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JMJ
Lessons to Learn
While I don’t have the same level of scruples, I do have a strong desire to seek for the truth in everything, even via argumentation. So … I think I have a glimpse into that aspect of his character.
The desire for the truth is one that can’t be sated with only study and argumentation. In the 2010’s when I was very active on the now defunct Angel Queen and Ignis Ardens – I expended hundreds of hours studying, debating, arguing and studying some more. It evaporated my spiritual life like a puddle of water left out in the summer sun.
So the first lesson remains the one that a priest gave me in this error. “Your need to keep the cup of your spiritual life full and give only from the excess. Otherwise you’ll empty your cup and crash.” (my paraphrase).
Then we see the rigourism passed on from his father (should that be capitalised?) in Mr. Skojec’s strict adherence to the letter and the apparent ignorance of the science of placing that theology into action: Moral Theology.
Mr. Skojec’s surprise at the counsel provided by the priest to a grieving widow. The theology is that any person who dies in a state of mortal sin is damned. Period end-stop. … That’s where the rigourists stop. … insert ‘and’ … Aside from Judas Iscariat, we do not know who is damned, we just know that the number outweighs the saved by a far margin.
I remember the counsel given to another grieving wife whose husband had committed suicide by jumping from a bridge into a river. When she confided in another priest, the priest paused and then gave her more than just hope, “He is saved! Between the parapet of the bridge and the water he had time to make an act of contrition.” That was the Curé d’Ars.
Just knowing individual facts and figures of Church Teaching without even the basic understanding of the whole is dangerous. It leads to bad decisions, errors and heresies. Think about the error of sedevacantists, that simply pulls one thread of theories and undermines actual doctrine and Dogma. Afterall, it is Dogma that:
Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy:let him be anathema ( Link: First Vatican Council ).
I have heard the arguments about interregnums (Link: Definition) lasting for decades. Here’s the problem, in order for them to adhere to their belief that … well it depends on which versions of sede … the recent, past, past-past … Pontiff wasn’t the Pope, they have to invent an interregnum that lasts for decades. I know of at least one sede vacantist who started with Pope Pius XII being the last valid Vicar of Christ. Then they kept on going until they became home-aloners – because in the end their theory of being able to judge one pope leads to judging them all. Which leads them in direct confrontation with the above dogma.
So the second lesson is to remember that knowledge without learning isn’t wisdom. It is educated ignorance, the most dangerous kind because in their pride the ignorant believe their beliefs to be unassailable.
That is until they falter and in my experience, one way or another every one so inflicted falls. If humbled, they turn away from their path, if not they continue on the course of error which had only one end.
Looking back at Mr. Skojec’s words, he seems to believe that a person who had difficulty believing a particular Dogma is automatically damned or at least on the precipice. That is why the Canonized Saints who have been assailed by doubts make regular acts of Faith – in short they don’t give up, they practice the virtue of perseverance until the end.
Then we come to the idea that Dogma is a gun to the head of the doubter.
I see it another way, Dogma is guide to Salvation.
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The truths revealed may be such as are otherwise inaccessible to the human mind — mysteries, which even when revealed, the intellect of man is incapable of fully penetrating. But Revelation is not restricted to these. God may see fit to employ supernatural means to affirm truths, the discovery of which is not per se beyond the powers of reason. The essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man. The mode of communication, however, may be mediate. Revelation does not cease to be such if God's message is delivered to us by a prophet, who alone is the recipient of the immediate communication. Such in brief is the account of Revelation given in the Constitution "De Fide Catholica" of the Vatican Council. The Decree "Lamentabili" (3 July, 1907), by its condemnation of a contrary proposition, declares that the dogmas which the Church proposes as revealed are "truths which have come down to us from heaven" (veritates e coelo delapsoe) and not "an interpretation of religious facts which the human mind has acquired by its own strenuous efforts" (prop., 22). (Link: Catholic Encyclopedia)
Dogma’s tell us what we have to believe in order to be saved and a list of what to believe is much shorter than what not to believe. What we believe is on the authority of God and the Church that He founded to be the ark of salvation for humanity.
So for many, the Dogmas are a barrier to entry into the Church – for example that God created the Universe and our first parents, Adam and Eve. Perhaps they have issue that Jesus Christ is the True and True Son of God? Maybe that Membership of the Catholic Church is necessary for all men for salvation.
Watchout, this last one is one of the more maligned Dogma’s of the Faith. That’s where it becomes important to humble ourselves and believe it in accordance with what the Church Teaches vs what we want it to be.
I’ve listened to Traditional Catholics condemns vast swaths of humanity to Hell based on their ignorant assumptions about this Dogma. That’s why I studied it indepth and wrote five articles on the topic:
Moving on … Dogma isn’t a gun, it is a shield from Error – this way Catholics know what to believe and place their trust in God.
A significant issue that Mr. Skojec seems to be grappling with is that God actually loves him and at the same time is a just God. Love (Charity) and Justice, seem to be incongruent to the modern age of humanity, yet that is the truth. Without justice an evil man or woman would get the same reward as a good man or woman.
The fact is that Mr. Skojec’s rigourism prevented him from seeing God as someone who loves him, but rather someone that seeks only to trip him up so he can be punished. In short, Mr. Skojec’s Faith seems to have been consumed in the fires of rigourism and Love (Charity) and Trust (Hope) were absent – leaving only one leg of the three legged stool. The result is as predictable as it is a regular occurrence throughout history.
If you don’t have Charity (Love of God), and Hope (Trust in Him and his Divine Providence) how can Faith (Belief in God) stand or at least not be replaced bit by bit with a facsimile?
It can’t, it isn’t and Mr. Skojec is just the latest to make this discovery.
Yes, God is just, but he is also merciful and loved us so much that He sent is Only Begotten Son, to die for us on the cross. Let’s put this in context, even if you were the only person who would be saved by His Sacrifice, Our Lord Jesus Christ would still lay down his life to save you.
So the third lesson is that in this life Faith cannot stand without Hope and Charity (link) because without Charity we cannot trust in God … and without that trust the Faith is supported by a burning threat.
Partly influenced by his own upbringing, it seems that Mr. Skojec didn’t know God as a loving Father, so he couldn’t trust in Him. When the thin lattices making up the fortress of his life experienced sufficient pressure they snapped like candy brittle. By his own admission, it seems that Mr. Skojec’s fortress has completely crumbled.
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