See for more themes.
| Q3: Seeking Salvation : Why Jesus died? We will ask the vatican.va, why Jesus died for us? The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a good read, but does not answer "Why Jesus died?" for our sins. Putting It Simply We Catholics are a body of people, a community, a family with a story, a history, a purpose who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We share a common vision for life, seek to live in a spirit of love, not just a social club, not just a group of likeminded people, not just a welfare agency, or a spiritual fill-up station, but a life-long love relationship, alive in the Spirit of Christ, a people with a mission to proclaim Jesus to the world, share our life with others, so that the world may believe and share our joy. Jesus said... 'This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, to give one's life for his friends.' (John 15:12-13) Nice thoughts, even quoting Jesus who said "I lay down my life for my friends", but they do not answer why Jesus died. It is evident that the determination of what is right or wrong in human conduct belongs to the science of ethics and the teaching of religious authority. Both of these declare the Divine law, "Thou shalt not kill". The embryonic child, as seen above, has a human soul; and therefore is a man from the time of its conception; therefore it has an equal right to its life with its mother; therefore neither the mother, nor medical practitioner, nor any human being whatever can lawfully take that life away. The State cannot give such right to the physician; for it has not itself the right to put an innocent person to death. No matter how desirable it might seem to be at times to save the life of the mother, common sense teaches and all nations accept the maxim, that "evil is never to be done that good may come of it"; or, which is the same thing, that "a good end cannot justify a bad means". Now it is an evil means to destroy the life of an innocent child. The plea cannot be made that the child is an unjust aggressor. It is simply where nature and its own parents have put it. Therefore, Natural Law forbids any attempt at destroying fetal life. The teachings of the Catholic Church admit of no doubt on the subject. Such moral questions, when they are submitted, are decided by the Tribunal of the Holy Office. Now this authority decreed, 28 May, 1884, and again, 18 August, 1889, that "it cannot be safely taught in Catholic schools that it is lawful to perform . . . any surgical operation which is directly destructive of the life of the fetus or the mother." Nice thoughts, but one is not looking widely at the Exodus 21:23 principle, "life of life" is mischief is done to "living" inside the womb of future children. The name (YHWH) is derived from the Hebrew verb 'to be' but the traditional English rendering of 3:14 as 'I am' is inadequate and lacks the dynamic, creative element that scholars judge is inherent in the Hebrew original. What an interesting read, true to the Hebrew too. The 9 plagues that follow in chapters 7-10 remind one of the horror stories that foreigners love to tell about Australia, the 'land of bugs and flies'. With humour too. One has the impression that the laws in chs. 21-23 are designed to show Moses, and then the people, how th e brief stipulations of the Decalogue are to be implemented. Correct, that is why Exodus 21 is called "judgements". One has the distinct impression that all this is presented as part of God�s purpose to heal the dsyfunctional and disordered humanity described in Genesis 1-11. How good are Catholic scholars to use the word "dysfunctional" as a Hebrew theme. The OT can hardly be called legalistic: there are about 613 laws in all, a modest number compared to modern codes. The collections are attributed to God but they do not cover all the areas of conduct that we think necessary for the well-being of society. Here the Catholic religion of faith is swayed by the precepts and traditions of Jewish religions of faith. See Author's take on Torah teachings Israel believed society is not ultimately based on the rule of law but on faith in God and in the covenant. Paul, another wise Israelite, wrote of the trio of faith, hope and love as foundational. Laws help Israel to be faithful to their relationship with God, they don�t establish the relationship. An interesting point. Finally, a few comments on the �covenant code/collection� in Exodus. One can see that it adds details to some of the rather cryptic Decalogue commands that precede it, but not all. Yes the judgements in Exodus 21, add further details to the Decalogue. The legislation in 21:12-22:17 is more casuistic in style and deals with the protection of life and property. The clause �he shall be put to death� may indicate the offender was �liable for the death penalty�. It would be up to the court to decide. The Catholics miss an important broad issue here regarding the "wounding of life". Exodus 21:24 has the famous �eye for eye, tooth for tooth� stipulation. This was probably designed to stop blood vengeance between warring clans. It is the OT equivalent of our �let the punishment fit the crime�. Sadly Catholic scholars do not see anything broad in these statements? The Author could not find anything detailing "why Jesus died?" among Catholic faith online. There are numerous references to Catholic faith seeing Mary as the Queen of heaven. Re 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. One cannot describe the woman here as a queen of heaven, because Scripture doesn't say that. The woman isn't about Mary either. Lu 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. There are two Divine heavenly Parents that come over Mary to incarnate their Divine Son into Mary's womb. Clearly the power of the highest is a father like function and the Holy Spirit is a mother like function, which the word "born" requires. In Revelation 12:1 to 4, the Divine Woman in heaven when Satan flung a th ird of the angels to earth with him, refers to a Divine Woman long ago before the earth was created. The Divine Woman is a simile of the Church or Jerusalem, the Divine Woman like the eagle who gathers her children under her wings. (De 32:11, Mt 23:37) The Holy Spirit functions as a mother with a compassion-centre for the administration of the breath of life in living things, and the breath of salvation in those who wish salvation from Jesus over them. The Holy Spirit is no more a "queen of heaven" as the heavenly Father is a "king of heaven". For more see: Is the Father a King of Heaven? Next we look at "Why Jesus died?" and what this means from Scripture. |
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This study uses the Catholic sources found online. 
