What happened to Jesus?

Last updated on: February 22, 2016 at 10:15 am by Dave Griffey

What happened to Jesus? 2016-02-22T10:15:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So everyone was abuzz last week about Pope Francis and Donald Trump. True, people have parsed the Pope’s statement just about every way you can parse a statement. Whether or not he was saying ‘Donald is not a Christian’ is up for grabs. And to be honest, it depends on how charitably you are willing to interrupt the Pope’s statements.

For the sake of charity, I’ll give you that he didn’t specifically say Donald Trump is not a Christian. He did, however, say that anyone who builds walls instead of bridges is not a Christian. And that is worth pondering, since it’s so vague and so shallow (sorry, it’s a shallow statement more at home on Positive Attitude Posters than a theological treatise) it doesn’t really mean anything. Is the Pope, by saying Isis can be dealt with through violence, not building a bridge? Does that even count? What does he mean? Does he mean anything? Or is it like so much in modern Catholic unspeak, that the words are vague enough that Catholics – and anyone else – can run with them in whatever direction they want? I don’t know.

Nevertheless, as the firestorm spread and everyone either jumped on Pope Francis or defended him, I noticed something. Much of the criticism of the Pope was centered around the fact that this is the first time he really came out and, focusing on the context of a single individual, linked our eternal destiny to what that individual advocated. Like this article notices. The criticism is that he has met with political leaders and world leaders who have pushed gay marriage, abortion, assisted suicide, the assault on religious liberty, and even the torture and murder of their own people, and silence. If he had anything negative to say, it was behind closed doors. There were no public pronouncements that you can’t advocate for abortion rights and be a Christian. Or you can’t support gay marriage and be a Christian. Or you can’t enact policies that attack Christ’s Church and be a Christian. Or you can’t torture and murder your own citizens and be a Christian. Again, if theses things were said, we didn’t hear about them. Or at least I didn’t hear about them.

But he picks this. This one subject to throw down the fence between the sheep and goats. So people fired back that there are other issues he should have picked, like those above. But what I wondered in all this is just where is Jesus? I mean, heaven and hell seems to be based on a variety of social and political policies or agendas, not on a relationship with Jesus. I know that in Catholic and Orthodox circles, the phrase ‘relationship with my personal lord and savior’ is not used, but only because of the connotations of the phrase. It’s not like they don’t believe it. They actually do believe you must have a relationship with Christ. They actually do say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

So where was He in these conversations? I mean, Pope Francis has even said that atheists and non-Christians all are heaven bound if they follow their consciences or the path to God in their traditions. Jesus, in an actual relationship, seems to have no bearing at all. Especially when the first time the idea of an individual not going to heaven is floated it has nothing to do with a relationship to Jesus at all, but simply a political policy issue.

I know that the Church allows for salvation outside of the Church and outside full knowledge of the Gospel. I get that Jesus is the judge through which we can have salvation; the advocate for humanity. I get that God so loved the world. I understand that our pilgrimage is more than just claiming relationship to Christ via the Sinner’s Prayer.

But in all the kerfuffle from last week, by the Pope’s defenders, detractors, and apparently the Pope himself, the issue of what one thinks about Jesus or not, or whether one believes in or rejects the Gospel of Christ or not, never came up in the discussions. It’s also worth noting that when the Pope said this, there was great cheering and dancing in the streets by Catholics who once condemned traditional Catholics for wanting the Pope to call out different people over various sins. There was not, as far as I saw, a single call to pray for Trump’s soul among them. If we have come to the point where Jesus is no longer more than a figurehead to which we can appeal for ideological validation, I guess I can see why.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 22, 2016

The Left in a nutshell

Next Post

February 22, 2016 Trump as Pope

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was struck dead instantly for lying about money they gave to the church?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene Aquila and Priscilla Simon the Sorcerer and Demas Ananias and Sapphira