Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, hardly a man of little faith, who has seen the Catholic church collapse in Europe ( especially in Ireland and Holland) says the obsession with sexual sin as against economic sin has been a prime cause. Take Holland for example- the Church is losing thousands of church going Catholics every year or Ireland, where anti-clericalism is now rife. How long can a Church centered in Rome go on losing its support in Europe if secularism triumphs ? Its all well and good to be dogmatic but we do well to remember Jesus in the end was all about loving not judging.
Really? It seems to me Jesus is about both. What is Jesus going to do when he comes again?
When he starts his ministry he begins to preach and say “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” If there is no judgment what is there to repent from?
Jesus came to call sinners because they are the ones that need a physician–to be healed. From what? Their sin–correct? Isn’t this judging? How else do you know what a sin is?
What do you make of these words of Jesus when he sends the twelve–“Whoever does not receive you or listen to your words–go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”
Or what about this referring to Jesus: “Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deed had been done, since they had not repented. 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For it the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.”
What does loving and not judging mean to you? Where do you stand on sin–is it something we need to repent from or do you think we have moved beyond sin? Jesus loves us and calls all of us sinners but answering his call requires something of us–our repentance from sin and our striving to do the will of his Father–does it not? No one seems to have a problem with judging actions such as murder and abuse but really it seems only to be in the sexual arena that we start hearing “hey don’t judge, Jesus is about love.”
It seems to me that the Church is what Christ founded and sent into the world to proclaim his truth. This is not being judgmental–it’s up to people to listen to that truth or not. We believe not listening to this truth may have consequences for those who do not listen, but because of a variety of factors we do not know what those consequences may be for any particular person. To be quite truthful I am more worried about my own actions–and sins of omission, the luxury (not by american standards) that I live in when compared to a good portion of the world–I fear that I will be called to answer for not doing more to help the poor and downtrodden of the world. Love is not affirming everything someone wants to do and that is not what Jesus did.
The Church loses people because too many Christians treat the faith as if it was a list of don’ts keeping them from having fun, they don’t act joyful living the faith but rather dour following the faith. The faith that should free them and bring them joy and peace. The world should see us happy and joyful no matter what the world brings–if our faith did that for us–people would be curious about what we had–about our faith and how it brings such joy and peace.
The peace of Christ,
Mark
