Catholic Declaration On Life And Death: Fill & Download for Free

Let’s call it what it is. Big government is the lazy term for statism. The monarchical governments of yore were states, and three flavors of socialist governance over the last century and a half have taken the form of the state, just replacing royalty with socialist dictators.We all need to understand the implications of this schism as if our lives and liberty depend on it… because they do.The ruling class in a state is unambiguously elite. In fact, the entire structure is hierarchical and top-down. The concept is ancient. Much of it is informed by the concept of the “Elect of God,” the notion that we are not only predestined for heaven or hell but that those eight or ten percent headed for God’s realm are people of obvious refinement while the rest are merely brutes. The goal of the well-organized society is to make what use possible of the brutes while keeping them apart from the elect.[The monarch’s tunic is made up of the faces of his subjects.]During the fourth century, when the Roman Catholic Church began its sweep across Europe based on the identical model, the liturgical approach to Christian worship offered the exact same hierarchical, top-down floor plan—a counterpart form of rule.And what is the floor plan of the state, of “big government”?Life-and-death authority over subjectsA monopoly on the means of violenceTreason and heresy the most significant crimesDuties owed by subjects in return for which privileges may be grantedConfiscatory levels of taxation often among the dutiesControl over who obtains education and by what standardsDual education systems for elites and common peoplePolitical permission necessary to function in the private and civil sectorsLivelihood subject to political terminationLaws and regulation passed by an unelected administrative bureaucracyLaws ad courts arranged so that any who become inconvenient can beLaw enforcement responsive to elites, not to the peopleAs technology has improved, add enhanced means of population control:Control over the provision of health care and other basic necessitiesEnhanced methods of surveillance and identification, elimination of privacyReflect on the absolute monarchies of old and the state socialisms of the last six or seven generations, and you will see both adhere to the above list.Martin Luther wished to reform the Catholic Church, rid it of its corrupt ways and then all march forward as good Catholics. Instead, his efforts provoked a schism and Protestantism was born. Many of the Protestant sects retained the liturgical structure, using bishops, however named, to intermediate and interpret the divine to the laity, but some took a new slant based on new ideas being floated as the Renaissance unfolded.Some of the new Protestant sects took a different form. Piety sects believe each of us is a candidate for salvation and that each of us is capable of maintaining a direct personal relationship with God. As we will see, that shift in thinking shifts the entire equation of governing. Naturally, piety sects became reviled and persecuted. Many came to the New World to escape the persecution and to carve new forms of society from the wilderness.For me, the first important shift in thinking comes from Machiavelli in The Prince where he advises the Medicis how to administer Florence as a republic rather than as a state. In The Prince he says. “Where some are armed and some are not, there can be no proper relations.” WHAM! Take that, leviathan state![An armed citizenry is a threat to tyranny.]I would say that republican government is bottom-up instead of top-down, except that the actuality is that it is flat—all equal in status—no elites—and that status is typically referred to as “citizen.” And what is the basis for republican “limited” and de-centralized government?We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…—The United States Declaration of Independence, soon to be a quarter of a millennium old.That’s it in a nutshell, but just to spell it out a little better, the goals of republican government:Rule of law, equally enforced for all citizensCitizen right to own and bear armsAbuse of citizen rights the most significant crimeSafeguarding of citizen rights the prime duty of the governmentTaxation only for the proper scope of government and never to onerous levelsEducational opportunities abound for all in the private and civil spheresA large variety of personally-suited educational opportunitiesCitizens are free to go about their business in the private and civil sectorsEconomic freedom in all respectsLaws to be passed solely by our elected officialsStrong rights against abuse under color of lawLaw enforcement responsive to citizens more than to elected officialsAs technology has improved, add enhanced means of population control:Government’s sole role in free markets is to protect rights and equitabilityPrivacy safeguarded by governmentAnd what has that given us that statism didn’t? As we say here in Texas, “Yew kin be yew even if it harelips the guvnor.” I’m going to leave it to you, the reader, to fill in the details from your own personal experience and preferences. (I pity the poor fool who self-identifies in the Comments as preferring statism.)How our statists [read: progressives] have been trying to subvert our republican government for the past century and a half and drag us back to the harsh, heavy hand of statism—with themselves as the elite—is a subject for another answer. Meanwhile, it’s important for the purposes of this answer that you fully realize just what they propose to rob you of.

