Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 195: The 7 Principal Virtues and Vices, Liberality and Avarice

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Show 195: The 7 Principal Virtues and Vices, Liberality and Avarice · The Uncensored Catholic

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Speaker 1: A B. Yeah, welcome today's show. Today we will start
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it'll probably be two shows on the topic of tradition. Specifically,
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it will be the Protestant criticism of Catholic tradition. We're
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going to use the radio Replies, classic book written by
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two priests and I guess what the thirties on that,
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and it's very interesting. This is something that most non
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Catholics do not understand whatsoever, and so this will give
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you what you need when someone criticizes you about following
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traditions of men as opposed to the Word of God,
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you can centumstraight because while it actually it's one of
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those things that's like so common sense that when someone
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has has it that wrong, it's hard to argue with
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them because you have to understand insanity. Essentially, you have
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to understand they are totally screwed up way of thinking
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to be able to answer them in a way they'll understand.
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And frankly, if someone's that screwed up in the first place,
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it's going to be a struggle. So yeah, we'll talk
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about that, and then we'll get to Father Spirago's exhaustive
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explanations of the Catechism, and it's you know, we've been
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going through the virtues and their opposing vices, and today
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we will talk about liberality or generosity as we would
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say in our time, and avarice or greed essentially, So
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into that in just a minute. So starting here with
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radio applies the question says, I object to the way
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you put human traditions on the same level of scripture,
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and the pre' answer as a source of doctrine, the
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Catholic Church relies upon divinely guaranteed tradition, not upon merely
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human tradition. This divine tradition is the teaching of Christ
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given orally to the Apo and handed down in the Church,
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although not written in the pages of the New Testament,
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which the New Testament actually makes clear. It actually says,
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you know, all the things that Jesus taught couldn't be
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written down all the books in all the world, And
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then later in the epistles it says, hold fast to
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the traditions we taught to you, whether orally or in writing.
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I mean, you know, that's why it's so kind of
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mind boggling that Protestants anti Catholic Protestants make this argument.
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But the person goes on, then you appeal to tradition
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in addition to scripture, and they answer, yes, and I
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am quite biblical in doing so. Christ sent the apostles
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to teach all things he had taught them. In the
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last verse of his Gospel. Saint John tells us that
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not always written in scripture, if all is to be taught,
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and always not set down in scripture, part of Christian
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doction doctrine must be elsewhere where. Saint Paul tells us clearly, brethren,
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stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned,
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whether by word or by our epistles. Second Thessalonians two fourteen.
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Hold the form of sound words which you have heard
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of me, and the faith Second Timothy one thirteen the
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things thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, and
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the same command to faithful men, who shall be fit
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to teach others. Also Second Timothy to two. All Christians
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from the very beginning believed in Christian revelation, and believe
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that Christian revelation was contained not only in scripture, but
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also in tradition. Acts two forty two tells us they
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were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, that is,
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in the oral teaching of the Apostles, which they taught
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to one another and handed on to their children. Those
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who repudiate tradition have lost the complete doctrine of Christ.
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So write those I guess five verses down, because well,
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I've never met an anti Catholic Protestant who can refute
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any of them. Most of them have never heard those
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verses before. Because of the way the Bible is taught
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in most Protestant churches and Bible colleges and seminaries and
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all that. Everything's out of context, everything's broken up, and
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they leave out I mean, in my experience going to
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a Southern Baptist university and having worked as a Methodist
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minister and also attending a Presbyterian college, they do not
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teach the full Bible in context. And I believe that's
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purposeful because the Bible is what led me to become Catholic.
