Sunday, July 10, 2016

Pope Francis: "God Will Judge Us Based On Whether or Not We Accepted Muslim Migrants"

Is that Jesus?

The "who am I to judge?" pope isn't judging us. He's simply telling us how God will judge us.

In an Angelus homily this morning, Pope Francis referenced the parable of the Good Samaritan:
“(I)t depends on me to be or not be a neighbour to the person I meet who has need of my help, even if he is a stranger, or even hostile...” 
...We should ask ourselves, the Pope said, if our faith is fruitful, if it produces good works, or if, on the other hand, it is sterile, “and so more dead than alive.” 
We should ask ourselves this question often, Pope Francis continued, because it is precisely on this question that we will be judged at the end of our lives. The Lord, he said, will ask us, “Do you remember that time on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho? That man, who was half-dead, was me. Do you remember? That hungry child was me. Do you remember? That migrant who so many people wanted to chase away was me. Those grandparents, abandoned in rest homes, were me. Those sick people in the hospital, who no one went to find, were me.”
Of course, taken on its own, some of this is completely unobjectionable and even correct. I assume God will take note of whether we visited our elderly relatives or acquaintances in hospitals and rest homes. What grates is the conflation of supporting political causes - or in this case the Pope's own pet political cause  - with Christian charity.

Put aside for the moment the fact that supporting the recent Muslim "migrant" invasion is a pernicious political cause that has already led to great harm and suffering. Presumably victims of migrants - the young woman raped in the park, the young man decapitated in his local IKEA - are part of the Good Samaritan equation too. Will God ask us about them or are they just unavoidable civilian casualties?

More to the point, the actual parable of the Good Samaritan isn't about political equations. It's about a human being a few feet away in need of help. The "neighbor" may be a stranger, but he is also notably someone right there whom I "meet."

One of the notable things about the Gospel stories is that Jesus often seems indifferent to or even contemptuous of abstract altruism. Or more accurately, the value of, say, "giving to the poor" in a general way is often framed more in terms of its value to the donor - freeing him of material impediments to his relationship with God - rather than how it might benefit those who will receive it.

And while Jesus went so far as to perform a miracle to feed the hungry*, he didn't go around lecturing his flock about, say, starving children in Africa.

In fairness to Francis, there's a longstanding tradition of using the parable of the Good Samaritan to pitch liberal political causes. But that doesn't make this instance any less annoying or destructive.


*Though the Pope doesn't seem to believe He did.

5 comments:

  1. Scripture tells us: "Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have."
    What did the good Samaritan do? Did he take the wounded man home? Did he build a home for him next to his own? No! He took him to an inn and pledged funds to take care of him. That seems like the right response. Do we need to be concerned about the fate of the refugees? I believe we do. However, immigration is not the answer WRT Islam. Let's create safe havens for them in their own country. Build city's for them if we have to. Heck, China has been building huge cities that no one lives in. Why not build those cities in the middle east close to the refugee's homes families and culture? Why does immigration seem to be the only answer?

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  2. We should recognize the situation for what it is: an invasion of a foreign power whose intent is conquest and domination, and whose methods are murder and mayhem. Munich man's solution is the only one that makes sense under the circumstances.

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  3. IN ONE PLACE: Pro Domine et Ecclesia Pontifice contra #AmorisLaetitia; Petitions: To the Pope; To all Catholic Bishops - https://thewarourtime.com/2016/07/14/pro-domine-et-ecclesia-et-pontifice-contra-amorislaetitia-petitions-to-the-pope-to-all-catholic-bishops/

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