I pray the Pope will not meet Atheists there!

Pope Francis recently said:  “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the blood of Christ. All of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!” he declared. “‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all!”

“And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace,” Francis continued. “If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter. We need that so much.”

“We must meet one another doing good,” the Pope asserted. “‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good. We will meet one another there.” (link)

The Pope is of course equivocating two vital terms ("Sons of God" and "meeting there") to teach universalism or at least an extremely wide inclusivism.  The Bible names us God's sons in at least two ways: 1) via creation and 2) via adoption (contrast Acts 17:28-30 with Romans 8:14).  Likewise, the Pope's saying "meeting there" at one point means agreement about charitable works and at another point it means heaven.  (In this posts' title, I am using there in a third way - I mean hell.)  So by a play on words, conservative Catholics can take the Pope's words to mean Christ died for everyone, God created everyone and we can work along side atheists for good and liberal Catholics can take the Pope's words to teach all paths lead to heaven.

For James White to link the Pope's comments here with Arminianism is basically to teach it's OK to take Arminianism out of context.  (link)


Comments

SLW said…
It is my belief that the RCC Pope in office at the rise of the Antichrist will be the False Prophet. With statements from Francis like these, I thinking he's probably the one.
May 24, 2013 at 3:43 PM
Godismyjudge said…
Hey SLW,

Hope you are doing well. While I don't know enough about end times to agree or not, I sure was disappointed by the statement.

God be with you,
Dan
May 24, 2013 at 11:55 PM
Dave said…
Wow, James White links the Pope's comment to Arminianism? That's the second example of low, trashy Calvinist polemics I've encountered in the last five minutes. The other was this gem:

http://www.amazon.com/Help-Mom-There-Arminians-Under/dp/1462724825
May 27, 2013 at 12:25 AM
Godismyjudge said…
I saw that too. That type of thing fosters division.

God be with you
Dan
May 27, 2013 at 12:47 PM
Anonymous said…
I think the "But do good. We will meet one another there." is just a way to 'build a bridge'...

The 'we will meet' don't need to be absolutely true, but just a 'hopeful thinking': maybe if you make good, we will futurely meet.

Atheists aren't saved qua Atheists, but they need to be converted from your state of unbelief. In that way, the Pope is just saying 'do some good - and think about it!'.

About Jay White: just Bologna!
May 27, 2013 at 9:28 PM
Godismyjudge said…
Credulo,

You may be right, but I doubt liberal Catholics will take it that way and I suspect the Pope knew liberal Catholics would not take it that way.

God be with you,
Dan
May 28, 2013 at 5:31 PM
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