São Tomás de Aquino, o "Doutor Angélico", certa vez, diante de um crucifixo em Nápoles, ouviu estas palavras de Jesus:
“Bem tem você escrito sobre Mim, Tomás, o que devo te dar em recompensa?"
São Tomás respondeu: “Nada senão a Ti mesmo, meu Senhor". Em latim, São Tomás disse: Nil, Nisi Te, Domine. Em inglês: Naught save Thyself, O Lord.
Voltando de férias. Ontem, foi dia de Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe. Fizeram um filme sobre a história, a teologia e a ciência que não consegue explicar a imagem de Guadalupe.
Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe apareceu a um índio azteca chamado de Cuauhtlatoatzin (que quer dizer Falando com Águia), no dia 9 de dezembro de 1531. Depois, o índio se converteu e foi santificado sob o nome São Juan Diego.
É um história fascinante, de como ele conseguiu provar as aparições com o manto com a imagem de Nossa Senhora. Nossa Senhora tinha mandado ele juntar flores com seu manto e leva-las ao arcebispo Juan de Zumarraga. Nossa Senhora queria uma Igreja ali onde ela apareceu no Monte Tepeyac.
Vejam trailer do filme abaixo. Rezemos pela padroeira da América Latina. Região tão sofrida para que o povo reafirme a sua religião e a siga não apenas culturalmente, mas com todo amor e respeito pela fé em Cristo.
O Estado Islâmico pode ter militantes tão estúpidos quanto o vídeo abaixo indica, mas só bombas jogadas de avião não destruirão esse grupo terrorista. O assunto foi discutido por um padre inglês chamado Alexander Lucie Smith no jornal The Catholic Herald. Ele é doutor em teologia moral.
PS: Estou saindo de férias por 1 semana, volto dia 14. Nosso comentarista Nik disse que eu ia entrar em período de contemplação, mas com dois filhos pequenos fica um pouco difícil contemplar, hehe, a não ser agradecer a Deus pela saúde deles.
Should the British government join with the French and others in bombing ISIS in Syria? This is the question that may soon be put to a parliamentary vote, and the outcome seems at present difficult to predict. Certain parties are firmly against, such as the SNP and the Liberal Democrats; both Labour and the Conservatives are split.
To bomb or not to bomb, to go to war or not to go to war, is clearly a moral question. Matthew D’Ancona, writing in the Guardian, has this to say: “This is emphatically not a war of pre-emption, but a war of self-defence that would not have troubled Augustine or Aquinas.” His article makes a convincing argument that Syria is not a rerun of Iraq, and that we have to lay the ghost of Iraq to rest, if we are ever to make any hard decisions about the Middle East again.
I agree with Mr D’Ancona’s statement, as far as it goes. It is clear that ISIS is an aggressor and needs to be dealt with through lethal force. What is less clear is another condition of a just war: have we any real hope that intervention will result in victory? Will bombing ISIS in Syria actually make any difference?
We already know the answer to that, or at least should do. We have been bombing ISIS in Iraq for some time now, and it does not seem to have had any decisive effect. ISIS is still in charge of Mosul, a city of two and a half million inhabitants. Moreover, everyone knows that bombing alone is unlikely to dislodge ISIS from the territory it holds; that can only be done by troops on the ground. Hence the importance in the discussion of the 70,000 rebels in Syria who are supposedly ready to take on ISIS.
It is at this point that we really do go back to the experience of the Iraq war. Remember the 45 minutes claim? The weapons of mass destruction? Given that that intelligence turned out not to be true, how can we be so sure about these 70,000 men? Or are they, as David Davis put it here, a “phantom army”?
This of course alerts us to one of the key difficulties about moral decision-making. We cannot know fully the consequences of our actions, and we often cannot know the facts that we ought to know in order to make a fully informed decision. Bombing Syria is something of a shot in the dark. If that is the case, we need to pay attention to what the history of Catholic casuistry has to say: in cases where human life is in question – and bombing anyone certainly counts as such a case – one should always take the safer option, and avoid risks. (This is known as the doctrine of tutiorism.)
David Cameron knows he has to make the case for bombing ISIS in Syria.
My view, for what it is worth, is that bombing does not go far enough. Syria has been bombed enough. What we need is a proper army to overwhelm ISIS: until we find one, the case for bombing seems weak.
