- Feb 5, 2002
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Do our religious beliefs have any bearing on our salvation?
Just in my first glance - and admittedly, it's only a glance - of his new encyclical, I'm just not seeing anything that suggests my religious beliefs hold any importance for my eternal destiny. In fact, I'm seeing little that suggests what I do on a day to day basis is all that important. The same goes for his call for a global brotherhood of man.
What seems to be important is where I stand on vast geopolitical and socioeconomic philosophies and theories and policies meant to make this life better. It's as if Jesus said, "Many will come to me and say, 'Lord, Lord', but I say screw you, I'm not interested in what you did, but which political policies and socioeconomic movements you supported.'"
Perhaps that's unfair, and a more careful reading will lead to a different conclusion. I'm sure there will be some good things in his latest encyclical. Most things ever presented in history had at least some good things, or nobody would follow them. But on my first perusal, I'm seeing scant differences between the words of his encyclical and the words of this:
Except Lennon sings for no religion, and Pope Francis seems to embrace all religions, I'm not catching much difference. Living for today perhaps? I dunno. And yet this is how the Church has been orienting itself for some time. Given that the only thing that makes the unprecedented number of Catholics abandoning their Catholic Faith look good is that it's better than those who remain but no longer believe the Catholic Faith, I can't imagine why we still think this is the correct approach.
I'll admit I admire those who can continue promoting losing strategies and game plans as much as the next person. But when failure has eternal consequences, it's no longer funny. Unless, of course, we no longer believe that what religion we do or do not embrace has eternal consequences, which brings me back to my initial question for Pope Francis: Does religion have any bearing on our eternal destinies, or is being good as laid out by the encyclical, or most things he says, good enough?
Daffey Thoughts: My one question for Pope Francis
Just in my first glance - and admittedly, it's only a glance - of his new encyclical, I'm just not seeing anything that suggests my religious beliefs hold any importance for my eternal destiny. In fact, I'm seeing little that suggests what I do on a day to day basis is all that important. The same goes for his call for a global brotherhood of man.
What seems to be important is where I stand on vast geopolitical and socioeconomic philosophies and theories and policies meant to make this life better. It's as if Jesus said, "Many will come to me and say, 'Lord, Lord', but I say screw you, I'm not interested in what you did, but which political policies and socioeconomic movements you supported.'"
Perhaps that's unfair, and a more careful reading will lead to a different conclusion. I'm sure there will be some good things in his latest encyclical. Most things ever presented in history had at least some good things, or nobody would follow them. But on my first perusal, I'm seeing scant differences between the words of his encyclical and the words of this:
Except Lennon sings for no religion, and Pope Francis seems to embrace all religions, I'm not catching much difference. Living for today perhaps? I dunno. And yet this is how the Church has been orienting itself for some time. Given that the only thing that makes the unprecedented number of Catholics abandoning their Catholic Faith look good is that it's better than those who remain but no longer believe the Catholic Faith, I can't imagine why we still think this is the correct approach.
I'll admit I admire those who can continue promoting losing strategies and game plans as much as the next person. But when failure has eternal consequences, it's no longer funny. Unless, of course, we no longer believe that what religion we do or do not embrace has eternal consequences, which brings me back to my initial question for Pope Francis: Does religion have any bearing on our eternal destinies, or is being good as laid out by the encyclical, or most things he says, good enough?
Daffey Thoughts: My one question for Pope Francis