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I don't know, Okay, Can I be totally honest with you,
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and this will probably be kind of offensive, but you know,
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the other day I was on What is a Catholic
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View the Religious Hippie show, Okay, and we had a
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great time. We were talking in the history of herbal
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medicine and turned out we both went to the same
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Southern Baptist university in college and we both had, I mean,
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basically a similar experience. I guess what, ten years apart,
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I'm older than she is. And you know I've told
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you before how I'd say, well, the Bible says this,
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that your doctrine teaches this, and instead of arguing disputing
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a debate, and they say, we believe our doctrines inspired
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for the Holy Spirit. It's absolutely true. But the Bible
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says this, and you say, you base everything of the Bible,
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we don't question our doctrine. Essentially what I was told
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and eventually I was asked to leave, and apparently the
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same thing happened to her. And you know, we were
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chatting a little bit off the show and what was
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so hard? I don't think either one of us really
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wanted to say this probably the dumbest I'll put it
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this way. I'll try to be charitable. If you were
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to go to Liberty University and seek for a smart student,
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male or female, it would be like, you know, the
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Biblical challenge of going into like Sodom and Gomara and
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finding an honest or just man. I'm not saying everyone
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they're stupid. It's about the dumbest bunch of morons, honestly. Okay,
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I'm just gonna say it. Plain this is the uncensored
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Catholic and I'm not I mean, there are intelligent people there,
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but they become remain willfully ignorant to matters of religion, doctrine, morals,
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et cetera. They will not study history, the Catholic history
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of the Christian Church, which is the first fifteen hundred
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years of its existence. They will not read the early
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Church fathers. They will not if they read something like Augustine.
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They're reading instead of generally speaking. Now and they're you know,
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so one's going to cut in touch with me and say,
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you know, I read the original source. I read Augustine
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in his own words. Okay, good, well you did, but
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you still saw it through a distorted framework. You weren't
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reading his words as he intended. You were twisting them
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to fit your own doctrine. If you haven't converted to Catholicism,
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because Saint Augustine was incredibly Catholic. I mean all the
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practices they condemn, such as the veneration of angels and saints,
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he very much promoted. He was had a great devotion
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to the blessed Virgin Mary. He believed fully in the
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true presence of the Eucharist that it's actually the body
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and blood of Christ. But most will read a secondary,
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tertiary source. Very little is read or studied that hasn't
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been written in the last hundred years. The textbooks are
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not on original sources. There's somebody quoting somebody else, quoting
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somebody else quoting somebody else from one hundred fifty years
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ago at most. So while there may be intelligent people there,
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they are taught, specifically taught not to explore history and
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religion as a Catholic would understand it as we read
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you know, Saint Clement of Rome and Origin and Polycarp
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and Saint Justin my Martyr, and you know, you can
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go down the list Saint Jerome. They're not studying. I mean,
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they'll tell you that there was this church just called
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the Way and Christians just met in each other's homes
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and they never called themselves Catholic. And this went on
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for like hundreds of years, right, And it's like, well,
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what about all the churches that are actually in the
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Middle East and ancient Rome and such? I mean, the
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cave churches in Turkey, the ancient churches in Syria, which
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are probably being destroyed as we speak, the ancient churches
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in Turkey, the ancient churches in Greece, the catacombs in Rome,
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the tombs of the Christian Martyrs. We can prove our
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church by historical evidence, and they can't point to a
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single church or a single document to support their tradition,
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their beliefs, to support their beliefs, I should say they
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don't have a tradition. Essentially, it's just been made up
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in the last couple hundred years. I mean we can
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pull you know, Pope Saint Clement of Rum. I guess
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what we see, the third Pope. He was actually ordained by
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Saint Peter. I believe could have been Saint Paul, but
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my memory serves it with Saint Peter. And in his
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I think it's his first epistle, he specifically says the
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Catholic Church. And this is like, you know, maybe one
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hundred AD. I mean, this is going back, you know,
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it may have even been probably more like eighty. I
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mean the d d K was written long before the
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Book of Revelations, not long, maybe a decade, but I
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mean years before the Book of Revelations, the Teachings of
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the Twelve, which tells us we worship on Sunday and
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we believe in the true Presence and the Eucharist, and
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you know, we confess our sins, and everything the Protestants
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say is untrue. No, it's actually we can prove this.