Ao que parece o jornal é ateísta e acha que a solução é o banimento das armas. Acho que eles deviam olhar para o que acontece com países que baniram a posse de armas dos cidadãos, como o Brasil, e também para o estado de Illinois, no próprio Estados Unidos, que possui as leis mais estritas para se possuir armas e cuja capital, Chicago, é a mais sangrenta do país.
O jornal culpa Deus. Deus deveria entrar e eliminar totalmente o pecado humano. Poderia começar pelos donos do jornal.
Será que o banimento das armas também baniria o Islã?
A Universidade George Washington fez um trabalho amplo de pesquisa criminal sobre a presença de membros e simpatizantes do Estado Islâmico dentro dos Estados Unidos. Descobriu pelo menos 300 recrutadores do grupo terroristas espalhados por todo o país, com destaque para os estados de Minnesota e Nova Iorque. A imensa maioria são homens, apenas 10% são mulheres, e a idade média desses estimuladores do terrorismo é de 26 anos. Mais metade tentou ou conseguiu ir para a Síria para servir ao Estado Islâmico.
Leiam todo o relatório clicando aqui. Abaixo vai uma página do relatório com gráficos:
Vejam parte de artigo do jornal Alabama Nees detalhando a pesquisa.
Alabama woman one of 300 Americans using social media to recruit for ISIS
ISIS sympathizers using social media to recruit new militants are in Alabama and every state, according to a new report that looks at terrorist infiltration in the U.S.
George Washington University's Program on Extremism developed the report to determine how militants are using social media – especially Twitter – to foster sympathy and recruit new members. The study identified as many as 300 American or U.S.-based ISIS sympathizers who are using social media to connect and disseminate information.
The ISIS sympathizers are located in every state, the report shows. Their preferred social media is an ever-changing array of Twitter accounts, though they also use Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr, as well as messaging services and the dark web.
"The spectrum of U.S.-based sympathizers actual involvement with ISIS varies significantly, ranging from those who are merely inspired by its message to those few who reached mid-level leadership positions within the group," the study's authors, Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes wrote.
...
The latest report looks at social media accounts and legal cases against ISIS recruits. Based on the cases currently within the justice system, New York and Minnesota are the states with the most activity; other hot spots are California, Illinois and North Carolina. Texas, Ohio and Mississippi all report an increased level of activity. Alabama is on the low end of the spectrum, with no reported legal cases involving ISIS sympathizers.
...
So far this year, U.S. authorities have arrested almost 70 people for supporting or plotting with ISIS. That's the largest number of terrorism-related arrests in the county in a single year since September 2001. Social media is a big part of that communications, the researchers said.
"While some seek to join the self-declared caliphate in ISIS-controlled territory, others plan attacks within the U.S.," Vidino said. "It's a growing and disturbing phenomenon."
Italy, Kosovo police arrest four jihadist suspects
Milan-
Italian and Kosovan police have arrested four Kosovars suspected of being part of a jihadist cell that spread Islamist propaganda and made threats against Pope Francis, justice officials said on Tuesday.
The four, three of whom were arrested in Italy and one in Kosovo, are all suspected of "condoning terrorism" and "inciting racial hatred", Italian police said in a statement.
A police official said the four were very active on the Internet, promoting their pro-jihadist cause, but did not appear to have been involved in any specific plots.
"They were threatening the pope, celebrating the recent attacks in Paris and threatening the former U.S. ambassador to Kosovo," said Carmine Esposito, a police chief in the northern Italian city of Brescia, where the investigation was based.
One of their messages read: "Remember there won't be another pope after this one. This is the last one."
Two of those seized in Italy will be expelled shortly, while the third will be allowed to stay in the country but put under special surveillance as the investigation continues.
The fourth suspect, named as Samet Imishti, was said to be the leader of the group and had combat experience outside Kosovo. He was arrested in a village in the east of Kosovo.
Italy has increased its controls on Islamist suspects in the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130. Last week it expelled four Moroccans suspected of promoting jihadism.
Nós cristãos dizemos há milênios que "Cristo é a Verdade". Cristo é a única verdade. Mas o Papa Francisco não concorda com isso. E ele ainda quer combater quem pensa assim. Para ele, se você acredita nisso seria como fazer idolatria ao dinheiro.
O Papa acaba de condenar todos os santos católicos.
