If what you say is true and Jesus condemned their teaching, then why is Jesus commanding the people to obey their false teaching? That doesn’t make sense either!
Agreed! So what do you do when you are faced with a situation like this? That is where scripture interpretation and exegesis becomes necessary. You look at both sides of the argument, and decide on a formula that satisfies both, without doing violence to either. The better you know your scriptures, the better are your chances of success. This is my formula:
The Pharisees were in general zealous people towards the Law of Moses. They were not all evil, or completely so. Paul addressing them says, “
I am verily a man which . . . was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day”
(Acts 22:3). In another place he writes of them, “
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge”
(Romans 10:2). They had studied the Law, and were in a position to teach it to the Jews who for the most part were not learned. What they taught was for the most part correct, but not necessarily always so. They were also often (but not always) a hypocritical people. They taught the law correctly for the most part, but did not keep it themselves. So Jesus tells His disciples to do what they say, but not what they do. But at the same time He condemns them by saying of them, “
Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”
(Matthew 15:13–14). That is hardly the kind of sweeping endorsement of them or their teaching that Randy was implying. It has to be seen on balance, and within the limitations that the rest of the scriptures impose on it. It requires a very big stretch of the imagination to carry it over to the Catholic Church, and say that therefore the Catholic Church is infallible, and cannot err in doctrine.
Having said that, however, it probably is true to say that if you are a Catholic, the safest course of action for you to take is to stay close to the teachings of the Catholic Church—unless the Catholic Church told you to do something against which you have a strong moral objection. But joining Freemasonry is not something about which one (normally) would have a strong moral objection. So if you are a committed Catholic, then I would recommend you to do what the Catholic Church says about Freemasonry, rather than risk undermining your own faith. As Paul says, “
he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). He was referring to eating meat sacrificed to idols. In reality there is nothing wrong with eating such a meat. But if your conscience is weak, and you think it a sin, then it would be a sin for you to eat it. The same rule applies to a Catholic joining Freemasonry.
zerinus
