Thursday, May 31, 2012

Other Catholic errors, or Jacob and Esav really are twins

If Esav is Rome, and Rome are the Catholics, boy is it ever true that we are twins.

Pope Pius X signs the Slifkin ban
One example, currently on my mind, is Pascendi Dominici Gregis an encyclical published by Pius X in 1907 that formally and officially denounced "modernism" by which the Pope meant all theological positions which characterized a break from the Torah True Catholic mesorah, including:
  • Rationalism
  • Secularism, specifically the idea that church and state could be separated (Thomas Aquinas et al said this was impossible, so therefore it is impossible) 
  • Any attempt to synthesize modern philosophers such as Kant (beloved by Rabbi J.B Solivetchik) with the teachings of the Church (though - IRONY - it was perfectly cool when Thomas Aquinas synthesized Church teachings with Aristotle, just as it was perfectly cool when Rambam did it first with Judaism.) 
  • The claim that dogma evolves over time 
Sound familiar? Did any of our Sages cosign?

The pope also introduced an anti-modernist oath, and ordered all clerics to take it. The oath included the following:


I...
  • ...sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport...
  • ...reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See...
  • ...firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way...
We aren't there quite yet, both because we have no pope and because its tacitly understood that all OJs already believe that the doctrines of our faith have never changed their meaning, and that no new understanding of the Torah is valid, and that dogma can't be tailored to particular time and place.

Search for more information about Catholic errors at4torah.com

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