As this culture drifts further and further away from reason, we are seeing secularism on the rise, the centralization of political power, and the return of paganism. Let the secularists be aware: People will not become "irreligious"; they will simply become more irrational. If you're an atheist right now, know that it only subsists with a certain coherence in a culture that had once been Christian. Sooner or later, those Christian values and the momentum for civilization they provide will be lost. "Human rights" have to be anchored in something, and if the Judge and Creator of us all does not anchor them, or sanction and limit the power of political societies in their exercise of authority, power is the only currency that remains. I doubt even the most fervent secularist is ready to live in that nightmare.
I digress. Evangelicals are a curious bunch. A few that I know seem content to fracture into smaller and smaller groups, or to hope that they won't, against all reason (or entropy). Anyway, fracture (with skepticism and atheism as the end-points of Sola Scriptura) or reunion with the Catholic Church seem to be the only choices.
When the individual is the arbiter of what God has said or didn't say, you can end up with pretty wild stuff. The Holy Spirit seems to get the "credit" for much of this stuff, and many evangelicals take a super-cessationist tack to try to forestall the worst parts. I sympathize; Montanism is no good.
But if we are truly biblical, we must confess that we have read or heard the story of a God who moves and speaks. There is no new public revelation, (DV, 4*, citing 1 Tim 6:14 and Titus 2:13) for God has spoken fully and finally in Jesus Christ. Yet what of the private? One wonders why St. John instructs us to test every spirit to see if it is from God, if there is nothing to be heard. How would I have received Him, if He had not spoken to me directly and personally, as I've shared with some of you?
We must keep in mind the Church and the rule of faith as we seek to be responsive to the Holy Spirit. Let us also be ready guides for those asking about both. To seek truly is almost to be as blessed as he who finds. In any case, I believe in the God who talks to people.
St. Faustina, pray for us!
*Numbers always refer to articles, not chapters, within Church documents. In this case, I'm referring to Dei Verbum, article 4.
I digress. Evangelicals are a curious bunch. A few that I know seem content to fracture into smaller and smaller groups, or to hope that they won't, against all reason (or entropy). Anyway, fracture (with skepticism and atheism as the end-points of Sola Scriptura) or reunion with the Catholic Church seem to be the only choices.
When the individual is the arbiter of what God has said or didn't say, you can end up with pretty wild stuff. The Holy Spirit seems to get the "credit" for much of this stuff, and many evangelicals take a super-cessationist tack to try to forestall the worst parts. I sympathize; Montanism is no good.
But if we are truly biblical, we must confess that we have read or heard the story of a God who moves and speaks. There is no new public revelation, (DV, 4*, citing 1 Tim 6:14 and Titus 2:13) for God has spoken fully and finally in Jesus Christ. Yet what of the private? One wonders why St. John instructs us to test every spirit to see if it is from God, if there is nothing to be heard. How would I have received Him, if He had not spoken to me directly and personally, as I've shared with some of you?
We must keep in mind the Church and the rule of faith as we seek to be responsive to the Holy Spirit. Let us also be ready guides for those asking about both. To seek truly is almost to be as blessed as he who finds. In any case, I believe in the God who talks to people.
St. Faustina, pray for us!
*Numbers always refer to articles, not chapters, within Church documents. In this case, I'm referring to Dei Verbum, article 4.
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