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And you know, I just wish, you know, I like
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Dave Bratt, he's I guess the chancellor of whatever now
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they're or the head of their economics department or whatever.
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He's on Steve Bannon's show, and he like when a
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matter of religion comes up, he's like so arrogant. He's like, well,
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you know, Protestants saved the world from the evils. He
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actually called Catholic Catholicism witchcraft one time. Steve Bannon's a
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practicing Catholic, but he doesn't understand how Protestants view Catholics.
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He does not understand the difference in our doctrines. And
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I just wish there was some way of like, you know,
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the other day, Bratt was on there praising Martin Luther. Well,
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you know, if I could just get to him and say, look,
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here's where Martin Luther said Jesus committed adultery. Do you
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believe this. Here's where Martin Luther bragged about having thousands
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of German protest peasants killed to gain the favor of
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the German princes, and said it was his duty to
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have them murdered, and he delighted in it. Here's where
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he was so anni Semitic. He said, rather than baptize
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a Jew, he would tie a stone around his neck
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and have him thrown in the river and to drown.
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Here's where he could encourage one of his parishioners, his followers,
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whatever congregation, congregants to commit adultery. And here's another case
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where he recommended another of his congregants to commit adultery.
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Here's the words he wrote that are absolutely in contradiction
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with the words of Jesus in the Bible. And here's
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where he bragged about changing the words of the Bible
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to fit his doctrine. But I guarantee Dave Brett, who
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apparently I grew up Lutheran and went I think he
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was Presbyterian, could have been well. I know he went
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to a Presbyterian college and studied religion before he started
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studied economics. I guarantee he's never been presented with those
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writings of Martin Luther. And see, that's the problem. It's
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not that the people at you know, Liberty are bad people,
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and in any way, shape or form, a lot of
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them are really good. They're bad ones. They're good ones,
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but they're so ignorant, and they teach it from one
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generation to the next and give people doctoral degrees who
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are really Frankly, I would not trust them to be
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a school teacher. I don't think they're intelligent or competent enough.
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I would not trust them certainly to be a preacher
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or an author. They're only leading people astray. I would
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not trust them to be a lawyer. For Pete's sake,
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I'm not going to put my life on the line
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with someone who really does not have the intellectual curiosity
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to study enough. I mean, the law is based on precedent.
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You have to go back and essentially study the history
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of law to be a decent lawyer. They're taught, they're
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not I mean, I don't know if they're taught to
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do that in their law school, but they're not taught
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to go outside of that topic. And I would find
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them I would be very afraid to have one represent
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me in a court of law. It's certainly not to
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be a politician, a leader of a country. I don't think, honestly,
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a degree from Liberty University to me is about on
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the same lines. I mean, and I'm talking a doctoral
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degree or a master's degree about on the same level
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as like a ged from a community college. That's the
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level of instruction that I experienced there. That's the level
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of instruction others that I've spoken with have experienced there. Frankly,
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I met far more intelligent people when I attended a
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community college. And they might have been liberal, they might
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have been conservative. I don't even know what religious that
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they actually had intellectual curiosity and intelligence. I mean, I
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think people well basically just look at it as a
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safe place to send your kid for four years, and
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maybe it is, although I do know there's a whole
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lot of drugs going on on that campus and a
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whole lot of homosexual behavior that people turn a blind
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eye to because it's like, we're not supposed to admit
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that happens here. I'm just telling you, if average below
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average to average is about the best you're going to meet.
