Thursday, April 16, 2009

ABBOT DENIES JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS

According to reports in the Irish Catholic Dom Mark Patrick Hederman (I've to calling him Dom Mark Patrick 'Head-the-ball'), newly ordained and installed as Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Glenstal, Co. Limerick, has denied, at least implicitly, that Christ died for our sins. The good Abbot seems not to have read 1 Cor. 15:3 nor 1 Peter 3:18. Very explicitly, both Paul and Peter tell us that Christ died for our sins! Now the Abbot is right in his assertion that the Son died to bring us into communion with the Trinity but liberating us from our fallen nature and wiping away our sins was part of the deal. 'Gaybo' (Gay Byrne, ageing Irish TV presenter and celebrity) who chaired the show allegedly denied he had any sins for Jesus to die for. Such is the state of liberal Catholics today - they don't even know the faith they are denying.

6 comments:

Mark said...

Aquinas speaks of atonement in terms of both "remotio mali" (removal of evil) and "promotio in bono" (advancement in the good).

Maybe the Abbot (I haven't seen the interview) was trying to say that atonement isn't just about "remotio mali" but also about "promotio in bono", but ended up giving the mistaken impression that these are alternative and mutually exclusive accounts of the work of atonement rather than complementary aspects of our Lord's saving action?

I certainly hope that's the explanation for what he said. Maybe it's true that in times past the "remotio mali" aspect was sometimes emphasised at the expense of the "promotio in bono" aspect, but that certainly isn't the case today, and it seems to me that to emphasise the "promotio in bono" aspect at the expense of the "remotio mali" is to risk a serious and profoundly unbiblical distortion of the classical Catholic (and Orthodox and Protestant) teaching on Christ's work of redemption.

Tom said...

Mark, no doubt you are probably right (and more charitable than my reading of it). Still I think the Abbot is likely to go on to be a focus for the liberal wing in Ireland. They certainly don't want to hear about having sins that need forgiving. As long as some idiot doesn't go and recommend him as a bishop!

angelus man said...

I have to laugh. Or rather I would if it were funny. Guess who benefits when people think they have no sins? His time is short. And the time gets ever shorter for us when you see how successful he has become. It is just a bit of a mopping up operation now for Lucifer.

After all John Paul said there is no hell. Who benefits?

Tom said...

I don't ever recall Pope John Paul ever denying the existence of hell. I'd like to see chapter and verse on that one. We can also forget that God wins in the end (check out the book of Revelation) - what matters is that each of us takes responsibility for himself and seeks to co-operate with and point to Christ in all we do and say. Pax et bonum.

angelus man said...

Where on earth did you get all this nonsense? You Gaudi Church people sound more like social workers and health and safety officers. At least these people are some use to someone which cannot be said about you lot of new age soothsayers.

Bye the way, John Paul is in hell. You need to know these things so as to avoid going there yourself.

Tom said...

Angelus Man- No Pope ever claimed to know who was and was not in hell. Since you obviously have a greater degree of infallibility than the Successor of Peter you might like to put yourself forward for the job. My theology comes from the best sources - the Fathers! You still didn't give me a quote on John Paul's denial of hell! Pax et bonum

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