Do you love someone enough...to tell the truth? Some of us were discussing papal infallibility, and when I listed some historical events to disprove it, one responded with an email entitled "Real Love". (He didn't deny any of the papal errors though.) Below is my reply:
God is Love and God is Truth. We need to share both.
His love? He gave His life for us.
His truth? He is the only Way. (Remember who sought His death? The religious authorities who were scandalized that their good deeds cannot save them.)
We are called to speak the truth in love, because the truth often hurts.
Do you love when you tell people lies? When you hide the truth?
Please don’t hide the truth by changing the subject. We were talking about papal infallibility, which has been proven wrong by history many times. The “useless exercise” is to continue this “exchange of beliefs and ideas” when the “sober” truth has already shown itself.
Interestingly, you do not deny this. Did you know the facts before insisting this doctrine on us? Will you still share this doctrine with others?
Why don’t we talk about the facts more instead of ending the discussion?
Speaking of “unfair” and “wrong accusations”: I never said that you "only believe the church". I know that Catholics recognize Bible as God’s Word, so I shared how this doctrine is inconsistent with the Bible.
It is [X] who said that he has “surrendered [his] reason to the church.” So I then used history, which needs no interpretation.
The Catholic Encyclopedia recognizes Bishop Strossmayer’s skill and his opposition to making infallibility a dogma. You do not deny this, and you do not deny the papal errors that he listed.
Bishop Strossmayer used the Bible, history, and common sense to say that popes are fallible and have indeed fallen. I agree with him, and I quoted him for your sake, because he is a Catholic like yourself and a bishop even. Hopefully you will listen to him.
When I recount the sins that we or the popes committed, are those attacks? Am I not simply saying the truth?
The Good News is that we can trust that Jesus died as punishment for these sins, so we can be forgiven.
Do you tell people what they need to hear, to draw them to heaven…
…Or do you tell people what they want to hear, to recruit them to your organization?
May God’s Love and Truth show forth in our lives.
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