Um…I think by the standard of two very top leaders of your religion?
I wasn’t asking by what standard of judgment I use. I was asking what standard of judgment YOU use.
You have no epistomological basis for your canon of morality. You’ve decided that homosexuality=ok and Catholic teaching=immoral and barbaric. You have no basis for this belief. It’s a subjective opinion.
You don’t want to pass judgment on sexual revolutionaries, because you feel that’s mean and that sexual revolutionaries honestly believe they’re loving people; but you (likely) pass judgment on the wealthy who honestly believe they’re helping the masses through laissez-faire Capitalism.
Morality isn’t decided based upon how the person feels. Both sexual revolutionaries and rich laissez-faire Capitalists honestly believe what they’re doing is moral and even helping society.
But the question isn’t about feelings. The question is about what’s truly right and wrong.
The pope doesn’t feel it’s good to judge people.
“Who am I to judge a gay person,” he said in July.
And Jesus doesn’t feel it’s good to judge people:
“Judge not, that you be not judged."
(Matthew 7:1)
Not quite. You’re taking the NYT spin on things. The NYT and MSNBC aren’t exactly the most trust-worthy source for reporting on religious issues, be it Catholic, Protestant, Islam, etc.
Rather than cherry pick the Pope’s and Jesus’ words from atheist/sexular sources, you should look to what the Pope and Jesus actually meant from their own sources. You wouldn’t use a Protestant source to reliably interpret Catholic teaching, for instance.
catholic.com/magazine/articles/judge-not
Here are a couple of infallible Bible passages about judging:
1 Cor. 6:2-18 “Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, matters pertaining to this life!…Shun immorality”
John 7:24 "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Matt 3:7 “But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’”
1 Cor 5:9-11 “Sexual Immorality Must Be Judged. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— 10 not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister[c] who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one.”
1 Cor 10:15 “I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.”
But, naturally, you have free will. And even though you are a follower of both Jesus and the Pope, you don’t have to feel and do the same as they do.
Actually, I do. But I use their own interpretations; I don’t use atheist/sexular or Protestant interpretations of the Pope’s or Jesus’ statements. I use the Churches own teachers to interpret the Churches own teachings.
But. If they teach “the full truth” and you don’t agree with what they are saying here about judgment and you say your perspective is still “right” because it’s what you yourself believe and feel to be true…is that not–gasp!–“moral relativism”?
I accept everything Jesus teaches, and Jesus protects the Church from officially teaching anything wrong, so I accept what the Church teaches.
I accept the Churches own interpreters to interpret the Churches own teachings, not atheists/sexularists to interpret the Churches teachings.
