We brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out of it.
What is wrong with our world?
The answer came to me in last Sunday’s Psalm .Ps 78:36-37 But they deceived him with their mouths, lied to him with their tongues. Their hearts were not constant toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. As I meditated on this Psalm it came to me with the recent murders of a talk show host, the murder of legislators in Michigan, genocide in Palestine, the killing at the Immaculate Conception Church during Mass and it seems pointless to list anything else. Nonetheless, murder and hate are the same side of the same sin.
My realizations is that we are not acting like Christians at all. We are Christians in name only (CINO). We say the words of the Gospel or Psalm or any other scripture, but that is all they are words. Our hearts are blind to the words we read or have proclaimed at Mass. We don’t practice what we preach. For Example.
Why are the sins of homosexually worse than sins of adultery or fornication?
The point is they are not. Mortal sin is mortal sin. The doctrine, which is in accordance with true religion, is simply ignorant and must be full of self-conceit – with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and wicked mistrust of one another; and unending disputes by people who are neither rational nor informed and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.
The CINO community for example, nonetheless, has a Crusade against homosexuality among other things. They assume that these values are polluting our younger generation. We must declare it a sin. Nevertheless, do sins of fornication, racism, adultery, hate, gluttony and stealing not pollute our younger generation? Do we ignore their sins? The sins of one group do not make the sins of others less or more evil. Honestly, we all work or know people who are homosexuals. They are part of our society just like heterosexual couples living together in sin are part of our society. We work with adulterers as well. Would you prevent a doctor from not saving your life or the life of a loved one if you knew that they were homosexual or an adulterer?
We have lost the ability to respect other humans. We mouth the words but do not walk the walk. Our hearts have been blinded and turn cold. We don’t have to approve of anyone’s actions or sins. Yes, we must say it is wrong. It is God’s job to do the judging. We just treat others with the respect we want. When Jesus said to love one another, He didn’t say to love their sins. He just told the woman caught in adultery to repent and go and sin no more. Still, we must teach what is right or wrong. The Gospel must be preached because we have a mandate in Matthew 28:16-20 to make disciples of all nations. The problem is we can’t hate or kill others to try and make them think our way. We all know the Ten Commandments, ” Thou shalt not Kill’. Still, some in the name of Christ, do it. The doctrine, which is in accordance with true religion, is simply ignorant and must be full of self-conceit – with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and wicked mistrust of one another; and unending disputes by people who are neither rational nor informed and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.
Please note I am not living in a glass house. I am also a sinner and probably have been guilty of being a CINO myself at times. Our attitude as Christians should be to improve and not run down the same path that we have in the past. We can’t improve the world by digging the same hole we have dug in the past. We must build relationships and not dig holes. We must live the words we preach and act more like Jesus and less like CINO’S.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for the soul of our beloved Pontiff, Pope Francis and for his successor, Pope Leo. Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for peace! The impossible could and can happen. Never deny God. Pray for justice for immigrants. Pray for justice for our President.
