Monday, August 20, 2007
Spirit of a sissy, III
While the Korean missionaries are demonstrating the difference between Allah and God, the difference between Jihad and saintliness, the Roman leadership is trying hard to ignore or blur the difference.
What is the difference? Easy.
A jihadi sacrifices himself to kill infidels.
A saint sacrifices himself to save infidels.
Dutch bishop Tiny Muskens has quickly become infamous for telling his parishioners to call God "Allah", as a way of pacifying the Mohammedans. I wonder if any Dutch priests in 1942 told their people to refer to Christ as "Thor", in order to pacify the Nazis? Somehow I doubt it. They were too busy hiding and saving Jews.
Big Daddy-O Benedict is not quite so thoroughly muddled: he does seem to recognize that the Church has enemies ....
Reflecting on the readings from the book of Revelation, the Pope proclaimed that “The love of God is more powerful than the materialism of this age.”
Benedict spoke specifically about the figures of the dragon and the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12. He explained that in the days of the early Christians “the evil red dragon was the anti-Christian Roman Empire and the Church, which is embodied by the woman, … outlasted the persecution of the dragon.”
He said that the dragon also represents the great dictatorships of the past century: Nazism and Stalinism and again the Church survived. Even in these dark circumstances the woman, that is, the Church, survived. In the end, “love proved stronger than hate.”
Hey, this is starting to sound like the courageous Benedict who appeared ever so briefly at Regensburg. Is he coming back toward Pius XII? Is he going to identify the enemy? Let's continue listening:
“Today the dragon exists in the materialist ideologies which tell people that it’s absurd to think about God; to observe the commandments, which are described as outdated; and that they should grab what they can.”
Nope. Still missing in action. This is 1957 stuff, sort of like Stan Freberg's parodies of over-commercialized Santa Claus. Materialism always pulls Christians downward, but materialism is not killing nuns and missionaries RIGHT NOW in places like Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. ¶ 6:56 PM
What is the difference? Easy.
A jihadi sacrifices himself to kill infidels.
A saint sacrifices himself to save infidels.
Dutch bishop Tiny Muskens has quickly become infamous for telling his parishioners to call God "Allah", as a way of pacifying the Mohammedans. I wonder if any Dutch priests in 1942 told their people to refer to Christ as "Thor", in order to pacify the Nazis? Somehow I doubt it. They were too busy hiding and saving Jews.
Big Daddy-O Benedict is not quite so thoroughly muddled: he does seem to recognize that the Church has enemies ....
Reflecting on the readings from the book of Revelation, the Pope proclaimed that “The love of God is more powerful than the materialism of this age.”
Benedict spoke specifically about the figures of the dragon and the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12. He explained that in the days of the early Christians “the evil red dragon was the anti-Christian Roman Empire and the Church, which is embodied by the woman, … outlasted the persecution of the dragon.”
He said that the dragon also represents the great dictatorships of the past century: Nazism and Stalinism and again the Church survived. Even in these dark circumstances the woman, that is, the Church, survived. In the end, “love proved stronger than hate.”
Hey, this is starting to sound like the courageous Benedict who appeared ever so briefly at Regensburg. Is he coming back toward Pius XII? Is he going to identify the enemy? Let's continue listening:
“Today the dragon exists in the materialist ideologies which tell people that it’s absurd to think about God; to observe the commandments, which are described as outdated; and that they should grab what they can.”
Nope. Still missing in action. This is 1957 stuff, sort of like Stan Freberg's parodies of over-commercialized Santa Claus. Materialism always pulls Christians downward, but materialism is not killing nuns and missionaries RIGHT NOW in places like Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. ¶ 6:56 PM
