Posted on 01/06/2014 6:40:37 AM PST by thetallguy24
Pope Francis greeted tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered on a bright crisp day in St. Peter’s Square Monday for the recitation of the Angelus Prayer and to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany with the Holy Father. In his address, the Pope referred to Pope Benedict Emeritus’s book, “Jesus of Nazareth: the Infancy Narratives” which he said “magnificently” recounts the biblical coming of the Maji from the East to Bethlehem to pay homage to the Christ Child. The Epiphany, Pope Francis said, marks the first “manifestation” of Christ to the people and as a consequence, points to the universal salvation brought by Jesus. In today’s feast, we see a “dual movement,” the Pope noted: of God who comes “towards the world, towards humanity” and of men who seek closeness to God: “the religions, the search for truth, the way of people towards peace, justice, liberty.” For his part, God loves us: “we are His children; He loves us and He wants to liberate us from evil, from sickness, from death, and take us to His home in His Kingdom.” We too, the Pope said, are attracted by “goodness, truth, life and happiness and beauty.” And as the two sides attract, Jesus, the Pope stressed, is our point of encounter with the Lord as His love incarnate. Had the Maji not seen the Star pointing them to Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem, they would never have left, the Pope mused. “Light precedes us, the truth precedes us, beauty precedes us. God precedes us: it is grace; and this grace appears in Jesus. He is the Epiphany, the manifestation of God’s love.” Departing from his prepared remarks, the Pope appealed “sincerely” and “respectfully” to those who “feel far from God and from the Church” and to “those who are fearful and indifferent: the Lord is calling you too.” The Lord is calling you to be a part of His people and He does it with great respect and love.” “The Lord does not proselytize; He gives love,” reaffirmed the Pope. “And this love seeks you and waits for you, you who at this moment do not believe or are far away. And this is the love of God.” Pope Francis prayed that “all the Church” may be steeped in “the joy of evangelizing” invoking the aid of the Virgin Mary so that “we can all be disciple-missionaries, small stars that reflect His light.” Following the recital of the Angelus, Pope Francis gave greetings to the Churches of the East who tomorrow will celebrate Christmas. He prayed that all will be “reinforced in faith, hope and charity” and the Lord will “give comfort” to Christian communities and to the Churches undergoing “trial.” The Pope recalled that the Epiphany is the missionary Day for children organized by the Pontifical office for Holy Childhood and thanked young people and children whose “gestures of solidarity” towards other children “widen the horizons of their fraternity.”
Pope Francis preaches the Jesus of the Bible. Case CLOSED.
It wasn’t always good news, well for those who didn’t follow Him. He did speak about judgement numerous times.
Matthew 25:31-56
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him,[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
If you are into the Bible, please consider this verse from the Bible:
“2 Timothy 2:23-25
English Standard Version (ESV)
23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant (A)controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And (B)the Lord’s servant[a] must not be quarrelsome but (C)kind to everyone, (D)able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents (E)with gentleness. God (F)may perhaps grant them repentance (G)leading to a knowledge of the truth.”
I learned it as the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion.
Even so, Jesus commands us to proselytize, even outside the Great Commission.
“And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” - Luke 24 46-49
I would simply add that God certainly proselytized Saul of Tarsus, with dramatic results for His kingdom.
If God does not proselytize, that would mean God would not wish to spread His own good news, which seems to be counterproductive, to use a polite word. Again, it appears Francis has stirred up more controversy, unless, of course, he was mistranslated again.
God Bless Pope Francis.
So I should have voted for Romney? lol
Proverbs 15:1
English Standard Version (ESV)
15” (A)A soft answer turns away wrath,
but (B)a harsh word stirs up anger.”
“The question I have is, if Pope Francis is so bad in his preaching, WHY is he attracting more people to pay attention to him and is drawing in more people?”
Because he is saying liberal things, and thus all the liberals of the world, all the socialist gov’ts, of which there are many, and all the media therefore love him. Doesn’t it make you suspicious when even MSNBC has nice things to say about Pope Francis?
So you won’t even try to defend the statement biblically?
Listen, I have a lot to do so I can’t debate this today. But please know I am not trying to beat you up. I am trying to get you to think biblically. Anything said in the name of God should be compared to the Word of God (not to the word of popes or the writings of dead saints) to see that it is so. I don’t care who says it. That’s the clear lesson Acts 17. The Bereans were “more noble” because they even checked out the message of the Apostle Paul. If your faith isn’t grounded in Scripture you are in real trouble. You can’t trust you are being taught by men whose faith is grounded in Scripture. You must prove it to yourself. Your soul is too important to put that kind of trust in anyone or any institution.
“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts:17:10-11
.....Or rather they are HUNGRY for the TRUTH of the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel.
God Bless Pope Francis.
I am grounded in scripture, but I honor my faith heritage also. I take a broader view from my faith heritage.
I agree that Francis does not appear to be as great a wordsmith as other Popes in the past on the whole, but on this issue he is quite clever and I would argue brilliant.
There is a difference between “evangelism” and prostelyzing. The former is sharing the fact of Christ as a present event in one’s life, usually with positivity but not always so. The latter is condescending self-righteousness, usually borne (ultimately) from a lack of faith on one’s part and a need to force others to agree to bolster this weak type of faith.
The reason Francis prefers and preaches the former should be obvious.
“.....Or rather they are HUNGRY for the TRUTH of the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel.
God Bless Pope Francis.”
No good news comes out of a liberal philosophy.
The Church preceded and wrote down scripture.
Secondly, a hypocrite would be someone who does not do what he preaches, which our Lord hateth much.
So we should all have ignored this very foolish article, for its actual purpose was to breed controversy by denying the clear teaching of scripture.
I can agree with that.
“The Church preceded and wrote down scripture.”
So you have been taught.
Also, I never said not to do what we preach. I merely asked for a biblical defense of the saying attributed to St. Francis. I’ve yet to get it.
What scripture or scriptural text was St. Paul teaching from about Our Lord if the New Testament wasn't even authored or written down yet?
1 Tim. 15-16 states that the Church is the pillar and bulwark of truth while 2 Timothy 3:16 states that "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice,"
Foregoing the former for the latter would be a terrible mistake as well as vice versa.
Prove otherwise.
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