|
CONTINUATION
OF:
Three
Secret Strategies of Satan to destroy our Children, our Families,
our Culture, and our Church by John-Paul Ignatius, Legion of St. Michael
Edited
by the Rev. Msgr. Keith P. Steinhurst, P.A.
Nota
bene: this essay is similar to a longer treatise in a dogmatic
theology text written by a member of the Society of Jesus entitled -
Handbook for the Christian Religion. To this I would add two relevant
comments by His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now His Holiness
Benedict XVI, sic: "Truth is not determined by majority
vote" and "Unlimited trust should only be placed in the
real Word of the Revelation that we encounter in the faith
transmitted by the Church.")
2.
Never Judge Anyone:
As
just stated above, error has no dignity except as a possible
motivator to lead us to truth. But if we are not confronted in our
error, how can we be motivated to move toward truth?
St.
Paul instructs us to judge:
I
charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to
judge the living and the dead, preach the Word, be urgent in season
and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in
patience and in teaching. For a time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate
for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away
from listening to the truth and wander into myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4
We
are to judge the teaching of teachers, the opinions of people, the
attitudes and behaviors of people. If we don't, then we allow sin and
Satan to exploit the weak and ignorant and vulnerable with his lies.
We
are to preach the Truth and rebuke those who assert error-not in an
attitude of rock throwing or some sort of controlling
self-righteousness, but in a loving attitude of helping the person
return to God (2 Timothy 4:2). We are our brothers' keepers (ref.,
Mark 12:31; Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 7:12; 18:23-35; Luke 6:31). We
have a responsibility to warn and admonish our brethren in the faith,
just as we have a responsibility to our blood brothers to warn them
when they go astray because we love them.
St.
Paul to the Romans exhorted good Catholics to instruct one another
(Romans 15:14). To instruct someone necessarily means to evaluate
(another word for judge) the one to whom instruction is given.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states (No 1868), sic: "we
have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we
cooperate in them: by (among several actions on our part) not
disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so."
We
cannot "disclose" a sin without first assessing (yet
another word for judging) that the sin is in fact there in the first
place. In addition, one of the traditional seven Spiritual Works of
Mercy is to "Admonish the sinner." Again, we cannot
admonish that which we refuse to recognize in the sinner. We must
make an assessment (judgment) that the person is sinning and thus
"needs" admonishment. All of this sometimes requires
"tough love." Our model in this tough love is no less that
Jesus Himself (who, contrary to popular opinion was not a 60's flower
child with flowers in his hair repeating a mantra of peace and love).
Jesus preached a demanding love, a love so demanding that in some
cases it would rip apart families:
"Do
not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not
come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man
against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of
his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:34-38
Truth
cannot be compromised-even if it makes enemies of our relatives.
Some people will not accept the truth and will hate those who preach
it. Truth demands judgment; that is, truth demands we see things
truthfully and to call things what they are. If we see sin or error,
we must call it for what it is.
The
Bible is filled with passages talking about how we are to judge
others. Before listing some of those, first let us look at the kind
of judgment we are not to do. The most famous of the several "do
not judge" passages are found at Matthew 7:1-3:
"Judge
not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you
will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not
notice the log that is in your own."
In
this passage we see three kinds of judgment we are not to do:
1.
Judgment of condemnation: Judgment in this passage is referring to
condemning ("pronouncing" judgment on a person's soul). We
are not the "Judge" to pronounce condemnation on anyone
(not even ourselves). Only God can do that. The Church, for example,
never pronounces "anyone" in hell. And even in the
assessment of a person declared a saint; it is done by special
dispensation granted to the Church by her authority of the
"keys." But even with this authority, we need to note that
it is never applied to judging a person in hell. If the Church, who
has the authority of the keys will not judge a person to
condemnation, how can we? We are never to judge a person's state of
soul. Jesus tells us that we will receive ourselves the judgment of
soul that we place on others if we attempt this usurpation of God's sovereignty.
2.
Judgment from double standards: When we use double standards for
judgment, apply one measure to others and a different measure to
ourselves we commit a sin. Jesus says that we will not get by with
that (a form of hypocrisy). The standards we apply to others will be
applied to us as well.
3.
Judgment from Self-Righteousness: The last sentence of the passage
quoted refers to seeing sins in others but not in oneself. This is
self-righteousness (another form of hypocrisy). In this passage,
Jesus does not say that we cannot judge. He says that we are not to
judge in the manner of presuming condemnation on another or to make
judgments borne from hypocrisy (double standard &self-righteousness).
In
verse 5 Jesus continues: You hypocrite, first take the log out of
your own eye, and then you can see clearly to take the speck out of
your brother's eye."
Taking
the speck out of our brother's eye is not condemned in itself.
Hypocritical judgment is what Jesus condemns.
We
can immediately see this is the meaning of these passages by going
on to the very next verse:
"Do
not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."
Dogs?
Swine? How are we to know who is a dog or a swine? We cannot take
Jesus' advice, which is advice for self-protection (e.g. when Jesus
said the swine will "turn to attack you"), if we do not
judge a person, that is, to identify a person as a metaphorical
"dog" or "swine."
Who
are the dogs and swine? Verse 15 gives us one clue when it talks
about false prophets who come in sheep's clothing. Verse 21 Jesus
talks about people calling to him, "Lord, Lord" yet some of
these will not enter heaven. They will not enter heaven because
despite their calling upon the name of the Lord, they are people who
refuse to do God's will.
Verse
26 tells us more about these people. They are people who do not just
fail to follow God's will, but who actively disobey the teachings of
Jesus and thus they build their house on sand (and that includes
disobeying
the Church, who has been given authority to speak infallibly and
definitively in Jesus' name to the faithful-when the Church speaks,
Jesus speaks).
Throughout
Scripture we are given examples of these dogs and swine and are
repeatedly told to shun them, to avoid them, and even to kick them
out of our community as to give them up to Satan.
In
Matthew 10:13-14 Jesus tells the disciples to shake the very dust
off their clothes of any city that refuses to listen to them. That
requires a judgment.
St.
Paul in Titus 3:9-11 tells us to warn a heretic (divisive person)
twice and then have nothing more to do with him because such a person
is "perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned." We don't
condemn him, he condemns himself, but we do judge him to be divisive
beyond tolerance because we tried to admonish him (judge his behavior
and warn him of his sin) twice but he would not repent.
St.
Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 to not associate with
people calling themselves Christians who are "guilty of
immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or
robber-not even to eat with such a one."
(continue
to page three of the article)
RETURN
TO THE ARTICLES INDEX
Main
Page | Supreme Pontiff | Members
| Papal Orders
Christian
Orders | Religious Orders | Links
|