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Every now and then, a fairly smart person. But one
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of the I'm not going to say the name, and
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I'm not going to say the department, but I'm going
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to say it was someone who was very much involved,
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actually like a department head in that department with recruiting
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students and you know, getting people into the school. Said,
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all it takes to get a tend Liberty university and
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a degree is a heartbeat and a wallet. That's true. Unfortunately,
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I am sorry to say this. I had a great
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deal of respect for doctor Folwell. He didn't know what
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he didn't know, but he was firm and solid in
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his beliefs on what he did. And you know, there
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are many people there like that now that I have
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respect for. But if you're talking about I'm not even
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gonna say academics, because all you need to do to
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get an AM on a paper is just repeat what
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you've been told. Intellectual curiosity, real knowledge, intellect IQ, the
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old saying. I guess as weeb of Buckley Junior said
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he would rather be governed by the first hundred names
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of the phone book than everyone elected to office in Washington,
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d C. I would probably trust my health and safety
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or anything I had to actually a service I had
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to be done, whether it's fixing a car or being
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my attorney to the first hundred name in the phone
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book than anyone with a degree from Liberty University. That's
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my opinion. Again, I could be wrong, but I've been there,
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and my gosh. So remember when you are debating with
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a Protestant, they may have a PhD. They may be
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a doctor of Divinity or biblical studies or you know whatever,
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even history even call it like biblical history. They don't
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study history. Trust me, what they know. They knew enough
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to get, you know, a passing grade on their tests,
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and they're right there thesis and whatever. But so much
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of what they've been taught is absolutely false. I mean
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it's one you know, you can teach somebody things that
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are fake, that are lies, that are untrue, that are myths,
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and then test them on that and give them an
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a and of paper. If they repeat them back to you,
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just find you know, I mean, think, Okay, take the
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ancient Greeks. Were they, you know, some of the wisest,
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most intelligent, learned people of their time? Yes, but what
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did they know well when it came in terms of
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their religion, it was myths? Stories, mythical poems and such
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passed down from generation generation. The most learned man in
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Greece could sit down and tell you all about the
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gods and all their adventures and exploits. They were all
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stories made up. I'm telling you a Protestant, if they're true, believing,
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faithful Protestant who's actually been educated in their faith, in
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their doctrine and their supposed history. So much of what
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they know is patently false, So much of what they
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repeat to you, so much of what they believe to
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be true is patently false. So get these five chapter
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five verses of the Bible. And when someone says, as
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you follow the traditions of me, and repeat to them
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one of these verses and say, well, the Bible says this,
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they're probably never going to even have heard that passage
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of the Bible. They may have read it, and they
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didn't pay attention to it. They certainly weren't taught about
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it in school if they were what they were. I mean,
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you can go online. There's some of these Protestant apologetics
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groups and when they try to answer something like when
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Jesus said, those who sends you forgive, they are forgiven
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those who sends you retain they are retained. They will
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come up with the most convoluted turn it on its head,
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twisted inside out, rather than to just admit what it
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says is actually what it means and it's true. Well,
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here you have five verses saying the exact same thing.
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You're going to win that. You're going to win that debate,
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and they're either going to accept it and become open
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to what you say, or scream and yell at you
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and cosset you and become violent, as many have with me.
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I mean, I have seen what I would consider to
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be a demonic possession when the most supposedly devout you
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know what you call Bible thumping Protestant comes and tries
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to tell me why Catholicism is wrong, and I quote
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the words of the Bible to them and say, this
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is why Catholics believe this, this is what we practice
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for over two thousand years. Here's you know, what it
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says in the Bible. And here's some you know, commentary
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and some insight. And here's another Bible flip out, angry,
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red in the face, spitting and were I not a
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very you know, kind of large muscular guy that usually
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carries a knife or a gun on my belt, probably
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could have actually been dangerous. I honestly do believe there
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is a level of demonic possession among truly bigoted anti Catholics.
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You cannot hate the church founded by Christ and love Christ.
