The Basic Problem

[NoelFitz]

I was at a talk recently when an emeritus bishop claimed the basic problem at the present time is belief in God.

I was reminded of the Shema:

….The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. (Deut. 6:4-5 NAB)

Are we just beings that exist for a few years and then disintegrate back into mainly carbon dioxide and water? Is a bleak hole in the ground all we can expect? The incarnation and Christology are not fundamental. Transubstantiation, Christology, ecclesiology and the Trinity are not the fundamental issues.

Maybe in the US where the culture is essentially Christian debates about the nature of the Trinity and Christology may be considered vitally important. But in Europe atheism/secularism, with the removal of all mention of God, is more fundamental.

I am inclined to agree with the bishop. Do you think he had a point?

 

[tonyrey]

I was at a talk recently when an emeritus bishop claimed the basic problem at the present time is belief in God.

I was reminded of the Shema:

….The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. (Deut. 6:4-5 NAB)

Are we just beings that exist for a few years and then disintegrate back into mainly carbon dioxide and water? Is a bleak hole in the ground all we can expect? The incarnation and Christology are not fundamental. Transubstantiation, Christology, ecclesiology and the Trinity are not the fundamental issues.

Maybe in the US where the culture is essentially Christian debates about the nature of the Trinity and Christology may be considered vitally important. But in Europe atheism/secularism, with the removal of all mention of God, is more fundamental.

I am inclined to agree with the bishop. Do you think he had a point?

There is no doubt whatsoever he is right. I have met many young Europeans in the last twenty years and for the vast majority the question of religion doesn’t even arise. In the Catholic church I attend most foreigners are from Africa, Asia and South America.

 

[RomanoAmerio]

There is no doubt whatsoever he is right. I have met many young Europeans in the last twenty years and for the vast majority the question of religion doesn’t even arise. In the Catholic church I attend most foreigners are from Africa, Asia and South America.

You are right. I was once in a particular French town on a business trip, and when I visited the local parish on a Sunday, the parish secretary informed me that their most devout parishioners were of African and Asian origin. They even had a separate mass in the vernacular (I believe it was Tamil) for refugees of Sri Lankan origin. Pope St. John Paul II’s prophetic words about “a rich harvest of souls from Asia” come to mind, as do Pope Paul VI’s words on the Church in Africa.

 

[fhansen]

I was at a talk recently when an emeritus bishop claimed the basic problem at the present time is belief in God.

I was reminded of the Shema:

….The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. (Deut. 6:4-5 NAB)

Are we just beings that exist for a few years and then disintegrate back into mainly carbon dioxide and water? Is a bleak hole in the ground all we can expect? The incarnation and Christology are not fundamental. Transubstantiation, Christology, ecclesiology and the Trinity are not the fundamental issues.

Maybe in the US where the culture is essentially Christian debates about the nature of the Trinity and Christology may be considered vitally important. But in Europe atheism/secularism, with the removal of all mention of God, is more fundamental.

I am inclined to agree with the bishop. Do you think he had a point?

Yes, of course. All the other beliefs, however, are still ultimately aimed at that one target: faith in, hope in, and, most importantly, love for God. That’s the goal. Man is lost without it, whether he knows that or not. Man was made for communion with God, and that all begins with faith, at least on our part. But man tends to be extremely proud and cowardly and prefers himself and the crowd to the truth, the truth of who he is, and who God is, and of our need for and dependency on Him. And we’ll always look for excuses to avoid even looking His way. However, once we sufficiently break through that obstacle or veil we begin to know God, and love grows accordingly as we begin to see beyond the “distorted image” of Him that the catechism refers to in paragraph 399.

 

[Bradski]

Are we just beings that exist for a few years and then disintegrate back into mainly carbon dioxide and water? Is a bleak hole in the ground all we can expect?

You say that like it’s a bad thing…