- Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:05 pm
#231421
MaryH: My question wasn’t presented to extract an answer from you. But in my own case, I would have no problem with the scenarios.
Jesus and not Paul also says:
Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father; you place your hope on Moses (the Mosaic Law), and Moses will be your accuser. (John 5 : 45)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given out. (Matthew 7 : 1-2)
No doubt you will be familiar with the rest of the passage, verses 3-5.
As for predators, read sinners. Shun them as you choose, but Jesus did not. He sat down and ate with them, welcomed them to his table.
To shun sinners is to deviate from the example Jesus gave to his disciples. That’s why many people who choose to shun sinners get upset with Pope Francis. He welcomes sinners, especially those on the margins of society. But like the Pharisees and scribes did with Jesus, there are some who plot to do away with him.
By your devious reasoning, following St. Paul's instruction leads us to condemn ourselves.It’s not devious reasoning, Prodigals, we shall be judged by the merciful judgment we apply to others. Jesus teaches that our sins are forgiven as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
Jesus and not Paul also says:
Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father; you place your hope on Moses (the Mosaic Law), and Moses will be your accuser. (John 5 : 45)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given out. (Matthew 7 : 1-2)
No doubt you will be familiar with the rest of the passage, verses 3-5.
As for predators, read sinners. Shun them as you choose, but Jesus did not. He sat down and ate with them, welcomed them to his table.
To shun sinners is to deviate from the example Jesus gave to his disciples. That’s why many people who choose to shun sinners get upset with Pope Francis. He welcomes sinners, especially those on the margins of society. But like the Pharisees and scribes did with Jesus, there are some who plot to do away with him.
More by St Paul:
The law, of course, as we all know, is spiritual; but I am unspiritual; I have been sold as a slave to sin. I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate. When I act against my own will, this means that I have self that acknowledges that the Law is good, and so the thing behaving in that way is not myself but sin living in me. The fact is, I know of nothing good living in me – living, that is, in my unspiritual self – for though the will to do what is good in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me.
In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In short, it is I who with my reason serve the Law of God, and no less I who serve my unspiritual self the law of sin.
Romans 7 : 14-25