Magisterium
The term Magisterium refers to the absolute teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Historical review shows those teachings, as well as their authoritative presentations and use, have been in a constant state of flux through the time of the second Vatican Council. Since that time, it appears to the casual observer such as I that the idea of Magisterium, while not having been abandoned, has been skillfully ignored so as to pretend ‘it never happened’. Just remember, the Church’s stance is that Magisterium is an ‘absolute teaching authority which stems directly from God’. So, since God is perfect and unchanging, that means the magisterial teachings of the Church must be perfect and unchanging. After all, it would not ‘be fair’ to incriminate one generation and send them straight to hell for violations of their teachings, and not do the same for following generations — or would it?
For instance: where was Magisterium when the earth was flat, and the earth was the center of our universe? History shows the Church taught emphatically that the earth is flat, and is the center of the universe, even to a point during the Inquisitions of torturing and burning to death all dissenters. Likewise, couples, even accused of enjoying sex, were given the same treatment. Similar punishment was administered to all accused of having sex on any elevated surface because the shaking they created might cause the earth to topple off its five crocked, wobbly legs and fall into the netherworld below. Male masturbation was the worst crime demanding execution by fire because all the babies were in the male ejaculate and were being spilled to their death. Witches were everywhere, sometimes even masquerading as infants and children — burning to death was the only ‘sure-fire’ method of exterminating them. The Protestants ‘got into that fun’ in the early days of our country by hanging witches.
So, what about the Magisterial rules of fasting and abstaining from meat— don’t hear much about them anymore. I can remember when knowingly eating meat on Friday was a mortal sin —a direct ticket to hell if one died before confessing it. Any use of sexual functions other than heterosexual union by married couples was an absolute mortal sin. Likewise, deliberately missing Mass on any Sunday or Holy day of Obligation carried the same penalty. Any birth control method other than the ‘rhythm method’ was a certain ticket to hell, while abortion was the most abhorrent of all methods. Marriages to a non-Catholic, while not forbidden, were strongly discouraged, and could not be done inside a Catholic Church building — they were done in the priest’s rectory out of sight of the congregation. Failure to confess one’s sins to a priest at least once a year or to receive Holy Communion during “Easter Time’ was basically automatic self-excommunication. Any servile work on Sundays or Holy Days was strictly forbidden — the only exception was ‘the ox being in a ditch’.
The above examples will serve to illustrate the obvious ‘about face’ of the Church hierarchy concerning Magisterium. Since they have declared themselves to be the ultimate voice of God, it must be obvious that God has ‘changed his mind’ about almost everything. Of course, they get away with such chicanery because all Catholics have been taught that God does change his mind a billion times a day. Remember, there are over a billion Catholics in the world, and all are asking God to change his mind and do ‘something special, ’just for them, almost every day.
I would suggest that the seeming about face of the church stems from two sources. Number one is that they can no longer justify ignoring obvious facts of science. Number two is the Church’s rules about sex, marriage, birth control, divorce, and anything to do with sex are falling on deaf ears among the younger generations. Consequently, the younger generation are finding religion irrelevant in their lives as their precipitous drop in attendance at Catholic services attests. That drop in attendance translates into a precipitous drop in income for the Church — that is the source of the Church’s real concern.
Pope Francis has repeatedly iterated dictums totally contrary to previous Church stances. As a general cover for his so-called liberal stance, he remarks that ‘None of the rules have changed. We just got to stop talking about them’. In other words, just pretend they have changed. In due time, the old folks like me who remember will be gone, and the younger folks will think the rules have always been lax and to their liking — maybe Church membership and attendance will pick up. In addition, the obvious collusive open border policy is also aimed at shoring up and reinforcing the Church’s numbers. It’s all about money. If the sex weapon no longer works to control them, just let them do as their commonsense dictates and just pretend that stance has always been Church policy. Power and control with resultant money extraction must be maintained by whatever means necessary — to hell with morality.
