Suudy, I saw your post but I just figured based on your posts you knew everything there is to know about truth.
Go back to the other thread an read my response. I never claimed to know “everything there is to know about truth.”
Of course Christ’s ultimate mission was salvation. But Christ is not limited to one mission. Christ is God. And He can do more than one thing at once believe it or not.
I never said Christ was limited. My point is that serving the needy,
in and of itself, does not lead to salvation. You also have to have right reason, right action, and right circumstances. Of course ministering to the poor is a right action (it is an objectively good act). But feeding the hungry because it looks good on your resume is not right reason.
The very act itself is good, but in and of itself it does
not lead to salvation. It must be properly coupled to right reason.
So yes part of His mission was indeed also to serve the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick. And in Matt 25:31-46 He taught how doing these things as an expression of love shows our faith. And if we show our faith and love by serving those He mentioned, He told us we would be serving Him.
His mission, was our salvation. Ministering to the need works towards that end, but is not the end in itself. If not a single needy person was ever helped, would that make Christ’s mission for salvation meaningless? What if there were no rich or poor, but only people of the same means. Would Christ’s mission then be complete? Would we all be saved? Of course not.
Now, you won’t find any disagreement from me or other Catholics here that we are to minister to the needy. Of course we are! The issue is the
how not the
what. We take great exception to the belief that the government is the one that should do this. There is no evidence of this in sacred Scripture (where did Jesus say “The government shall feed the hungry, house the homeless, …”?). There is no evidence of this in sacred Tradition. And there is no evidence of this in Catholic theology or ethics.
And here’s the kicker, Suudy. Indeed He said those who serve Him by serving the hungry, the homeless, the sick, would be saved.
You left out a part. Those who do so out of love (
caritas or charity) would be saved. The government is incapable of love. And the government is not in need of salvation (at least the same kind of salvation man is in need of). So why then do you and other insist the government should do this?
Now if you want to argue with Christ about what He said in this regard, be my guest. But don’t argue with me about it.
You have setup a strawman. Nobody here is arguing that we should let the hungry starve, the homeless die in the rain, the imprisoned suffer loneliness, etc. I challenge you to show one Catholic who thinks this should occur.
Not a single Catholic that I know of disagrees that Christ commands us to care for the needy. There is no argument with Christ or you on this point.
You and others here on CAF have already done a fine job of discouraging me further about the Catholic faith. I don’t see much love.
Because we think the government is the inappropriate means to serve the needy? You don’t see much love because you are focused on the ends and not the means.
The rest of us, though, are focused on the ends
and the means. We take seriously care for the needy, and want to ensure the means are licit. Again, I exhort you to read
Centesimus Annus, and see what the Church teaches about the appropriate role for the government.
Here’s a link, directly at the Vatican, for you:
vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html
I see a lot of judging and a holier than thou, I know all truth mindset.
Then you are mistaken. Who is judging? Who is acting “holier than thou”? Please do cite examples.