Para justificar, ele disse que cristãos fizeram massacres, como o de São Bartolomeu e que saquearam Roma. Bom, o que massacres feitos por reinos cristãos têm a ver com a verdade absoluta de Cristo? O Papa Francisco está colocando a fé em Cristo dependente da fraqueza humana.
Há massacres na Bíblia feitos em nome de Deus, será que o Papa condena todos esses massacres? Moisés, Josué, Davi e Salomão não foram condenados por Cristo.
O Papa Francisco parece ser adepto do relativismo religioso.
E ele ainda acha que usar camisinha ou não usar não é um assunto importante. Ele quer acabar com a pobreza e salvar o meio ambiente antes.
É óbvio que é da natureza da religião ser absolutista, crer em uma verdade absoluta, caso contrário, seria o relativismo religioso e não seria religião. Até o ateísmo crê em uma verdade absoluta, luta contra todas as religiões, pois todas seriam mentiras, para ele.
Perdão, mas hoje o Papa Francisco falou bobagens demais. Meu Deus. O Papa está me pressionando para deixar o cristianismo. Pode?
Pope Francis attacks ‘fundamentalist’ Catholics, dismisses condom ban as unimportant
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, November 30, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- On the plane returning from his journey to Africa today Pope Francis made his clearest remarks in condemnation of ‘fundamentalist’ Catholics.
"Fundamentalism is a sickness that is in all religions," Francis said, as reported by the National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent, Joshua McElwee, and similarly by other journalists on the plane. "We Catholics have some -- and not some, many -- who believe in the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil."
"They do evil," said the pope. "I say this because it is my church."
"We have to combat it," he said. "Religious fundamentalism is not religious, because it lacks God. It is idolatry, like the idolatry of money."
Turning to Islam, the pope spoke of his friendship with a Muslim, adding, “You cannot cancel out a religion because there are some groups, or many groups in a certain point of history, of fundamentalists.”
"Like everything, there are religious people with values and those without," he said. "But how many wars … have Christians made? The sacking of Rome was not done by Muslims, eh?" STORY: Vatican’s liturgy chief contradicts Pope Francis on Communion for non-Catholics
On the same flight a journalist asked about the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS and if it was time for the Church to change its position.
The pope acknowledged that condoms are one method of prevention, saying that the Church was faced with a perplexity of whether to follow the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill) “or that sexual relations are open to life.”
He dismissed this however as ‘not the problem’ and said it reminded him of the question asked Jesus, “Tell me, teacher, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Is it obligatory to heal?’
“Let’s not talk about if one can use this type of patch or that for a small wound, the serious wound is social injustice, environmental injustice,” Pope Francis continued. “I don’t like to go down to reflections on such case studies when people die due to a lack of water, hunger, environment...when all are cured, when there aren’t these illnesses, tragedies, that man makes, whether for social injustice or to earn more money – I think of the trafficking of arms – when these problems are no longer there, I think we can ask the question ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’”
“Because, if the trafficking of arms continues, wars are the biggest cause of mortality...I would say not to think about whether it’s lawful or not to heal on the Sabbath, I would say to humanity: ‘make justice,’ and when all are cured, when there is no more injustice, we can talk about the Sabbath.”
While in Africa the pope used very strong language to promote the climate change agreement at the Paris climate summit that started today. He said it would be a “catastrophe” if it did not achieve acceptance in Paris in the coming days and added that the decision came down to the choice “either to improve or to destroy the environment.”
Speaking at the United Nations center in Nairobi on November 26, Pope Francis said, “In a few days an important meeting on climate change will be held in Paris, where the international community as such will once again confront these issues. It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and projects.”
Bom, o missionário sempre encontra "competição" entre fé, pois o ser humano é religioso por natureza. Assim, não há o que discutir, o missionário cristão irá tentar destronar uma religião, quando faz seu trabalho. Se um missionário não quer entrar nessa competição, ele abandona seu trabalho, simples assim.
Eu fiz este post estimulado pela notícia sobre o sheik mas também pela leitura de hoje. São Paulo é bastante claro sobre a importância do missionário. Ele diz em Romanos 10:13-16.
13. porque todo aquele que invocar o nome do Senhor será salvo (Jl 3,5).
14. Porém, como invocarão aquele em quem não têm fé? E como crerão naquele de quem não ouviram falar? E como ouvirão falar, se não houver quem pregue?
