In first video message, Pope Francis stresses unity: 'We are all children of God' [CNA]

  • Thread starter Thread starter CNA_News
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
LordHaveMercy said:
I should clarify that the reason I won’t speculate is because I would be judging the interior motives of the council fathers in chosing to include a non-authoritative statement, with an often overlooked footnote that says it’s not binding, in a document as important as a Dogmatic Constituion, that will be read all over the world for centuries. A non-binding statement is not necessarily the mind of the Church, but potentially just the mind of whichever member(s) of our beloved hierarchy made the statement, and can be influenced by circumstances specific to that time and place.
Click to expand...
Well, Walter Cardinal Kasper made the statement in 2013 that the ambiguities were in the documents intentionally as a compromise between the different camps:
renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/130613
 
Code: 
  Paul makes it very clear that no one is justified by the law (see Romans 3: 21-31). also St. Paul writes in Romans 9: 30-32, "What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith; but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law? Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works"
St Paul also writes in Galatians 3: 10-11, “'For all who depend on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law’. And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for the ‘the one who is righteous by faith will live’”.

The Gentiles Paul mentions in Roman 2:13-15, achieved righteousness by faith, not by works of the law. The law of righteousness can only be achieved through faith.

Is that what you meant?
 
RACJ said:
Well, let’s assume that monsters are strained from the stew. Still, the question cries out, is it irrelevant whether we become part of an organized Christian church, or whether we become a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or wiccan, as long as we live according to some acceptable moral code? Would it matter if everyone in the world regarded Christ’s resurrection as a pleasant myth?
Christ would have died for billions who give him less reverence than Spider Man. To me, something is tragically wrong with that picture. :ouch:
Click to expand...
I know that mine is a tough question, but I’d really love to hear a response from any committed Christian who also believes in total ecumenism. Thank you in advance! 🙂
 
Mankind’s judge on the last day is Jesus. Yes, He is also God, but judgement comes through Jesus. So I wouldn’t want to be one of those that rejects Jesus, but then gets judged by him.

Romans 2:16 (NRSVCE)

16* on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.*

2 Timothy 4:1 (NRSVCE)

4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:

John 12:48 (NRSVCE)

*48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, *

Acts 10:42 (NRSVCE)

*42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. *

I’m sure there are more verse, but I think this should get the point across who is judge on the last day.
 
SJacob7 said:
If so, his disagreement is not with me, I didn’t write God’s Word!
Click to expand...
Code: 
 So what do we call our brothers and sisters from different faiths or none ?
Who is their Father ? Who loves them dearly ?
 
I say thanks ,as a nobody ,to those religious persons who would humbly share a video for unity knowing it is he ,the Pope , the Vicar of Christ and the Bride whom he leads ,and felt accepted and loved and respected in a video.where they would not be forced to deny their identities.
It is with gratitude ,in a world which needs unity so much , that we see Jesus is made present in His meekness and all embracing love.
Count on prayers ,Holy Father !
And thanks to all those brothers and sisters in the video and the faiths they represent ! 🙂
 
graciew said:
So what do we call our brothers and sisters from different faiths or none ?
Who is their Father ? Who loves them dearly ?
Click to expand...
No one is disagreeing that God loves non-Christians or that they are his children with respect to their existence being entirely dependent on Him. Pope Francis should be applauded for his effort in encouraging dialogue with members from other religions. All humans should coexist and work for the common earthly good despite religious affiliation. That comes from St. Augustine.

The problem is when people read into this video that all religions lead to God and salvation. They do not. One of the readings during the night prayer of Liturgy of the Hours is Galatians 2:16: “Only by faith in Jesus Christ is a Man made holy in God’s sight. No observance of the law can achieve this”. In Pope Francis “Joy of the Gospel”, he presses the primacy of Jesus Christ in spreading the Gospel. Christ must explicitly be proclaimed to both Christians and non-Christians alike. We also need to be reminded of the gospel:)
 
So, if I were to speculate on abandoning the Catholic Church and becoming Jewish, in light of this video, I guess no one will object at this point?
 
