, it is not the pews, but the
pulpits, that have brought on the judgment of God. The world's largest pulpit,
the one in the Vatican,
is not exempt. Christians must hold high the banner of truth, even though it
might be unpopular with the satanic forces headed by the gay agenda. The word
of God is pure Truth. Even the most rabid atheist knows that God's word is
true. How can any pope, preacher, or pastor, compromise with God's word? So
specific is the certitude of gender, family, and marriage.
Satan has done his best to separate secularism from
behavior. The Christian identity must be evident in everything that Christian
does (neutral you cannot be). The pope, wanting to be popular, like many of us,
might walk down the middle of the road. The first pope, Peter, said:
"That the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now
ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."
1 Peter 1:7-9
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