An alternate universe news report??
I copied this from an online friend who originally wrote it. He opened it with this:
Please tolerate my foolishness please .... a weird news report:
Jesus
of Nazareth's controversial stance in favor of traditional marriage has
ignited a storm, leading to him and his followers being banned from
municipalities across the nation.
The controversy centers
around his hyper-conservative and narrow-minded view of marriage (quoted
in Matthew 19:1-6) as between one man and one woman. Civic and
religious leaders are up in arms as a result.
Mayor Thomas
Menino of Boston banned, Dan Cathy, the CEO and founder of Chick-fil-A
restaurants, due to his agreement with Jesus of Nazareth. "The guy is a
homophobe," commented Menino. "Even his own religion and fellow citizens
can't stand Jesus and his followers! Like us, they are trying to
silence him too. No wonder: they act like he is God, or something. We
can define morality, just fine, without Jesus of Nazareth."
Mayor Rahm Immanuel of Chicago has weighed in. Recently, he banned
Chic-fil-A restaurants, due to their founder's affirmation of Jesus'
conservative view of marriage between one man and one woman: "I may not
be able to do anything about street murders in my city (Chicago has a
higher murder rate than that of Afghanistan), but I sure can keep Jesus
and his followers from entering this fair city."
Citing
their policy on freedom of expression, Facebook shut down Mike
Huckabee's forum for freedom of religion and speech for evangelicals and
catholics who believe the teachings of Jesus. "Even though I make
billions of dollars, and control millions of people's opinions, I am one
of the 99%," said Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social media
juggernaut, Facebook, "In our attempts to foster open debate, we will
censor evangelicals and catholics who believe such hate speech as
espoused by Jesus of Nazareth."
We called Emperor Caesar's
Homeland Security for their opinion of Jesus and his followers. An
official released this prepared statement, "Jesus and his followers are
very dangerous. They refuse to adopt the morality of their culture. We
applaud your efforts to stifle them. We are working on a final solution
for them, and know that, together, we will save the world from these
people and their subversive views."
"I swear, I do not know
the man!" emoted Neo-Oprah-dox theologian, Bishop Bubu of the Church of
the Couch. "Jesus used to be the cool kid who cared for the poor and
powerless, and stood against abusive civil power and religious
hypocrisy. But now, he clearly stands against us. As you know, we
Progressives are ever-evolving in its view of everything. Jesus is going
the other way - back to Creation - to define marriage between one man
and one woman. I may not believe much anymore, but one thing I can tell
you with conviction: Jesus is no Progressive."
The
Presbyterian Church's Committee on Tolerance and Diversity has also
taken a strong stance. We caught up with the chairperson, while
attending a seminar, "Tickling Our Ears." He solemnly remarked, "After
much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we decided to delete Jesus and his
writings from any influential position in our church. Sadly, the only
just and loving way to protect our freedom of conscience and behavior
was to remove Jesus from our midst. We cannot, yea we must not, tolerate
his diversity. But, we continue to pray for more light to shine upon
his heart and mind."
The PCUSA is presently in federal court,
suing Jesus for ownership rights to the Kingdom of God. If they
prevail, they will rename it: "Rainbow Realm of Pan-Gender Deity."
Why do you refer to yourself as a "reformed Catholic"? Why don't you just address yourself as a Presbyterian? As a Catholic, I find apostates like yourself hold on to the term "Catholic" as a means of currying favor with the world. It is always "recovering Catholic" or "lapsed Catholic", never a complete divorce from the Church. Is there any justification for the tag line "reformed Catholic"? Just be a Presbyterian, which is completely irreconcilable to Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood question.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I use the term, because, as many of the Reformers were, I was brought up Roman Catholic, and lost the faith.
I returned to Christianity as a whole, the church Catholic, when I started attending a Reformed church, a PC(USA)church.
I have no quarrel with Roman Catholicism, only with the man-made rules that were added after the period of the Church Fathers, starting around 900 AD.
In our basic beliefs, there is nothing that I believe that is different from the Roman Catholic. We both pray and believe in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, as do most of Christianity.
And as far as you calling me apostate, there are two definitions for that term:
Definition of APOSTASY
1: renunciation of a religious faith
2: abandonment of a previous loyalty : defection
I do not recognize the first definition as applying, as I have not abandoned my faith in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is only one way to the Father, and that is in Christ Jesus.
As far as the second definition, yes, I have abandoned my previous loyalty to the institution of the Roman Catholic Church, I'm not all that loyal to the PC(USA) for that matter.
There is only one loyalty I hold to, and that is my faith in my Savior.
Sola Scriptura
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Sola Christus
Soli Deo Gloria