Christ's words about judgement

[ForwardProgress]

OK…so Jesus says to the virtuous: When I was hungry you gave me to eat, When I was thirsty you gave me to drink…whenever you did these for the least of men you did it for me. These will enter into eternal life.

On the flip side, those that didn’t do these things are the ones that go to everlasting punishment.

With that said, where do we get the idea of ‘breaking rules’, sin, mortal sin, etc…?

If Jesus is speaking to a group of people who want to follow him and believe his msg, they hear this and think this is the way to eternal life.

I believe this totally, that love covers a multitude of sins.

In pastoral practice today, this is pretty much what is taught. But in reading the Catechism, one gets the impression that rather than doing and loving to receive God’s grace, one must follow instructions and rules set in this big catechism book.

Confused…is it more important to ‘Love, and do as thou will’; to believe and to be a genuinely good person but not be a strict ‘rule follower’, or is it more important to be a rule-follower first, and love comes second?

 

[FCEGM]

OK…so Jesus says to the virtuous: When I was hungry you gave me to eat, When I was thirsty you gave me to drink…whenever you did these for the least of men you did it for me. These will enter into eternal life.

On the flip side, those that didn’t do these things are the ones that go to everlasting punishment.

With that said, where do we get the idea of ‘breaking rules’, sin, mortal sin, etc…?

If Jesus is speaking to a group of people who want to follow him and believe his msg, they hear this and think this is the way to eternal life.

I believe this totally, that love covers a multitude of sins.

In pastoral practice today, this is pretty much what is taught. But in reading the Catechism, one gets the impression that rather than doing and loving to receive God’s grace, one must follow instructions and rules set in this big catechism book.

Confused…is it more important to ‘Love, and do as thou will’; to believe and to be a genuinely good person but not be a strict ‘rule follower’, or is it more important to be a rule-follower first, and love comes second?

Love is not antithetical to obedience. “Do as thou will” is not understood as a license to sin and that love will cover whatever we do; rather, it recognizes that Divine Love guides one who to do all that the Beloved asks of us because His will has become ours. That Divine Will can be known in the guidance He offers us through His Church, His Body which is never separate from Him.

 

[Tomster]

OK…so Jesus says to the virtuous: When I was hungry you gave me to eat, When I was thirsty you gave me to drink…whenever you did these for the least of men you did it for me. These will enter into eternal life.

On the flip side, those that didn’t do these things are the ones that go to everlasting punishment.

With that said, where do we get the idea of ‘breaking rules’, sin, mortal sin, etc…?

If Jesus is speaking to a group of people who want to follow him and believe his msg, they hear this and think this is the way to eternal life.

I believe this totally, that love covers a multitude of sins.

In pastoral practice today, this is pretty much what is taught. But in reading the Catechism, one gets the impression that rather than doing and loving to receive God’s grace, one must follow instructions and rules set in this big catechism book.

Confused…is it more important to ‘Love, and do as thou will’; to believe and to be a genuinely good person but not be a strict ‘rule follower’, or is it more important to be a rule-follower first, and love comes second?

Just some thoughts for the sake of conversation. St. Thomas defines law as “an order of reason regarding the common good and promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community”. The essential concept of law is its moral obligatory force with respect to man’s actions.

Law is divine or human. The divine law is threefold: eternal, natural, and positive. The eternal law is in God’s essence and coincides with His wisdom and will, from which derives and on which depends the life of the universe (physical and moral world). The natural divine world is that impressed in creatures to direct them to their proper end; it is physical in irrational creatures, and moral in man, to whom it is promulgated through his own conscience. The positive divine law is that revealed in Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) or oral Tradition.

Human law is divided into ecclesiastical (emanating from the pope, the bishops, the councils) and civil (emanating from the competent authorities of the governments and nations).

Human legislative power supposes jurisdiction or power of government. The “object” of law must be honest, just, and physically and morally possible. The “subject” of law is man, constituted under the power of the legislator and having the use of reason.

For law to be effective it must be promulgated, i.e., formally proposed and communicated to the collectivity of the subjects. Obviously the divine law is sacred, because through conscience it obliges all rational creatures under the penalty of sanctions which transcend the limits of this life. The ecclesiastical law is sacred, intimately connected as it is with the divine law; sacred also is civil law, based on the power that derives from God: “There is no power but from God”; Romans 13:1).

Civil law is binding in conscience, according to the best opinions, provided it is not in conflict with divine or ecclesiastical law. Neither divine nor human law is violable deliberately without guilt, which is measured according to the matter or content of the law itself and the will to oblige on the part of the legislator. However, if a law is merely penal, transgression involves penalty but not guilt. The subject may be dispensed from the observance of the postive law by a superior who has power of jurisdiction over him. A privilege is a special favor granted against or outside the common law.

Law, the remote rule of morality, must become the proximate rule of moral action, through the medium of conscience.

 

[Jennifer_J]

Confused…is it more important to ‘Love, and do as thou will’; to believe and to be a genuinely good person but not be a strict ‘rule follower’, or is it more important to be a rule-follower first, and love comes second?

Why can’t you do both? The rules lead us to life with Jesus, whom we should love, with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength. That love is shown in how we treat ourselves, others and the world. Love is infact ACTION. “For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only son…” God acted. We act. The rules guide us in how we should act.

Think about marriage. To be married is to be in love–but that love has rules and actions. We can’t do anything we want–we must work together. Maybe that doesn’t make sense, but I see love and the rules working together.