Tag Archives: catholic

It Cannot Be Killed

Aside

Reply

IT Cannot Be Killed

Throughout history, empires have risen and fallen. The Pharaohs’ Egypt, Alexander’s Greek empire, Rome’s empire of conquest, Napoleon’s short lived empire, Hitler’s diabolical Reich, and Stalin’s satanic empire all died , but only after they degenerated into evil that killed freedom and debased human dignity. All political societies carry within them the seeds of descent; a place where failure is waiting, biding its time until it is time to ripe and create change, for better or worse.

Not only do political societies fail or are killed off, so also do philosophies and religions germinate, gain a degree of acceptance, and eventually die. Some continue to exist in new forms at low levels of acceptance, given a nodding assent until people realize it is just a rehash of old, rejected isms of hundreds or thousands of years ago.  Paganism, Arianism, and other isms seem to experience a rebirth only to be dashed upon the stones of reality, though enticing a few, but never again gaining wide acceptance.

Like the human body, anything that is perishable will perish. Occasionally, it might take many centuries to kill an ism, while other organisms may disintegrate in a few years or decades. Yet perish they will.

However, despite frequent and recurring opposition throughout the ages, there is one organization that will not die, because it is not perishable. It has God as it creator, from whom it obtains its permanence and direction. This is the Catholic Church. Despite political and cultural opposition, it has remained unconquered by all types of political and philosophical challenges. It has even survived repeated challenges from slackers within its own ranks. Senior level clergy, theologians, philosophers, and even the laity have tried to kill the church by changing it into their own image. They have all failed and will continue to fail because it is God’s church not theirs. He formed it and will continue to form it according to His will, not theirs.

The Catholic Church can be wounded from without and, mostly, from within, but it cannot be killed. God will not allow it.

 

Rules and Regulations

Aside

Reply

Rules and Regulations

During the period between January 2009 and December 2011, the bound edition of the US Code of Federal Regulations increased by 11,327 pages – a 7.4 percent increase. In 2009, the increase in the number of pages was the most for any year since 2002 – 3.4 percent or 5,359 pages. Over the past decade, the federal government has issued almost 38,000 new final rules. That brought the total of the Federal Regulations at the end of 2011 to 169,301 pages. That is more than double the number of pages needed to publish the regulations back in 1975 when the bound edition consisted of 71,244 pages.  All of these regulations are contained in over 215 volumes, which occupy shelf space in excess of 19 feet. It should be noted that these rules and regulations apply only to those issued by the Federal Government; not counted are the innumerable state, county and city regulations imposed upon the citizens.

Most certainly and understandably, there exists in the country a painful, pleading hue and cry, complaining of the excessive number and complexity of the governmental rules and regulations, which restrict individual freedom and confuse the citizens. Of course, during each election cycle politicians respond to the public’s demand for a lessening of the regulations by promising to reform the entire process. However, once the election is completed, they proceed to draft more rules and regulations and the cycle continues, with no reform.

There is another organization that faces complaints about its rules and regulations. One of the most common complaints about the Catholic Church is that it is the “church of rules and regulations.” Or “Catholicism is only about rules and regulations, always trying to limit my freedom.” Truly the Catholic Church has a list of its rules and regulations, but this list is decidedly different from governmental rules, both in its size and complexity. It can be contained on only one sheet of paper, occupying no shelf space. Its simplicity is so inherent in its decrees that one instinctively knows the rules without even being able to read them. The rules and regulations of Catholicism are all contained in the Ten Commandments; simple, to the point, easy to understand, and bound closely to the very nature of man. These are listed below.

  1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange gods before me.
  2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
  3. Remember to keep holy the LORD’S Day.
  4. Honor your father and your mother.
  5. You shall not kill.
  6. You shall not commit adultery.
  7. You shall not steal.
  8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

As simple and direct as these commandments are, Jesus Christ further simplified these easy to understand Ten Commandments into two, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The Catholic Church mirrors Jesus’ love for mankind in the simplicity and directness of its statues. Man’s true freedom and happiness are enhanced when he observes the Church’s few basic rules. Concerning the Ten Commandments, the brilliant British author, G.K. Chesterton, commented, “Throughout history men have certainly failed to live up to them. But in modern times, men have more disastrously failed in trying to live without them. But it is only in establishing and obeying certain rules that freedom is possible.” (As quoted in “Common Sense 101” by Dale Ahlquist)

“And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2, 3-6