All along Bellaā¦I donāt know if I would call myself liberal-minded or not, but that has been my one sentiment all along: too much emphasis on the doās and donāts without enough emphasis on the Gospel message without which these ārulesā make no sense. I say this in specific reference to abortion.
A person will not just value life because some stranger demands that they do. First they have to experience what it is to be valued by other people (something the Holy Father does a great job of), then they must come to understand that we are all valued by God, before they can understand why the power over life and death belongs to Him alone. The horse has to come before the cart, though both are eventually required in order to get anywhere.
I often hear the argument that it takes too long to āconvert hearts and mindsā, but obtaining peopleās adherence to one or two moral doās and donāts, uncoupled from serious attempts to fully live out the Gospel, is simply a form of OT legalism in my mind: insufficient and ineffective despite our best efforts.
I think you raise an interesting point but that in a sense itās based on a flawed view.
Of course no individual, in our ācult of the individualā society, is going to do
anything based on what anyone tells him or her. āYou arenāt the boss of MEā.
That being said, to argue that the gospel message is somehow independent of ārulesā or ādoās and donātsā is itself I believe a mistaken view. Christ did not say, "Love one another above all and donāt worry about rules until you realize you should love one anotherā. Christ came among the Jewish people, as a Jewish person, and obeying all the Jewish ārulesā which were as important to His message then as they are now. Christ didnāt walk into a world where the ācult of the individualā was being practiced. He came into a tribal world. Different tribes and societies had different rules, but none of those societies was based on upholding a message āwithout rulesā.
The wrong idea (and itās not yours) is that for many of the āaverage peopleā today, including Christians, there is some nebulous idea floating around that āGodā (and/or Jesus) was somehow just a cosmic teddy bear all about LOVE, and that ārulesā sprang up from MEN. When people do talk about religious rules today, itās often to try to point out that rules āback thenā were different and of course that proved that God wasnāt the one making the rules and if we were REALLY Christian, we wouldnāt NEED rules because weād do the right thing without āneeding to be toldā. Which is hogwash. Look at many of our āmainstreamā Protestant brothers and sisters whose churches have been following the āGod is all above love, we are inclusive, rules are man made and changing, the focus is on the MESSAGEā for the last 50 years. Have these churches really reached out to people? Have people flocked in droves because these ānon rule enforcing but gospel teaching and practicingā churches have been offering acceptance and non judgment?
I donāt think so. Look how the membership of these churches has PLUMMETED.
One reason? If God doesnāt judge, if there arenāt any ādoās and donātsā beyond my own desires, if I can think myself a good person by not actively being a BAD one and thatās all I need, why bother to go to church? Why not ābe with Godā at home, loving my family, having fun, celebrating life, and not doing bad things? Why have to ālimitā myself to a RULE about 'Sunday Church", āSunday dressā, āSunday observancesā. . .when I can just think ānice thingsā about other people on my own time as I choose?
We can take a look also at our fundamentalist brothers and sisters. Here, if you will, are people who indeed focus on the gospel, and living it --theyāre out evangelizing, helping each other, etcā¦ . and oh wait. They have more ārulesā than a lot of Catholics follow. They donāt just attend a 45 minute Mass on a Sunday; often their services will last 3 hours or more. And then they have Sunday School. Bible study. Youth groups. Service groups. Many of them tithe. They dress plainly. They have ārulesā about things like courtship. They have rules about modesty. They have rules about ācourteous speechā. Etc. etc.
And look at many of their membership lists and see how they are rising.
Why? In some ways, because along WITH the gospel message, they offer practical ways to carry it out --AKA, they give rules as a STRUCTURE (just the way the Catholic Church does) because without a STRUCTURE, people tend to build too high, too low, too flimsily, in the wrong location, etc.
I have no fault to find with the **continued emphasis on reaching out to the poor, and on compassion and understanding, which ALL of our Popes in the 20th century have been modeling. **
Pope Francis is
no different from Pope Benedict or Pope John Paul 2 or Pope Paul VI or Pope John 23 or Pope Pius XII, XII, Benedict XV, or St. Pius X in his message of concern for the poor, compassion toward all, and need for the Church to reach out to all people.
