06-13-2013, 04:34 AM
BjornF16 Wrote:Well then, why do you own a gun? Would you use it in self-defense? Will you turn the other cheek? If you don't strictly follow the Golden Rule on a personal level (I'm assuming you would protect yourself), then why do you condemn on a national level?
Or perhaps there are exceptionsÂ…"Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one."
Of course, Catholics are completely free to defend innocent life, even with deadly force if necessary. Well-catechised Catholics (an admittedly vanishing tribe) are also exhorted to expose, oppose, and punish evil. We become accomplices in the evil deeds (sins) of others by:
1) by counsel
2) by command
3) by consent
4) by provocation
5) by praise or flattery
6) by silence
7) by assistance
8) by defense or concealment
9) by not punishing the evil done
Hence it would be sinful if I did not expose, oppose, or support punishment of crimes against humanity.
In waging war, Catholics are morally constrained by just war doctrine:
1) the war must be the last resort against an aggressor
2) the cause must be moral and just and must not result in more or worse evils than before the war
3) the war may be prosecuted only as long as necessary and only with the minimal force necessary to end the conflict
4) the war must be waged without immorality or excess (e.g., rape, looting, overkill, etc.),
5) there must be a reasonable chance of success.
Hence I must oppose the past, current, and putative wars of Zionist conquest.
