Protestants = Heretics?

[Lutheranteach]

Well, it looks like you are where you really want to be right now. That is good for you because Catholicism maintains that one should always follow the dictates of one’s conscience. However, the teaching has more nuances to this main principle but I am sure you already have come across CCC sections 1776-1794. I hope you review those again as the journey to the truth takes a never-ending, lifelong process and we never stop searching…wherever it leads us.

Now that I’ve mentioned #s 1776-1794, I looked back at your list and found out that you have included there item# 1789 wherein you have, I quote - “disagreement with these paragraphs varies in degree”. Said CCC section 1789 says in verbatim:

*Some rules apply in every case:

• One may never do evil so that good may result from it;
• the Golden Rule: “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”
• charity always proceeds by way of respect for one’s neighbor and his conscience: “Thus sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience . . . you sin against Christ.” Therefore “it is right not to . . . do anything that makes your brother stumble.”

I hope you would oblige in explaining your disagreement with this particular paragraph. Thank you.

My disagreement with it would stem from: - One may never do evil so that good may result from it. I can see no way any war, just or not, would not contain acts of great evil. Yet an overall good can come from it.

 

[Major_Minor]

My disagreement with it would stem from: - One may never do evil so that good may result from it. I can see no way any war, just or not, would not contain acts of great evil. Yet an overall good can come from it.

War is a collective, not individual effort.

 

[Willy_Jose]

My disagreement with it would stem from: - One may never do evil so that good may result from it. I can see no way any war, just or not, would not contain acts of great evil. Yet an overall good can come from it.

“One may never do evil so that good may result from it”

This simply echoes the famous Pauline principle (Romans 3:8). I suppose you do not disagree with St Paul’s inspired statement, and so we must take it into context. The phrase must be taken in the light of examining one’s conscience, because that is what sections CCC 1776-1794 are all about. It also emphasizes an important condition in the ethical principle of double-effect when evaluating the morality of an act. Therefore, the destruction that results from a just war does not negate the Catechism statement’s bearing on morality. After all, the object of a just war is justified defense against an aggressor, which may or may not bring destruction. The important distinction being that the destruction of the aggressor is not an inherent objective of a just war. Here, attendant destruction may be considered the “evil” (taken from a plain viewpoint), but that is not the object of a legitimate defence. I have attempted to show in a few words that your disagreement with the CCC passage is misplaced, because you have extrapolated an idea that was never intended by CCC 1789. In short the statement still holds, even with your example of wars. If you would really want a more in depth view of the Magisterial teaching on “just wars”, then I will point you to chapter 11 of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. It all fits in.

May I add that your misinterpretation is not equivalent to heresy , but I guess you still need to study Catholicism a lot more… just like the rest of us.