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

[Eric_Hyom]

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.

God created Adam and Eve, we are all the descendants of Adam and Eve, so I reckon that makes us all God’s children.

The same God hears all our prayers despite our differences, we have a duty to care for God’s creation, and that surely has to mean caring for each other despite all our differences.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

God created Adam and Eve, we are all the descendants of Adam and Eve, so I reckon that makes us all God’s children.

The same God hears all our prayers despite our differences, we have a duty to care for God’s creation, and that surely has to mean caring for each other despite all our differences.

If we did not have the life energy of God living in us, we’d all be dead.

Jim

 

[Eric_Hyom]

If we did not have the life energy of God living in us, we’d all be dead.

Jim

And whilst we have this life energy of God living in us, we should strive to love all others with this same life energy.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

And whilst we have this life energy of God living in us, we should strive to love all others with this same life energy.

And that is the bottom line of what Pope Francis has said.

Jim

 

[fred_conty]

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?

Oh yes because we care about you. We all want to see you with us in heaven and nowhere else.

Any person raised in the Jewish faith and doesn’t know the truth in Jesus, then they can be citizens of heaven too. But a person who is Catholic and knows the truth in Jesus, that is a different story.

 

[TCEL]

Oh yes because we care about you. We all want to see you with us in heaven and nowhere else.

Any person raised in the Jewish faith and doesn’t know the truth in Jesus, then they can be citizens of heaven too. But a person who is Catholic and knows the truth in Jesus, that is a different story.

Yes. I don’t think this video indicates that everything is the same thing. It’s a very general prayer intention which people are over-analyzing.

 

[JosieN]

Oh yes because we care about you. We all want to see you with us in heaven and nowhere else.

Any person raised in the Jewish faith and doesn’t know the truth in Jesus, then they can be citizens of heaven too. But a person who is Catholic and knows the truth in Jesus, that is a different story.

What does this mean? Are you saying any person in the Jewish faith not knowing the truth that Jesus is our Lord and Savior will be saved the same as those who believe in Jesus? Then why have missionaries go to countries to convert sinners? Why not just say it does not matter what you believe in because we are all His creation? Just because God created us and loves us does not guarantee us a place in Heaven. Why would He send His only Son to this world to die on the cross if it was so easy? Only through His Son and His teachings can we be saved. This is clearly taught in the Bible.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

What does this mean? Are you saying any person in the Jewish faith not knowing the truth that Jesus is our Lord and Savior will be saved the same as those who believe in Jesus?

So how can Abraham, Moses, Elijah and anyone of their generation be saved? They didn’t know Jesus, and that would not be fair; if they could not be saved…

 

[JosieN]

So how can Abraham, Moses, Elijah and anyone of their generation be saved? They didn’t know Jesus, and that would not be fair; if they could not be saved…

He had not come into the world yet at their time… The Gospel had not been preached to spread the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. They cannot be compared to our time.

 

[LaramieHirsch]

Oh yes because we care about you. We all want to see you with us in heaven and nowhere else.

Any person raised in the Jewish faith and doesn’t know the truth in Jesus, then they can be citizens of heaven too. But a person who is Catholic and knows the truth in Jesus, that is a different story.

If there is no need to convert Jews, then they must be fine. I refuse to believe that the Catholic Church is superior to Judaism–a higher gradation–of a salvation-attainable religion. If anything, this video is showing that there is no hierarchy of religions, but that they lie on the same plane. Especially considering recent statements about converting Jews.

Besides, it’s easier to be a Jew in this country. Just watch television or movies, or read about the political class. It’s much easier. There’s a lot of incentive to change horses midstream. So much effort is spent trying to Judaize us, why not give it a try? Especially with this new permission?

It’s just a matter of Coke vs Pepsi, really.

 

[JosieN]

If there is no need to convert Jews, then they must be fine. I refuse to believe that the Catholic Church is superior to Judaism–a higher gradation–of a salvation-attainable religion. If anything, this video is showing that there is no hierarchy of religions, but that they lie on the same plane. Especially considering recent statements about converting Jews.

Besides, it’s easier to be a Jew in this country. Just watch television or movies, or read about the political class. It’s much easier. There’s a lot of incentive to change horses midstream. So much effort is spent trying to Judaize us, why not give it a try? Especially with this new permission?

It’s just a matter of Coke vs Pepsi, really.

The Pope’s message appears to be that all religions are equal because God loves us all, but how can this be true when they do not have the same beliefs? There is only one truth and if you are a Christian and of the Catholic faith you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He came into the world to bring us salvation through His death on the cross and His resurrection. Catholics have fought battles and died defending this truth. If you are a Catholic and believe it is a matter of Coke vs Pepsi ,then why believe in anything at all?

 

[JPUSC]

**COMMISSION FOR RELIGIOUS RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS

“THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE”
(Rom 11:29)**

5. The universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and God’s unrevoked covenant with Israel

1. Since God has never revoked his covenant with his people Israel, there cannot be different paths or approaches to God’s salvation…

1. From the Christian confession that there can be only one path to salvation, however, it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. Such a claim would find no support in the soteriological understanding of Saint Paul, who in the Letter to the Romans not only gives expression to his conviction that there can be no breach in the history of salvation, but that salvation comes from the Jews (cf. also Jn 4:22). God entrusted Israel with a unique mission, and He does not bring his mysterious plan of salvation for all peoples (cf. 1 Tim 2:4) to fulfilment without drawing into it his “first-born son” (Ex 4:22). From this it is self-evident that Paul in the Letter to the Romans definitively negates the question he himself has posed, whether God has repudiated his own people. Just as decisively he asserts: “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). That the Jews are participants in God’s salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly, is and remains an unfathomable divine mystery. It is therefore no accident that Paul’s soteriological reflections in Romans 9-11 on the irrevocable redemption of Israel against the background of the Christ-mystery culminate in a magnificent doxology: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways” (Rom 11:33). Bernard of Clairvaux (De cons. III/I,3) says that for the Jews “a determined point in time has been fixed which cannot be anticipated”.

