Contra Mozilla

Friday, August 9, 2013

Monsignor Pope and Mortal Sins

Monsignor Pope has a post about mortal sins, including five biblical lists (which are not by any stretch exhaustive). He notes that the one biggie that gets left of is failure to forgive, though I noticed another really big one: blaspheming the Holy Spirit. He pretty much avoids the Old Testament lists, which is understandable I guess since any reference to the Pentateuch elicits knavish remarks conflating (or really, intentionally muddying the waters) between morality/sins on the one hand and "religious disciplinary practices" (for lack of a better word) on the other. By this I mean that any reference to Deuteronomy or Leviticus gets some knee-jerk response about not weaving a garment of two type of thread, or not planting two crops in one field: anybody with a little common sense can figure out that these latter are symbolic of something else (namely, not practicing idolatry, serving as reminders to turn to God, etc). Still, these are some good lists to consider, since our culture is awash in sins of these kinds (and, frankly, celebrates these sins).

I also appreciated this exchange in the com box, in which someone disingenuously implies that Jesus never said anything about sexual morality, but only against the pharisees who judged others by their sins. The monsignor's reply was both direct and correct and charitable:
The quote from Revelation is Jesus Speaking. Further you might take a gander at few things Jesus said on the topic: 
Matt 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’e 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” 
Messy enough for you? Please read scripture more carefully. Also avoid false dichotomies such as driving a wedge between what Jesus said or didn’t say from what his appointed apostles said. There is one Holy Spirit.


I really do wish people would stop kidding themselves about Christ's views of morality. He didn't exactly abolish the Law, nor did He ever say "I'm ok, you're ok, we're all ok except those pharisees." And, as the monsignor shows, Jesus did in fact speak against sinning in general sexual immorality in particular.

No comments:

Post a Comment