The bottom line is this; for almost two centuries God used restrictions on sex, his own self-instilled instinctual drive, to control us by threatening us with eternal torture in the unquenchable fire of hell. Now, suddenly, God did an about face and lifted the restrictions on normal sex and replaced them with a policy of ‘anything goes’ attitude toward sex — control by liberal presentation of sex to it members and potential members. Of course, God’s ‘change of mind’ comes through the presentation of Magisterium by those who presume to be his surrogates.
Don’t you have sympathy for those poor Christians who lived between 325 AD and 2013 AD ? — I do. The social and psychological impact of those restrictive orders about sex prompted G. Rattray Taylor, in his very complete and astute book, Sex in History, to observe that Medieval Europe resembled “a giant cesspool of psychosis”. The schizoid effect on personalities by the restriction of perfectly normal sexual activity and common sense was monumental. Neither did it stop with Medieval Europe — it persisted until very recently. Almost all ‘normal’ practicing Catholics born before the year 2000 are affected to some degree or another — the guilt and fear instilled by such restrictions cannot be avoided in normal individuals.
The conservative (old school) branch of Catholicism continually rails against Pope Francis for his liberal stance in Magisterium — he seems not to care.
Everyone knows that the God of the Israelites is the same God of Christians — he can change his mind anytime he wishes. In fact, God changes his mind millions of times daily performing miracles for those who beg him, or so they think—I am sympathetic to the pathetic, unassuming people who have been taught to believe so, and I am equally sympathetic to the poor unassuming individuals whom God refuses to honor with miracles — consider the millions who annually die of cancer and other incurable diseases because God refuses to work a miracle for them. Does anyone seriously believe that God favors one person over another? Yes, sadly they do — they have been brainwashed to think so.
In my book, Wilderness Cry, I have defined irrefutably God’s essence; God is a Perfect Rational Being. That definition ‘blows all religion out of the water’ — all are invalid. God is Perfect and cannot possibly change anything about himself or anything. The philosophical proof lies in the fact that ‘change’ involves an element of ‘time’ — there is no time in Eternity. God’s Perfect Intellect envisioned all and released all at the moment of the Big Bang, and his Perfect Will, the Holy Spirit, ensures that all remains Perfect.
I believe without doubt that Pope Francis is correct in his ‘magisterial’ approach regarding sex. I have no way of knowing his motive, but observing the massive influx of migrants, most of whom are Catholic, across our southern border, and being aware of the massive reduction of churchgoing Catholics in this country, leads me to suspicion that his motive is at least partially ‘commercial’. He wants to ‘shore up’ the numbers of Catholics and, knowing that Spanish-origin people are both mostly Catholic and passionate, they will likely fulfill his desire — the Vatican coffers must be enriched at all costs.
In my books, Peace in Spirituality and Provocative Catholic, I explore the many ramifications of my definition of God’s essence. The most striking is the deleterious effect of religion on world society —a most divisive entity which has perpetuated world strife. I show that ‘understanding and accepting’ Spirituality is the absolute only means for attaining and maintaining Peace. Accordingly, several years ago, I issued a call for The Worldwide Communion of Spirituality which means that each person must understand and accept that each of us has a commonality with every entity in existence. That commonality comes from the fact that everything in existence is made of exactly the same perfect particles of energy which I have defined as God’s reflection, and which were released nearly fourteen billion years ago. Therefore, everything in existence is God’s reflection — we are brothers and sisters with All— should we not humble ourselves to that recognition and accept ‘all’ in peace. That is the ultimate Magisterium. Will the world of religion accept it — I have my doubts — too much loss of Power, Control and Money.
I thoroughly understand that my voice is ‘one crying out for truth from the wildernesses of ignorance and deceit’, and likely, will not be heeded. However, I shall not be deterred. I will continue to preach God’s Perfect Love and the evils of religion until my dying breath. Furthermore, my knowledge of Church history coupled with my definition of God’s essence makes it mandatory to view the Church’s stance on Magisterium is, at best, terribly misguided, or at worst, a complete hoax.
All my books are available from Amazon-Kindle and from me, autographed — handg@comcast.net. If you have interest in a little history and humor, my book, Growing Up In Fancy Farm Kentucky, might be to your liking.
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WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 