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To: onedoug
IMHO, the Pope cannot espouse his ‘communal sharing’ philosophy without encouraging covetousness ...

I disagree. I think self-centeredness is the default setting for human beings; my experimental population is ten children in a modest suburban home. As soon as they reach the age of reason, they start to reason that, if only their siblings didn't exist, each one could be the center of his universe and have all the stuff and attention. "Can we take Tom back to the hospital now? I've decided I don't want a brother."

It is our natural instinct to see others as, first and ultimately, competitors or rivals. "Tom, we need you to get out of the bathroom now so that Frank can go." "That's your fault for having so many children."

Pope Francis is telling us, as did St. Paul, that the mindset of, "Mine is mine, freep you," is not the mind of Christ. We can always justify not loving, not sharing, not sacrificing for others. However, that is not what Jesus did.

12 posted on 05/02/2014 2:55:30 PM PDT by Tax-chick (I'd forgotten how much fun it is having a dog.)
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To: Tax-chick
It is our natural instinct to see others as, first and ultimately, competitors or rivals.

That depends on the circumstances, and is checked morally insofar as this experimental population is raised within a Judeo-Christian framework.

Some sense of self envy is natural through childhood. But ask those raised of such families if they would sacrifice a single sibling, and invariably hear the startled, "Never!"

Jesus did not strike me as a socialist. But this Pope does, for the reasons stated in #10 above.

20 posted on 05/02/2014 8:36:27 PM PDT by onedoug
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