Thursday, December 27, 2018

The Temptation of Francis

Our Pope Francis has demonstrated that he is not comfortable with conventional (rational) thinking on matters of theology, morality, or philosophy.

Now he turns to linguistics to continue his losing streak.  He has decided that the phrase "....lead us not into temptation..." in the Our Father (Latin:  .....et ne nos inducas in tentationem...) is not a correct translation. 

As with most things Francis, he's ........ahhhh...........out to lunch.  Here's a better-informed explanation of the phrase.

...To the objection that God would not “lead” us into temptation either, Father Neto replies with the obvious point that “the text does not say that God is the originator of the temptation; the devil is or men…. In this sense, Christ is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit ‘to be tempted by the devil’ (Mt 4:1)…” That is, he is subjected to a trial, in order to show us that trials in the form of temptations are to be expected in keeping with the revealed truth that “all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12),” with temptation being precisely a test of faith under persecution by the devil or his minions—a test we are able to pass if we correspond to God’s grace.

Here I would note that Saint Paul explains this quite precisely: “But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13). That is, God will subject us to the trial of temptation, but will also provide us with the means to overcome it. He will not abandon us to temptation, although we may abandon ourselves by rejecting His grace. This datum of revealed truth is obviously lost on Bergoglio, who operates on the assumption that what he thinks “is Magisterium.”...

What we can say with certainty is this:  God has led us into temptation by delivering Francis to us.  The means to overcome it?  1) Prayer, and 2) study of right-thinking, rightly-ordered (those are hints!) Church teachings.  We in Southeastern Wisconsin had a foreshadowing of Francis during the reign of Rembert the Weakland of disgraceful memory.  These prescriptions work!!

Or you could just ignore him.  Letting him live in your head can lead to serious, long-term, negative effects on your sanity. 

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