Why isn’t the cross used as the symbol of Christ? Instead in the video Christians and Christianity is symbolized by a nativity baby Jesus? :confused:

No star and crescent used to symbolize Muslims, just prayer beads.
No star of David for Jewish, just a menorah.

From what I’ve read and what little I know about Buddhism, the 8 spoke wheel is most commonly used to symbolize it. We see Buddha statue, which does seem like a common image for Buddhism.

I don’t understand why they chose something to symbolize that religion other than what is the usual symbol for that religion. Seems kind of odd to me. Perhaps that is on purpose for a reason.
 
AnneElizabeth said:
Why isn’t the cross used as the symbol of Christ? Instead in the video Christians and Christianity is symbolized by a nativity baby Jesus? :confused:

No star and crescent used to symbolize Muslims, just prayer beads.
No star of David for Jewish, just a menorah.

From what I’ve read and what little I know about Buddhism, the 8 spoke wheel is most commonly used to symbolize it. We see Buddha statue, which does seem like a common image for Buddhism.

I don’t understand why they chose something to symbolize that religion other than what is the usual symbol for that religion. Seems kind of odd to me. Perhaps that is on purpose for a reason.
Click to expand...
The early Christians didn’t use the image of the cross for a couple of hundred years, but that of a fish.

Crucifixion was so gruesome, they would not have used such a negative image to present a message of hope, love and joy in our salvation.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
The early Christians didn’t use the image of the cross for a couple of hundred years, but that of a fish.

Crucifixion was so gruesome, they would not have used such a negative image to present a message of hope, love and joy in our salvation.

Jim
Click to expand...
I don’t think it would matter what people thought centuries ago about the cross concerning this commercial, though that is an interesting tidbit of information…

The commercial is for those people living in this century and the Christian religion is usually symbolized by the cross. Why not use it? The Cross is what saves us in Christianity. I’ve even heard it said about Easter being the more precious holy day rather than Christmas because Christmas is the hope and Easter was the actual work that sealed it. If Easter never happened, Christmas would have no meaning at all.
 
AnneElizabeth said:
I don’t think it would matter what people thought centuries ago about the cross concerning this commercial, though that is an interesting tidbit of information…

The commercial is for those people living in this century and the Christian religion is usually symbolized by the cross. Why not use it? The Cross is what saves us in Christianity. I’ve even heard it said about Easter being the more precious holy day rather than Christmas because Christmas is the hope and Easter was the actual work that sealed it. If Easter never happened, Christmas would have no meaning at all.
Click to expand...
My reasoning was more basic…I thought we would not like to watch Protestants and Catholics pulling to have the Cross…
🙂
 
Galatians 3:26-27
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
 
Unless we are all children of God in one sense, evangelization would be pointless; like teaching calculus to ants. Point is, we were created to receive the Lord. Whether we do or not is up to us. One might disagree with Pope Francis’ tactics, but his message is correct.
 
SpeakInSilence said:
I’m going to say this to a lot of cradle Catholics who might not understand the frustration a convert might have, so I ask this question, “Did it matter I became Catholic?”

Because a lot of the grief I went through, and the family that felt like I was betraying our traditions, did it matter?

Every time I listen to the Pope, or a lot of Catholics on this forum I feel like I the sacraments don’t make a difference, being a Catholic doesn’t make a difference. I left a community for a Church that seems like it desperately trying be like those communities I left.

The Catechism and the Bible make it clear that only those who are baptized are children of God. We are all made in His image, but it’s through Jesus Christ we become children.
Click to expand...
You are right only those baptized are the children of God and through Jesus we become God’s children. Christ means messiah, the anointed one. Jesus alone is the Christ.

Christ has come to do the will of the Father (John5:38), to save sinners (Luke 19:10), to fufill the Old testament ( Matt. 5:17), to destroy the works of Satan (Heb. 2:144, 1 John 3:8), and to give life (John 10:10, 28). Christ is holy (Luke 1:35), righteous (Issaiah 53:11) sinless (2 Cor. 5:21), humble (Phil. 2:5-8), and forgiving (Luke 5:20, 7:48, 23:34).
 
Correction My first reply should have read (John 6:38) and (Heb. 2:14)

Here is another Bible quote I think we should read and remember

“Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well”. (1 John 2:22-23)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top