The election of a new pope, Benedict XVI, was
certainly newsworthy in 2005. One of the things
that interested me was the American mainstream
press "spin" on whether or not he would "liberalize"
the faith. The stories pointed out that so many
American Catholics were not in agreement with the
doctrine of the church, and suggested that the Pope
ought to modernize the faith. Of course, what was
really being argued was that the church should adapt
its theology to the views of the members. The
church should be changed by the opinion of society,
and not change societies views to what is written in
the scriptures. The members were, and should be
the final authority on their faith. In other words,
each person chooses for themselves what they should
believe; they create the image of their own God.
Are we like that? Do we, when the clear message of the gospel is presented, disagree and go our own way? "I can worship better in my own way". "I don't need to go to church to worship". To me, the questions should be, what does God want us to do and what is written in the Scriptures.
You have probably heard of, but not read, The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward
Gibbon. He had this to say about the Empire: "All
religions were regarded by the people as equally
true, by the philosophers are equally false, and by
the politicians as equally useful" Apostle Paul
refers to this kind of person in Romans 1. They
were: "vain in their imaginations"; their "foolish
hearts were darkened"; and "professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools". The Apostle then
lists over 30 sins resulting
from their foolish
views. (See verses 23-
32) The Apostle's words
sounds like a description
of America to me. Do
you see America rising
or declining? What can
we expect to happen to
our liberties, if we are
declining?