(Somebody close to the Pope needs to sneak him a Bible into the Vatican.)
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’” (This IS NOT Jesus speaking, but Isiah.)
That passage is Isaiah 1:15, and the pope took it entirely out of context.
Isaiah was a prophet in the southern Hebraic kingdom of Judah who lived during the life of King Hezekiah. The warnings God gave through Isaiah have nothing to do with war, but the sin and idolatry in the people's hearts.
The entire chapter, and the wider book of Isaiah, has to do with God's disgust at religious hypocrisy and abuse of justice.
God hates reckless bloodshed, but He isn't against war. In fact, many times He has blessed warriors and commanded wars!
Did God not listen to the prayers of all the Popes that started wars?
First Crusade (1095–1099) — Called by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont.
Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) — Initiated by Pope Innocent III.
Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) — Proclaimed by Pope Honorius III.
Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229, against Cathar heretics) — Launched by Pope Innocent III.
War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516) — Pope Julius II formed the anti-Venetian league.
War of the Eight Saints (1375–1378) — Pope Gregory XI excommunicated Florence and sent forces against the Italian coalition.
Psalm 144:1 (A Psalm of David.) Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:.
Is it blasphemy to twist Scripture to fit some dopey, hippy view of God so that the Bible fits neatly in a 21st-century liberal worldview?
Not a good pope since John Paul II. Bunch of leftists, commie sympathizers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Catholic but from what I've seen, agreeing with you, the recent Popes haven't opened their Bibles in quite a while.
DeleteI was raised Protestant and made the mistake of marrying a Catholic. At some point she arranged for us to take an adult Catholic catechism class. I agreed since everything I knew about Catholicism was second or third hand.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Catholic Church does not consider the Bible authoritative; church tradition trumps the Bible everytime.
The Catholic Church is adamant that Mary, the mother of Jesus was without sin her entire life. Furthermore, they believe that you cannot just ask for forgiveness, but works are required for salvation. This means that what Jesus did on the cross was both unnecessary and insufficient for salvation.
There are plenty of other issues with the Catholic Church, but I believe that one alone should be sufficient to wonder if the Catholic Church should be considered Christian. From my perspective, the heart of Christianity is what Christ did on the cross and what it takes/took for salvation. From that perspective, Catholics are not Christian. Most have only a passing understanding of the Bible, which makes sense since in their view it is not authoritative.