EPA to ease back emissions standards

[Road-Worrier]

I sold cars for 10 years. Never once did anybody ask me about the car they were considering’s impact on the starving in Africa. In 20 years of reading the Consumer Reports Car Edition, l’ve never seen a car recommended or not based on its impact to the starving of Africa.

 

[Theo520]

The only time there is significant starvation in Africa is when the local politics prevents the distribution of international food aid.

Yea, not much of a connection between the car you buy and replacing a corrupt african warlord.

 

[Inisfallen]

I sold cars for 10 years. Never once did anybody ask me about the car they were considering’s impact on the starving in Africa. In 20 years of reading the Consumer Reports Car Edition, l’ve never seen a car recommended or not based on its impact to the starving of Africa.

Hey, I never asked about the effect of my purchase of a car on the starving in Africa either, but I have considered whether or not I’m irresponsibly burning up a non-renewable resource. Nothing wrong with that.

And, if you sold cars for 10 years, can you get me a deal? I really like the Honda Fit. The designers of the interior were geniuses.

 

[stinkcat_14]

The only time there is significant starvation in Africa is when the local politics prevents the distribution of international food aid.

Yea, not much of a connection between the car you buy and replacing a corrupt african warlord.

How many times have you been to Africa?

 

[stinkcat_14]

Does that mean you expect people to believe that when making a purchase you consider the impact on the starving of Somalia or even your own great great grandchildren? If you do you’re the only one.

I believe very strongly that we are called to be stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us. Now you are free to make fun of me all you want for that. I don’t bring up stewardship to impress you or anything like that. Most people are self centered and most people don’t even bother to go to church each week, so it is not surprising that people lead consumer oriented self centered lives. People think about themselves and nobody else. That is nothing to be proud of. I didn’t bring up Somalia, you did. I have not been to Somalia but I have been in the neighborhood. You might not care about those people, but they are children of God just like you and me. I fail to see where living a totally self centered life is going to bring us closer to God.

 

[Theo520]

How many times have you been to Africa?

Perhaps you can simply respond to what I said, which is well documented for those who read up on International response efforts to famine

Deflection doesn’t look good on you

 

[stinkcat_14]

Perhaps you can simply respond to what I said, which is well documented for those who read up on International response efforts to famine

So if there is not mass starvation, then we have fulfilled our obligation to the poor? What about the people who are starving in African democracies, do we have an obligation to them?

 

[Theo520]

So if there is not mass starvation, then we have fulfilled our obligation to the poor? What about the people who are starving in African democracies, do we have an obligation to them?

You come up with some bizarre logic leaps.

Since when has the international response to famine and drought waited on mass starvation before acting? They are quite good at ongoing monitoring and proactive steps to increase food security and prevent starvation.

 

[stinkcat_14]

You come up with some bizarre logic leaps.

Since when has the international response to famine and drought waited on mass starvation before acting? They are quite good at ongoing monitoring and proactive steps to increase food security and prevent starvation.

I am not the one who brought up africa. It was another poster who brought up africa. I also don’t understand what you are saying. Are you saying that we have no obligation to help the people of Africa? If we do have an obligation, what obligation do we have to them?

 

[Road-Worrier]

10 years in the last century. The only time I go to a dealership now is as a customer.

 

[Inisfallen]

10 years in the last century. The only time I go to a dealership now is as a customer.

I know, I was just kidding. My old (2002) car is running just fine, only has 55,000 miles on it, we’ll get another 5 or 6 or more years out of it.

 

[Theo520]

i

Your bizarre leap was that we wait till people are starving from drought etc before we try to help

 

[stinkcat_14]

Road-Worrier:

i

Your bizarre leap was that we wait till people are starving from drought etc before we try to help

You are not making any sense. Perhaps we should start with the basics. Do you think that Catholics have a moral obligation to help the poor?

 

[dvdjs]

Perhaps we should start with the basics. Do you think that Catholics have a moral obligation to help the poor?

Laudate Si would be a good place to start, but the latest exhortation from Pope Francis has great guidance.

http://w2.vatican.va/content/france...tazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html

THE GREAT CRITERION

1. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (vv. 31-46), Jesus expands on the Beatitude that calls the merciful blessed. If we seek the holiness pleasing to God’s eyes, this text offers us one clear criterion on which we will be judged. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (vv. 35-36).