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20151210_ebraismo-nostra-aetate_en.html#5._The_universality_of_salvation_in_Jesus_Christ_and_God%92s_unrevoked_covenant_with_Israel

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholics are called to witness to their faith in Jesus before all people, including Jews, but the Catholic Church “neither conducts nor supports” any institutional missionary initiative directed toward Jews, says a new document from a Vatican commission.

How God will save the Jews if they do not explicitly believe in Christ is “an unfathomable divine mystery,” but one which must be affirmed since Catholics believe that God is faithful to his promises and therefore never revoked his covenant with the Jewish people, it says.

catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/new-vatican-document-reflects-on-relations-between-catholics-jews.cfm

Dual-covenant theology

John Paul II supported dual-covenant theology. On November 17, 1980, Pope John Paul II delivered a speech to the Jews of Berlin in which he discussed his views of Catholic-Jewish relations. In it, John Paul II asserted that God’s Old Covenant with the Jewish people was never revoked which meant, as Darcy O’Brien wrote, that the pope had indicated that the Catholic Church had abandoned its mission to proselytize the Jews and has embraced the Jews’ salvation. O’Brien writes that this put John Paul II’s stance at odds with that of many Christian denominations that see baptism as a prerequisite of salvation. During the speech, John Paul II also claimed that Catholics must embrace the Hebrew Bible as being equally valid as the New Testament.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II_and_Judaism#Dual-covenant_theology

From a theological point of view, it is clear there is an inseparable bond between Christians and Jews. Christians, to be able to understand themselves, cannot not refer to their Jewish roots, and the Church, while professing salvation through faith in Christ, recognizes the irrevocability of the Covenant and God’s constant and faithful love for Israel.

Pope Francis

news.va/en/news/pope-francis-calls-on-catholics-and-jews-to-work-t

 

[JosieN]

JPUSC:
Is this what you believe is the truth? While I respect the words of the Popes, I do not believe they are the Word of God. I will let God judge me if I am wrong. Here is another quote, this one is taken from the Bible.

“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)

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Is this what you believe is the truth? While I respect the words of the Popes, I do not believe they are the Word of God. I will let God judge me if I am wrong. Here is another quote, this one is taken from the Bible.

“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)

Written in the context of those who were around at the time of Jesus Christ, not 2000 years later after the blemished history of Christianity.

Jim

 

[JosieN]

Written in the context of those who were around at the time of Jesus Christ, not 2000 years later after the blemished history of Christianity.

Jim

If the words in the New Testament cannot be trusted because it is 2000 years old and out of context, then what of the Old Testament, is it not even older?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If the words in the New Testament cannot be trusted because it is 2000 years old and out of context, then what of the Old Testament, is it not even older?

The words of the New Testament can be trusted with proper interpretation, which the Church provides.

Rigid fundamentalist interpretation fails.

Jim

 

[JosieN]

The words of the New Testament can be trusted with proper interpretation, which the Church provides.

Rigid fundamentalist interpretation fails.

Jim

I believe the church is important for our salvation, but I also believe that it is through Jesus Christ that we are saved. God loves us and sent His only Son to suffer on the cross for us so we could be saved. How is this rigid fundamentalism?

 

[LaramieHirsch]

Catholics have fought battles and died defending this truth. If you are a Catholic and believe it is a matter of Coke vs Pepsi ,then why believe in anything at all?

Well, I don’t know what to tell you. The pope is the leader of the Christians. And at this point, your religion seems to be determined by your personal preference.

It’s a shame that so many Catholics fought and died for something that is so malleable, changeable, and subject to the whims of societal evolution. But mankind must go on, and I’m sure that the fallen saints in Heaven are laughing with each other about how much they took themselves so seriously.

Cheers!

 

[JPUSC]

Well, I don’t know what to tell you. The pope is the leader of the Christians. And at this point, your religion seems to be determined by your personal preference.

It’s a shame that so many Catholics fought and died for something that is so malleable, changeable, and subject to the whims of societal evolution. But mankind must go on, and I’m sure that the fallen saints in Heaven are laughing with each other about how much they took themselves so seriously.

Cheers!

 

[fred_conty]

What does this mean? Are you saying any person in the Jewish faith not knowing the truth that Jesus is our Lord and Savior will be saved the same as those who believe in Jesus? Then why have missionaries go to countries to convert sinners? Why not just say it does not matter what you believe in because we are all His creation? Just because God created us and loves us does not guarantee us a place in Heaven. Why would He send His only Son to this world to die on the cross if it was so easy? Only through His Son and His teachings can we be saved. This is clearly taught in the Bible.

If you would, give me some of what the Bible says.
But meanwhile here is what the church says:

“… Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” (CCC #846)

It doesn’t seem to me that they believe the above thru their own culability, so that means they are not excluded from salvation.

The church, nor I, say that this is the best situation for them because the road to salvation is narrow. And this road becomes much more narrow the less a person knows and believes about Jesus.

The same holds for many other christian denoms. They do have a great love of Jesus, praise be to God, and they do try to please him, praise be to God, and they do many charitable loving things both in their family and in society, praise be to God. But still having said all of that, the road is narrow, and the road gets even narrower the less a person knows the whole truth of what Jesus taught and receives less of his benefits. So blessed be those of other faiths who do believe in Jesus, and lets pray for them sincerely that they will make it down that narrow road, or find the whole truth so that that narrow road gets wider. And the same applies for our Jewish brothers as well.