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So there's a lot of confusion there. That's what it
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comes down. And who's the father of confusion. It's the devil,
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not God. All right, we'll continue to just a couple
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more questions and answers. Person says, I do not question
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traditions contained in scripture. I object to the Roman traditions
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which are not in scripture and which are against scripture,
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and they present So the Catholic Church rejects all traditions
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which are against scripture. She accepts divine traditions which are
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complementary to scripture and which are in perfect harmony with
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the principles taught in scripture. The traditions themselves cannot be
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in scripture, for the traditional word of God cannot be
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written the written word of God. But Scripture itself says
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that tradition exists, and that it is equal authority to
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that written to that written word of God. Person says,
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did not Christ blame the Pharisees say, why do you
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transgress the commandments of God for your own tradition Matthew
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fifteen to three, And they answer, he did, but he
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called it their traditions, condemning their erroneous and merely human tradition,
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not the right traditions to which Saint to which, according
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to Saint Paul, we must hold fast. You quote this
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text merely because it happens to contain the word to
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without any appreciation of its true sense. You will find
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out a lot if you debate with Protestants on matters
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of apologetics. They will just take a random piece of
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scripture out of context and try to make it fit
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their meaning. Person says Saint Paul himself warns us, be well,
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beware lest any man cheats you by philosophy in vain
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deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the
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elements of the world, and not according to Christ Colossians
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two eight. And the answer the text warns us against
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wrong traditions, but in no way condemns traditions which are
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not merely of human invention, but which are according to Christ.
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Saint Paul does not contradict his own teaching. Persus says St.
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Peter condemns tradition, saying you are not redeemed by your
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vain conversation of the tradition of your father's one Peter
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one eighteen. And they answer, this is not a condemnation
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of Christian tradition, but of doctrines held by those to
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whom Saint Peter wrote and handed on to them by
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human tradition from their fathers. Remember, the Bible's actually often
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addressing specific people, not everybody who just picks it up
23:13
and reads it. You know, when Jesus says to the
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twelve apostles, and not to all as disciples, you go
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out into these towns and teach and cast out demons,
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he's not talking to John Smith today, who happened to
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pick up a Bible in a motel room and read
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it for the first time. That's kind of a big deal. Actually, Anyway,
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they continue. Those were the traditions our Lord commanded in
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Matthew fifteen three. All right, we'll stop with radio replies there,
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and we'll go on to our virtue and vice of
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the day. And as I said, we were starting with liberality,
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which in modern language we would be more likely to
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call generosity. He says, liberality consists him and being ready
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and willing for the love of God to give pecuniary
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pecuniary that's monetary or material assistance to those who are
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in need. He who relieves the needy in order to
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elicit the praise of others has no claim to the
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virtue of liberality, for he is not actuated by the
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love of God. Even the poor may be liberal, for
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liberality does not depend upon giving largely, but upon giving
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with good will. The liberal man is like God, for
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by showing mercy we resemble our heavenly Father, whose mercy
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is perfect and infinite. The Heathens sage Seneca used to say,
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he resembles the gods who distributes to the poor. Now,
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in our time we use the word liberal very differently.
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We need it to be political liberalism. That's not what
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it's all about. This is really generosity. By liberality, we
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obtain forgiveness of sin, and eternal reward and temporal blessings,
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besides a speedy answer to prayer and the friendship of
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our fellow men. This subject has already been considered. The
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liberal man rejoices those on whom he bestows his gifts,
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as the sun gladdens the earth with its rays, with
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its raised a little ton tight. Here Christ could not
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employ a more forcible argument to urges to perform works
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of mercy than by saying that was given to the
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poor was given to him. And now the opposite of
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liberality is avarice. Avarice consistent inordinate in an inordinate craving
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for riches, which makes a man not only strive after them,
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but refuse to give any portion of his goods to
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the poor. We call it an inordinate desire for riches.
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When a man strives to gain far more than he
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really requires for himself and his family, and is never content,
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however much he possesses. Thus he is covetous. He is
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like a vessel without a bottom that is never quite full,
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however great the quantity of liquid that is poured into it.
