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Tuesday 2 November 2010

Truth and UK Declaration of Christian Conscience

I would like to share two things today. One is the weekly reflection from the Jesuit Institute of South Africa, the other is an appeal for us all to stand up and be counted in our belief of an objective and revealed Truth. The modern world is lost in a state of relativism, where no objective Truth is accepted. When there is this lack of recourse to objective Truth people begin to hold subjective truth to be the rule of life. This subjective truth tends to suffer from the three sicknesses of modern man: Individualism, Hedonism and Minimalism. Matthew Kelly explains this beautifully in his book "Rediscovering Catholicism". Briefly, this entails asking three questions before engaging in any activity: 1) Will I get something out of it?; 2) Will it feel good?; 3) What is the least I can do to get it?
Rediscovering Catholicism: Journeying Toward Our Spiritual North StarThese are obviously not questions that lead to human progress or any type of development and enrichment of cultures and societies. These questions lead to the Culture of Death, where each man puts himself above all others, and uses all others to further his own desires.
But when we flip the questions around we discover our true selves: 1) Does it benefit everyone?; 2) Does my pleasure make a difference?; 3) What is the most I can give of myself? Are you starting to smell what I am. There is one man who reveals what it is to be fully human, and invites us in this way to experience divinity. That man gave salvation to all (with no benefit to himself), this did not bring him pleasure (indeed it involved a great deal of pain), and he gave his all. Jesus did this. And it is Jesus alone who has revealed to us what it is to be fully human. 


QUOTATION : And you shall know the truth,                                 
 And the truth shall make you free.
 John 8.32
                    
 Truth, said Pilate, what is truth?                                      
 John 18.38                  

REFLECTION: We live in tension between the call to seek the truth and real doubt as to whether such a thing exists. It is significant that Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea at the time of Jesus’ death, a symbol of power, questions the value of truth. For the powerful often think they can control or manage the truth to their own ends. They are ultimately mistaken, as the resurrection of Jesus illustrates within the Christian faith story.

PRAYER: God the source of truth,                               
Strengthen all who seek the truth in our world, Particularly those whose search confronts the ruthlessly powerful. Inspire all to prize this search and to defend the right of all to know.
AMEN.  




Please go to http://www.westminster2010.org.uk/declaration/ to sign the "Declaration of Christian Conscience" so we can unite in support of values and morals and be heard.


Westminster 2010 is a declaration aimed to appeal to UK Christians of all denominations who subscribe to the historic Christian faith and who hold orthodox Christian beliefs about life, marriage and conscience.
It is not intended to be a comprehensive Christian manifesto but focuses on those areas of belief and practice where Christians are experiencing most pressure from an increasingly secular society.
It was initially inspired by the 'Manhattan Declaration', which was launched in November 2009 and has now been signed by over 400,000 US Christians. Westminster 2010, however, is a completely independent initiative by UK Christians focused on UK issues.
We launched it on Easter Sunday 2010 in the lead up to the general election on 6 May inviting individual Christians to sign and calling upon all parliamentary candidates to pledge that they would ‘respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express Christian beliefs and act according to Christian conscience’.
Now that the election is over we continue to call upon all those in UK positions of leadership, responsibility and influence to pledge 'to respect, uphold and protect the right of Christians to hold and express the beliefs outlined in the declaration and to act according to Christian conscience'
You can see some more information on these type of movements at the website of our friends at CFAM (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute).
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