As a Catholic and a theologian, I think we need some clarity here about what the Catholic Church actually teaches about justification i.e. how we are saved. This was a key issue at the Protestant Reformation.First and foremost, Catholicism holds that we are saved by the grace of Christ: by His atoning death on Calvary and His resurrection. Period.The idea that we can be saved by our own good works, without the grace of Christ, is a heresy called Pelagianism. The Church condemned it in the fifth century. St Germanus of Auxerre (who ordained St Patrick priest and bishop) came to Britain in the fifth century specifically to preach against this heresy.How do we receive this justifying grace of Christ?Through the Sacraments, initially by baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism immerses us into the death and resurrection of Christ. As Jesus said: “He who believes and is baptised will be saved. he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16) The other Sacraments re-cleanse and strengthen us further, as required.2. Through faith, because it is by faith that we ask for the Sacraments and for God’s saving power.3. Faith accompanied by works. That faith must not be mere lip-service. It must be a living faith, fruitful in good works. Faith without works is dead (c.f. James 2:14–26). In Hebrew, in the Old Testament, faith is not mere notional assent - or even walking up to an altar call, sincere though that may be. It is more akin to our idea of obedience. A believer shows his faith by his whole way of life, not just by his words.When Jesus was asked by the rich young man, “Good Master, how do I inherit eternal life?” His first answer was; Keep the commandments. So we have to keep the moral law in order to be saved.Secondly, in the prophecy of the Last Judgement, Matt 25:31–46, those who have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed strangers, visited the sick and imprisoned etc are brought into heaven. Those who have failed to do any of these things are damned: “Depart from me ye cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels….!” This shows that our deeds do matter.So first and foremost we are saved by the grace of Christ. We receive that through the Sacraments; we ask for it by faith; and our faith must be fruitful in a moral life and good works.So the Bible itself teaches that more than mere faith in Christ’s atonement is required. As you may know, where Paul says in Romans 3:28 that we are saved by faith, Martin Luther added in the word “alone” on his own authority, to support his new doctrine that we are saved by “faith alone” (Glaube allein) without works.If you are still not convinced that Catholics are Christians, look at this:The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed by both the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 1999, clearly stated that "consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification exists between Lutherans and Catholics."In Roman Catholic and Lutheran doctrines, as expressed under section 4.7 no.37, "we confess together that good works – a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love – follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit. Since Christians struggle against sin their entire lives, this consequence of justification is also for them an obligation they must fulfill. Thus both Jesus and the apostolic Scriptures admonish Christians to bring forth the works of love."It is important to keep the whole of Scripture in balance, and not to concentrate only upon one idea e.g. Atonement, crucial though that is.

I condemn any type of violence and the loss of life is regrettable.Sentinelese are perhaps the most isolated tribe in modern world. They have been living in isolation for thousands of years and they are protected under Indian constitution. Even India has not disturbed their way of life and our government is going very slow on integrating such tribes in mainstream. This American citizen (Christman Missionary) must not have gone there alone.We all know that Pope (Head of Catholic Christians) has openly declared that they would like to covert Asia to Christianity in the new millennium. This may well mean peaceful conversion but sometimes the situation on ground is not ideal. Christian Missionaries are very much active in tribal areas of India and many times they used wrong means to facilitate conversion. Every India citizen has right to change his or her religion but it should be done voluntarily not under any pressure or any hope of financial gains.So, this missionary might have been trying to convert this isolated tribes. And the tribal people may not have liked his teaching or ways etc. (there might be any reason). This might have resulted in some arguments and the Missionary might have been killed. Even though this island was removed form the list of prohibited islands, Indian government must restrict the entry of foreigners in such islands. Our own people are more important than foreign tourists or Missionaries.