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He is like the wolf that is always hungry, like
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the fire that ever requires fresh supply of fuel, like hell,
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which is never satisfied. Avarice does not consists only in
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acquiring fresh riches with eagerness, but greedily retaining what one
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already has. He who clings tenaciously to the property is accumulated,
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is niggardly or penurious. Okay, gotta remember we're reading like
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eighteen eighties when he wrote this. The word niggardly you
26:25
will find in Shakespeare. It was once a very commonly
26:30
used word. I'm going to spell it for you to
26:32
stop freaking out. I know, if you're a modern listener,
26:36
you think I'm saying something I'm not. Okay. The word
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is n I G g A r d l y,
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and it means sparse. It has nothing to do with
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the race or the color of a person's skin. It
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is a very It's a word you'll find used in
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legal text. It is a very specific and proper word
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meaning sparse or stingy. Okay, So if you use it
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in public, you'll somebody's probably gonna start screaming at you
27:07
that you're a racist or something, and you can explain
27:09
to them, hey, this is actually proper English, and you
27:13
just don't have a big enough vocabulary to understand what
27:17
I'm saying to you. But anyway, he who grudges every
27:21
little outlaw outlay is a miser. We meet with covetous
27:26
persons among both the rich and the poor. Among the wealthy,
27:29
one Oftens finds finds money without avarice, and among the
27:32
poor avarice without money. The covetous is a worshiper of
27:37
idols Ephesians five to five. For gold is his God.
27:40
To this deity, he devotes all his thoughts and all
27:43
his cares, all his efforts and aspirations, the sweat of
27:46
his face. He even sacrifices to it his spiritual welfare
27:51
and eternal salvation. As the angels find their highest felicity
27:55
and the contemplation of the Godhead, so the rich delight
27:58
in nothing more than in handling and counting their money.
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How great is a sin is this which subjects us
28:04
to the dominion of those things which are created to
28:07
our service? For our service? The amorises are miserable, both
28:11
in time and in eternity. For the sake of money.
28:14
They commit all manner of sins. They lose the faith
28:17
and their peace of mind. They are cruel to themselves
28:21
and hard hearted to their neighbor, and finally perish eternally.
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The desire of money is the root of all evils.
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For Timothy six ' ten. The devil hides behind money
28:30
bags as a snake, conceals himself in a hedge, and
28:33
he bites you with his venomous fangs when you greedily
28:37
clutch at gold. He who accumulates riches and does not
28:41
give to the poor is like a felt which, if
28:44
no water is drawn from it, becomes foul. For a
28:47
man's wealth will not benefit him if no portion of
28:50
it is distributed to the needy. They that will become
28:54
rich fall into temptation, into the snares of the devil,
28:57
and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men
29:01
into destruction and perdition. For Timothy sixty nine. For the
29:05
sake of money, the covetists fall into all manner of sins.
29:09
Such a one setteth even his own soul for sale
29:14
Ecclesiastises ten. Ten. Greed of money fills the house with thieves,
29:23
the markets with cheats, the law courts and with perjurers,
29:27
the eyes of the poor with tears, the prisons with criminals,
29:30
in hell with the reprobates for money. Judas betrayed his
29:34
lord and master. Not until the judgment day will it
29:37
be revealed how many lives have been sacrificed to this
29:40
false God. The covetists love their The covetists love their faith,
29:45
Saint Leo the Great says that the greatest of all
29:49
evil arising from covenousness. I I meanthe as a typo.