15.E como pregarão, se não forem enviados, como está escrito: Quão formosos são os pés daqueles que anunciam as boas novas (Is 52,7)?
Vejamos parte do texto do site The Blaze sobre a atuação do sheik na África, no site tem até um vídeo dele pregando o Islã na África.
Muslim Missionaries Converting Christians in Africa Teach Chant: Jesus Is the ‘Slave of Allah’ and Muhammad
A campaign to convert African Christians to Islam has claimed to have converted more than 4,000 Christians to Islam in just one week this month.
Videos posted on the Internet reveal that Muslim missionaries have been teaching Christian men, women and children in Africa to chant, “I attest that Jesus is the slave of Allah and His Messenger.” That chant is an embellishment to the classical Muslim testimonial of faith: “I attest that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger.”
The Middle East Media Research Institute reported that a delegation of mostly Egyptian preachers, led by Egyptian cleric Wahid Abd Al-Salam Bali, claimed on Facebook to have converted 4,379 Christians in Malawi during just one week earlier this month.
One clip from the campaign in Uganda posted on Nov. 10 showed a Muslim cleric urging a Christian man to remove his cross necklace.
“You will become a Muslim. You will pray five times a day with the Muslims,” the cleric said. “You should take off the cross, because this [the cross] is only for Christians. Take it off right now.”
When the man tears off the necklace, the cleric and other bystanders exclaim, “Allahu akbar!” that is, “Allah is the greatest.”
MEMRI reported that Bali has led several “Islamization” delegations to Africa targeting rural Christian communities, including visits to Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana.
Ontem, um amigo me perguntou se o Islã pode se tornar pacifista. Eu já tinha pensado sobre o assunto e respondi que, para mim, os muçulmanos teriam que renegar a vida de Maomé, ou pelo menos a parte final da vida dele quando ele tomou o poder em Medina, assim teriam que abandonar grande parte do Alcorão que se refere a esse período da vida de Maomé. Espiritualmente, eu entendia que essa mudança podia vir pela elevação de Cristo dentro do Alcorão e também de Maria, pois os muçulmanos respeitam muito Maria.
Hoje, eu li uma análise interessante sobre o assunto do padre Dwight Longenecker. Ele toca em um aspecto muito importante, que trata da diferença entre católicos e muçulmanos no que se refere aos livros sagrados.
Padre Longencker ressalta que nós católicos acreditamos na Bíblia, dizemos que ela foi inspirada pelo Espírito Santo, mas também sabemos que ela foi escrita por homens com seus problemas e limitações.
Isso realmente é extremamente importante. Muitos heróis bíblicos são mostrados também com seus pecados, ver o adúltero e assassino Davi, o mulherengo Salomão, o assassino de egípcio Moisés, o bêbado Noé, etc.
Além da Bíblia, nós católicos temos a Tradição e o Magistério da Igreja para nos guiar.
No Islã, o Alcorão foi escrito por Alá, é intocável, não sujeito a qualquer reforma. Isso é bastante problemático. O Islã parece exigir completo abandono para ser pacífico.
Vejamos parte do texto do Padre Longenecker.
Can Islam be Reformed?
by Fr. Dwight Longenecker Can the religion of peace turn away from shooting schoolgirls in the head, slaughtering people on vacation, selling people into slavery and torching churches? ---- Part of this problem is the nature of Islam itself. It is a religion of the book, and the book was supposedly dictated by the Angel Gabriel.
When your book is straight from heaven it is difficult not to take a completely literal, fundamentalist approach.
We believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it wasn’t dictated by the Holy Spirit. The authors of Sacred Scripture wrote in their own words and concepts and from their own historical situation and context. The specifics are fluid while the concepts and teachings are firm. This is why we are happy to have variant readings of certain passages, don’t mind having the Bible translated (to really study the Koran you’re supposed to learn Arabic) and allow for varied interpretations among scholars and believers.
To be sure, some fundamentalist Protestants take a literal and uncompromising Islamic-like view of Scripture, and they are often as relentless as most Muslims in their approach to religion.
The problem for a religion of the book is therefore that it is very difficult to entertain the idea of reform or change in any way. As the fundamentalist preacher I grew up with used to say, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.”
Instead of a religion of the book, Catholics have a religion of a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. The Bible is the church’s witness to Jesus Christ. It is the record and reflection of his life and the Old Testament is the history of the world leading up to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The Koran, on the other hand, is a rule book.
