The truth is: the Ravens head-butted the Redskins last night in the preseason opener–without charity, pity, or mercy.
23-0? Yikes…
…Ephesians 4:17-18 reads:
Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Commenting on these verses, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote:
Existing without an expectation of eternal life, the pagans held for a mortality of the soul contrary to faith and hope.
In “What I Believe” (1925), Bertrand Russell wrote:
I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive…It would be ridiculous to warp the philosophy of nature in order to bring out results that are pleasing to the tiny parasites of this insignificant planet.
We can conclude that Russell’s doctrine is perniciously erroneous.
As Father Mowbray said of his obtuse catechumen Rex Mottram in Brideshead Revisited, Russell’s darkness of mind is so extreme that it does not even “correspond to any degree of paganism known to the missionaries.”
Nonetheless, I promised to explain why the New York Supreme Court’s action against this enemy of God was unjust.
Judge McGeehan did NOT conclude that there is a standard of Christian truth that must be met by the doctrine of professors at public colleges. If he had, he would have articulated a fact that awaits clear legal articulation in this great land of ours.
As it is, the judge indulged in an untrue ad hominem* attack. He accused Russell of moral turpitude, for which there was no evidence.
It is true that purveyors of false doctrine usually teach their errors in order to justify their sins. But in the case at hand, the teacher’s sins were private–if he was in fact guilty of any. In order to keep dangerous error out of City College, Judge McGeehan libeled a world-famous philosopher who lived a perfectly respectable life.
The answer to error is not more error. And the answer to error is not force. The answer to error is truth, patience, the benefit of the doubt, and humble love.
The only way for us to conquer Bertrand Russell’s disciples (who run the show in this country these days) is by proposing the truth in love, patiently. Slow and steady wins the race. Actions speak louder than words.
(And Preacher’s aphorisms/bromides will stop at this point, until the situation demands more.)
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*Nota Bene: This link is very much worth clicking.
Father Mark White Blog 