29:56
I think he meant to say because of the next
29:58
sentence here, I think it should be the covetists lose
30:01
their faith. And that would make sense if he hit
30:04
it insertive V instead of an S. So I'm going
30:07
to go the covenists lose their faith because Saint Leo
30:11
the Great says that the greatest of all evil arising
30:14
from covetousness is the destruction of faith. The avaricious are
30:18
so absorbed in the pursuit of material gain that they
30:21
cannot give a thought to their spiritual welfare. You cannot
30:24
serve God and Mammon Luke was At sixteen thirteen, a
30:30
rich merchant lay on his deathbed, and a priest stood
30:32
by him side his side, urging him to repentance. After
30:36
setting before him the gravity of his state, the priest
30:38
held up a silver crucifix before him. The dying man
30:42
fixed his eyes upon it with a softened expression. The
30:45
priest rejoiced, thinking the man's heart was touched. But no,
30:48
the only words escaped his lips for these what do
30:51
you consider that cross is worth The covenists lose their
30:55
peace of mind. He lives in perpetual anxiety lest he
30:59
should lose welt. If riches increase, they are a burden
31:04
to their owner. If they decrease, they torture him. The
31:08
the covetess is cruel to himself. The miser grudges himself
31:12
in the necessaries of life. He often endures the greatest privations.
31:17
He consumes his own soul, drying it up Ecclesiastses fourteen nine.
31:24
He is like the oxen who carry the corn to
31:26
the gardener, to the garner, and then themselves feed on
31:30
hay and straw. The justice of God often offends on
31:33
the miser the tears of the destitute, by bringing him
31:36
to poverty. The covetous is hard hearted toward his neighbor.
31:40
He has no feeling for the suffering of others. He
31:42
shows no compassion. He gives them no sucker. His heart
31:46
is hard as the anvil, which is not softened by
31:49
all the blows rained down upon it. For however great
31:52
the need of his neighbor, the miser has never moved
31:55
to pity. The covetists only think of what they can
31:57
get from everyone, as his sharp devour all the fish
32:00
that come into his way. So the covetous man ruins
32:04
his neighbors. He that gathers together by wronging his own
32:07
soul gathereth gathereth for others. Ecclesiasticus, I think I said,
32:14
may have said Ecclesiastises second ago his ecclesiastic gusts, which
32:18
is syrac as opposed to Ecclesiastises fourteen four, who was
32:23
squander as riches that the miser is an object of
32:27
hatred to others. CALIFASQ, king of Babylon, had sort of
32:31
vast quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones of the tower.
32:35
When he refused to part with a portion of these
32:37
for the benefit of his army, the soldiers shut him
32:40
up in the tower, bidding him satisfy his hunger and
32:43
quenches thirst with the treasures he had been so eager
32:46
to amass. The covetousts will be eternally damned. The Apostle
32:50
includes them among those who will not possess the kingdom
32:52
of Heaven. First Corinthian six ' ten. Our Lord says
32:56
it is easier for a camel to pass through the
32:58
eye of a needle than for a rich man to
33:00
enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew, nineteen twenty four. It
33:03
is a remarkable fact that the ancient poet poets identified Pluto,
33:08
the god who raids supreme in the infernal regions, with Plutus,
33:12
the god of riches, as if to show that avarice
33:14
leads to hell. The lover of money gets no good
33:18
to gets no good to himself. He undertakes long journeys,
33:23
He exposes himself to labor and perils for the sake
33:26
of gain, And when death comes, what has he is
33:31
of it? All? For all his wealth, he has nothing
33:33
but a shroud, a few planks, and a few feet
33:35
of earth, while he leaves his property to his smiling ears,
33:39
who ridicule the contemptible presemity he practiced. Hard to read there,
33:46
Actually I mentioned my dad before. I think that just
33:51
described him incredibly. Well. I think he's on his fifth wife,
33:56
and well, can't tell you I've never met a single
34:01
person who had anything good to say about him whatsoever.
34:05
It's hard to grow up that way, hard to grow up.
