When is the Last Time You Heard a Homily about Hell?

[TMC]

Think about this drpmihess, the wonder of Truth is that Truth does not change, it is immutable. The Church, which is our eyepiece and earpiece to Truth must also be immutable. Therefore whatever century we are in or looking forward to, is without meaning with respects to this Truth.

This is the beauty of Catholicism. Other wise, if things change (grow more liberal, got watered down etc) it would be frightening to predict the Church in the 22nd century. With our Church, we need not worry, it will be the same. Thank God.

I know this was not addressed to me, but I would like to comment anyway. I see your point, but I think your logic is flawed.

You are saying that Truth is unchanging. I agree.

You are saying the Church is the portal through which we perceive the Truth. I think the accuracy of this statement depends on how you define “Church” but for this purpose let’s agree this is true.

You then say that the Church is therefore unchanging. This does not follow.

Let’s assume that for the purposes of this discussion Jupiter may be considered unchanging. The means we use to discern Jupiter may change, and does change. With the naked eye Jupiter seemed a wondering heavenly light, like the stars but with a different rythm. Then it was understood to be some other kind of body. Eventually we understood it was a sister satellite around the sun, learned what it looked like, its moons, etc.

The fact that Jupiter did not change did not mean that the portal through which we learned of Jupiter had to remain unchanged, also.

As we learned more and more, nothing that we observed before was untrue, or need be unobserved. The implications of what we knew about Jupiter did change. Jupiter is still a wandering heavenly light, but now we know why it wanders. We know that although it appears like a star it is different. The ancient observers of Jupiter were not liars, or even really wrong. They just did not know all we know now.

It is certainly possible to assert that the Church is unchanging, but that fact is not compelled by the fact that Truth is unchanging, or even by the belief that the Church Fathers were not wrong.

Knowledge and understanding grow. The Holy Spirit is with us to promote that growth and understanding. Is that not what Jesus promised us would happen?

 

[Mijoy2]

I know this was not addressed to me, but I would like to comment anyway. I see your point, but I think your logic is flawed.

You are saying that Truth is unchanging. I agree.

You are saying the Church is the portal through which we perceive the Truth. I think the accuracy of this statement depends on how you define “Church” but for this purpose let’s agree this is true.

You then say that the Church is therefore unchanging. This does not follow.

Let’s assume that for the purposes of this discussion Jupiter may be considered unchanging. The means we use to discern Jupiter may change, and does change. With the naked eye Jupiter seemed a wondering heavenly light, like the stars but with a different rythm. Then it was understood to be some other kind of body. Eventually we understood it was a sister satellite around the sun, learned what it looked like, its moons, etc.

The fact that Jupiter did not change did not mean that the portal through which we learned of Jupiter had to remain unchanged, also.

As we learned more and more, nothing that we observed before was untrue, or need be unobserved. The implications of what we knew about Jupiter did change. Jupiter is still a wandering heavenly light, but now we know why it wanders. We know that although it appears like a star it is different. The ancient observers of Jupiter were not liars, or even really wrong. They just did not know all we know now.

It is certainly possible to assert that the Church is unchanging, but that fact is not compelled by the fact that Truth is unchanging, or even by the belief that the Church Fathers were not wrong.

Knowledge and understanding grow. The Holy Spirit is with us to promote that growth and understanding. Is that not what Jesus promised us would happen?

You are absolutely correct. The Church can will and should change with time (such as with the doctrine of the Assumption) as the Church explores previously revealed Truths. However Truth, already revealed will not change. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Brendan]

You are absolutely correct. The Church can will and should change with time (such as with the doctrine of the Assumption) as the Church explores previously revealed Truths. However Truth, already revealed will not change. Thank you for the clarification.

I would like to add a bit myself.

You are very correct, the Truth that the Church recieved is unchanging. We can recieve a deeper understanding of what has already been known, but we cannot add to the Truth what was not there.

In the case of the Assumption, no faithful Catholic denied that, prior to Pope Puis’s fogmatic declaration, it was a known Truth. The Assumption has been pictured in Medieval art and it’s a doctrine we share with the Orthodox.

What changed is not the Truth, but rather the particulars about it. We know understand that it is truely dogma, that is, one cannot be saved when one obstainately denies its the Truth that Mary was assumed Body and Soul into Heaven, but that legitimate opinion may exisit on if that happend at physical Death or in a Dormition.

And that is true for the entire Deposit of Faith. The Truth exists, and very minor details have and will arise