Who speaks with Authority, Christ or the German Bishops?
Among the points made by individual participants, the agency said, were: Church teaching and discipline are not immovable, but develop over time; “a second marriage can be an authentic union”; the indissolubility of marriage is an ideal or “utopia” to strive for; that God may be present in a stable and faithful homosexual union, but the union is not a marriage; that the Church must find a language that is less “blunt” or harsh to speak about people in situations that do not measure up to the Gospel ideal
The above are comments from a German Bishops Conference regarding the forthcoming Synod on Marriage. Do you recognise here men teaching with Authority?
Let us turn to Jesus. Crowds followed him of many different opinions. Many who were divorced would no doubt have been affronted with what he said in Matthew 5:31. "It was also said that whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce". Well that is simple and straightforward almost like we have today where according to the above bishops the indissolubility of marriage is an ideal or 'utopia' to strive for', I am sure the German Bishops would have been shocked then when Jesus went on to say "But I say to you (he believes in his own authority) that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unchastity, makes her an adulteress, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" Now I do not want to get into Scripture discussion where today everyone is free to interpret the Bible anyway they please and do. Sufficient to say that unless by unchastity Jesus is just talking about men having affairs the passage makes no sense. It is one of the difficulties of translating from one language to another. But for two thousand years the Church has promoted the ideal of marriage as the Christian way of life. It lost out at the Reformation in England by standing by this teaching and those who parade the Bible at every Mass as something sacred should actually be more interested in what Jesus said. Many in the crowd would have been divorced and angry and in their own way spoke about the development of doctrine. One thing is certain some would have accepted, others would have turned away.
But who in your mind spoke with authority. The German bishops or Jesus?
But have you noticed that there is a certain reluctance by those who have 'moved on' to actually quote Jesus or the Bible in these 'mercy' debates They want a language that is less blunt or harsh for today's world. They of course are looking for a language that is less judgemental and leaves them with their conscience - and of course helps them to carry on as usual. They want language that is charitable and not authoritarian. But one who speaks with authority is one who talks just like Jesus. The matter is too important to leave people in any doubt. So let us turn to Mark 10. we find Pharisees trying to catch Jesus out on the subject of Divorce. Perhaps they had heard his views and wanted to make him unpopular. Moses they told him had allowed a writ of Divorce so what was his views. Again he talked bluntly and with authority. "For YOUR HARDNESS OF HEART he wrote for you this commandment (no compromise in his language and full of judgementalism) but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two but one. What then God has joined together let not man put assunder" (And this is the Son of God speaking, do we need question his authority).
OK, it sounds very harsh indeed. But to Christ marriage was a very important thing. HIs Kingdom was to be built on love, the love of a husband and wife, the love of parents for their children, their maturity in love reaching beyond the family to their neighbour , a whole nation built on the concept of true love, not concupiscence and adultery And charity or love does not lie in co-operating with the breakdown of society with comments like it is too hard, it is an ideal. Does a divorced and remarried person therefore have a place in the Church. They most certainly do and indeed on this subject their heartache is the best teacher and we should welcome them with true compassion. But they cannot come on their own terms and demand we ignore this teaching and they can receive Communion as though there was nothing wrong. As victims of the world they should be ensuring that their children and other young people are prepared for marriage, that is sacramental marriage as defined by the Master Jesus Christ. Let us pray for the coming Synod that it will renew the Church and start the process of healing those who have been lost to us.
The above are comments from a German Bishops Conference regarding the forthcoming Synod on Marriage. Do you recognise here men teaching with Authority?
Let us turn to Jesus. Crowds followed him of many different opinions. Many who were divorced would no doubt have been affronted with what he said in Matthew 5:31. "It was also said that whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce". Well that is simple and straightforward almost like we have today where according to the above bishops the indissolubility of marriage is an ideal or 'utopia' to strive for', I am sure the German Bishops would have been shocked then when Jesus went on to say "But I say to you (he believes in his own authority) that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unchastity, makes her an adulteress, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" Now I do not want to get into Scripture discussion where today everyone is free to interpret the Bible anyway they please and do. Sufficient to say that unless by unchastity Jesus is just talking about men having affairs the passage makes no sense. It is one of the difficulties of translating from one language to another. But for two thousand years the Church has promoted the ideal of marriage as the Christian way of life. It lost out at the Reformation in England by standing by this teaching and those who parade the Bible at every Mass as something sacred should actually be more interested in what Jesus said. Many in the crowd would have been divorced and angry and in their own way spoke about the development of doctrine. One thing is certain some would have accepted, others would have turned away.
But who in your mind spoke with authority. The German bishops or Jesus?
But have you noticed that there is a certain reluctance by those who have 'moved on' to actually quote Jesus or the Bible in these 'mercy' debates They want a language that is less blunt or harsh for today's world. They of course are looking for a language that is less judgemental and leaves them with their conscience - and of course helps them to carry on as usual. They want language that is charitable and not authoritarian. But one who speaks with authority is one who talks just like Jesus. The matter is too important to leave people in any doubt. So let us turn to Mark 10. we find Pharisees trying to catch Jesus out on the subject of Divorce. Perhaps they had heard his views and wanted to make him unpopular. Moses they told him had allowed a writ of Divorce so what was his views. Again he talked bluntly and with authority. "For YOUR HARDNESS OF HEART he wrote for you this commandment (no compromise in his language and full of judgementalism) but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two but one. What then God has joined together let not man put assunder" (And this is the Son of God speaking, do we need question his authority).
OK, it sounds very harsh indeed. But to Christ marriage was a very important thing. HIs Kingdom was to be built on love, the love of a husband and wife, the love of parents for their children, their maturity in love reaching beyond the family to their neighbour , a whole nation built on the concept of true love, not concupiscence and adultery And charity or love does not lie in co-operating with the breakdown of society with comments like it is too hard, it is an ideal. Does a divorced and remarried person therefore have a place in the Church. They most certainly do and indeed on this subject their heartache is the best teacher and we should welcome them with true compassion. But they cannot come on their own terms and demand we ignore this teaching and they can receive Communion as though there was nothing wrong. As victims of the world they should be ensuring that their children and other young people are prepared for marriage, that is sacramental marriage as defined by the Master Jesus Christ. Let us pray for the coming Synod that it will renew the Church and start the process of healing those who have been lost to us.
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