34:08
Like you know, your kid, you're sixteen seventeen looking for
34:11
a part time job, and it's oh, your dad so
34:14
and so he better not repeat it. But let's just
34:19
say a lot of people really would have rather punched
34:23
him in the face than shake his hand. And it
34:29
was tough, especially since I didn't grow up knowing him,
34:32
because he'd never had anything to do with me. Basically,
34:35
he was too busy accumulating his wealth and moving on
34:39
to another wife and another one, and I think the
34:42
one he's with now is younger than I am. I
34:44
haven't spoken with him in like twenty thirty years when
34:47
he disowned me for becoming Catholic. Essentially, yeah, people, I
34:56
had to be the one that got to hear what
34:58
an awful person he was and then told they would
35:00
never hire me because if I was anything like him,
35:04
they wouldn't trust me around their money or their wives,
35:08
et cetera, daughters, et cetera. Probably what it costs me
35:16
a very dear relationship. If I look back in life,
35:20
you know, it's like the one that got away, the
35:22
one that was like the perfect girl. Let's just say
35:26
she had had an encounter with him and did not
35:33
when she found out I was his son, did not
35:35
think I could be a very good person if I
35:36
was related to him, So you have it, Since the
35:41
bath method of let's see the surest means by whereby
35:47
the avaricious can conquer the greed of gain is by
35:50
forcing themselves to give alms they ought to. Besides, meditate
35:55
frequently on the poverty of Christ and the ephemeral, ephemeral
35:59
nature of earthly possessions. Since the best method of correcting
36:04
advice is by exercising the opposite virtue, avarice will be
36:07
cured by liberality. What asked Saint Augustine can so effectually
36:12
counteract avarice as the poverty of the son of God?
36:16
Consider ole miser that thy Lord and thy God, who
36:19
came down down to earth from Heaven, would not possess
36:22
any of the riches at which thou dost clutch so eagerly.
36:27
He loved poverty and lived in poverty. And thinkest thou
36:31
ought a miserable mortal desire, ardently what the Lord of
36:34
all creation despised. Remember also that we must part with
36:39
all our earthly possessions at our death. We brought nothing
36:42
into this world, and we certainly can carry nothing out.
36:45
First Timothy six seven, that which thou leave behind at
36:52
your death will pass into the hands of others who will,
36:55
perchance make bad use of it to their own damnation.
36:59
The most effects true medicine for the disease of avarice,
37:03
as Saint Augustine, is to think daily of death. True
37:06
riches are not earthly possessions, but virtues pursue them. Ah,
37:14
let me put the emphasis on the right line there.
37:16
True riches are not earthly possessions, but virtues pursue them.
37:21
In other words, pursue virtues as one Timothy six eleven
37:26
for the for they are treasures which thieves cannot steal,
37:31
or are the moss and rust corrupt? Why then, busy
37:34
one's self about the acquisition of efinessent treasures? Oh? You know,
37:41
when you when you read older books, you realize how
37:44
how lacking our monern vocabulary is. The words that were
37:48
used in just common conversation one hundred years ago would
37:53
really befuddled many people today. I remember, you know, one
37:57
of the main people that led me to convert to
37:59
Catholicism was William F. Buckley Junior. And he was known,
38:02
you know, he did the show Firing Line, and he
38:04
wrote several books and newspaper articles. He had this he
38:07
was you know, educated in a classical Catholic system, and
38:12
he was brilliant, and he had this huge vocabulary, and
38:15
you know, when I was late teens, early twenties starting
38:19
to read his stuff, I had to keep the dictionary
38:21
right beside me. It was actually a parody. I think
38:25
it was a celebration of maybe his eightieth birthday or
38:27
something a writer probably for Yeah, I don't remember what
38:32
publication it was. He said he hath reduced to peroxisms
38:38
of obloquy his opponents with his cisco padelion robusity that
38:45
would be. He thought it was hilarious because he had
38:47
never said anything like that, that was even a little
38:49
too pretentious for him. But all it meant was he
38:53
kind of put people into sputtering fits because they couldn't
38:56
understand his his vocabulary. And always I think of that
39:00
when I read some of these somewhat tongue twisting words
39:04
that I've had to startle through today. Y'all have a
39:07
great evening. I remember the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope,
39:12
don't worry, and I'll talk to you next time.