In fidelity to the Master

1. Holiness, then, is not about swooning in mystic rapture. As Saint John Paul II said: “If we truly start out anew from the contemplation of Christ, we must learn to see him especially in the faces of those with whom he himself wished to be identified”.[79] The text of Matthew 25:35-36 is “not a simple invitation to charity: it is a page of Christology which sheds a ray of light on the mystery of Christ”.[80] In this call to recognize him in the poor and the suffering, we see revealed the very heart of Christ, his deepest feelings and choices, which every saint seeks to imitate.
2. Given these uncompromising demands of Jesus, it is my duty to ask Christians to acknowledge and accept them in a spirit of genuine openness, sine glossa. In other words, without any “ifs or buts” that could lessen their force. Our Lord made it very clear that holiness cannot be understood or lived apart from these demands, for mercy is “the beating heart of the Gospel”.[81]
3. If I encounter a person sleeping outdoors on a cold night, I can view him or her as an annoyance, an idler, an obstacle in my path, a troubling sight, a problem for politicians to sort out, or even a piece of refuse cluttering a public space. Or I can respond with faith and charity, and see in this person a human being with a dignity identical to my own, a creature infinitely loved by the Father, an image of God, a brother or sister redeemed by Jesus Christ. That is what it is to be a Christian! Can holiness somehow be understood apart from this lively recognition of the dignity of each human being?[82]
4. For Christians, this involves a constant and healthy unease. Even if helping one person alone could justify all our efforts, it would not be enough. The bishops of Canada made this clear when they noted, for example, that the biblical understanding of the jubilee year was about more than simply performing certain good works. It also meant seeking social change: “For later generations to also be released, clearly the goal had to be the restoration of just social and economic systems, so there could no longer be exclusion”.[83]

 

[dvdjs]

Ideologies striking at the heart of the Gospel

1. I regret that ideologies lead us at times to two harmful errors. On the one hand, there is the error of those Christians who separate these Gospel demands from their personal relationship with the Lord, from their interior union with him, from openness to his grace. Christianity thus becomes a sort of NGO stripped of the luminous mysticism so evident in the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and many others. For these great saints, mental prayer, the love of God and the reading of the Gospel in no way detracted from their passionate and effective commitment to their neighbours; quite the opposite.
2. The other harmful ideological error is found in those who find suspect the social engagement of others, seeing it as superficial, worldly, secular, materialist, communist or populist. Or they relativize it, as if there are other more important matters, or the only thing that counts is one particular ethical issue or cause that they themselves defend. Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.[84] We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.
3. We often hear it said that, with respect to relativism and the flaws of our present world, the situation of migrants, for example, is a lesser issue. Some Catholics consider it a secondary issue compared to the “grave” bioethical questions. That a politician looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable, but not a Christian, for whom the only proper attitude is to stand in the shoes of those brothers and sisters of ours who risk their lives to offer a future to their children. Can we not realize that this is exactly what Jesus demands of us, when he tells us that in welcoming the stranger we welcome him (cf. Mt 25:35)? Saint Benedict did so readily, and though it might have “complicated” the life of his monks, he ordered that all guests who knocked at the monastery door be welcomed “like Christ”,[85] with a gesture of veneration;[86] the poor and pilgrims were to be met with “the greatest care and solicitude”.[87]

 

[dvdjs]

1. A similar approach is found in the Old Testament: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex 22:21). “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Lev 19:33-34). This is not a notion invented by some Pope, or a momentary fad. In today’s world too, we are called to follow the path of spiritual wisdom proposed by the prophet Isaiah to show what is pleasing to God. “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn” (58:7-8).

 

[Theo520]

Perhaps we should start with the basics. Do you think that Catholics have a moral obligation to help the poor?

Yes, I believe in subsidiarity as taught by the Church.

“help the poor” is very vague, but I agree principle, though we may not agree on the method

 

[stinkcat_14]

Yes, I believe in subsidiarity as taught by the Church.

The Church also teaches solidarity, do you believe in that as well?

“help the poor” is very vague, but I agree principle, though we may not agree on the method

I agree it is vague, but clearly the Church does teach that we have an obligation to the poor. I just wonder if you accept that teaching?

 

[Theo520]

The Church also teaches solidarity, do you believe in that as well?

Theo520:

“help the poor” is very vague, but I agree principle, though we may not agree on the method

Instead of bouncing all over the place, like a 5 yr old on Capt’n Crunch, explain how you think it’s related and then I’ll comment.

I agree it is vague, but clearly the Church does teach that we have an obligation to the poor. I just wonder if you accept that teaching?

Yea, you’re still being so vague that consent in meaningless in terms of whether we are in alignment.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Instead of bouncing all over the place, like a 5 yr old on Capt’n Crunch, explain how you think it’s related and then I’ll comment.

I am not the one who brought up Africa. In fact I am not sure how it is relevant. Some poster seemed to get offended by the idea when we act as consumers that we might have an obligation beyond acting as selfish, hedonistic individuals and brought up Somalia. Of course this poster never cited any church teaching that said it was morally appropriate to act as selfish, hedonistic individuals.