The Catholic priest mentioned in my previous post also wrote....
"I never preached a single sermon against killing civilians to the men who were doing it."
But the rules under which the priest served did not require it of him either. As an apostle and priest he preached the Gospel through the written word of the Holy Bible. What did Christ say about that? He said that even if someone were to come back from the dead, they would not listen if they listened not to the prophets. There are prescribed readings of the Gospel for every day in the Church calendar. And I might add the quote, "my grace is sufficient for thee".
The Catholic priest mentioned in my previous post also wrote....
"I was brainwashed! It never entered my mind to protest publicly the consequences of these massive air raids. I was told it was necessary—told openly by the military and told implicitly by my church’s leadership. (To the best of my knowledge no American cardinals or bishops were opposing these mass air raids. Silence in such matters is a stamp of approval.)"
It has already been shown in this thread that God delivers even His own people to war if they disobey. As such, it has been often taught that the worst sin is disobedience. The prophecy in Daniel confirms this, as after Christ would be slain, there would be war until the end. The specifics of the conflict we call World War II fits into the Daniel prophecy and what Christ said, "You shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars." As to protesting, it would have only made matters worse as the war was Heaven sent. The Fatima prophecy in 1917 A.D. during WWI given by Jesus' own Mother foretold of a worse war to follow if men would not amend their lives. It was a matter of weathering the storm. Taking sides would only have put innocent people at further risk. The Vatican was helping victims as it could in acts of charity. (There is a saying, "Actions speak louder than words.")
The sin of omission is what it sounds like to me. Tacit approval is still approval.
Sounding like and actually being so are two different things. As long as the priest did bless, that is not being tacit, even if it was only what you now call 'useless' objects. A moment ago they seemed to serve your argument well just the way they were. Notice something a little fishy?
If the clergy had done their job, no one who called themselves Christian could have gone to battle with a clear conscience.
Perhaps you haven't yet realized that the conflict/war was Heaven sent. Those men did not want to fight in that war, to burden their consciences would only have added to their problems.
It was their job to tell those who sought spiritual guidance the truth from God's word.
They did.
That is something I asked you to show us rather than merely repeating the same false accusation in a theme and variation setting.
Yes and why can't you see how wrong that was?
They bless in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You can't do any better than that.
Christianity is not a local or national religion...it transcends political and national barriers and recognises "brothers" no matter what nation they live in.
That would be "in which they live". But as apostles, that is how we have been sent, unto the nations. Christ said that His Gospel was to be preached to all the nations, then would come the end. The fact that this has been done is a sign that the end is near.
If the priests had told their charges this one simple fact, how many would have fought their spiritual "kin"? How do you love your brother with a weapon?
The parable of the Sower covers that nicely. The best thing the priests could have done was to pray for them. As Christ taught us not to pray on street corners as hypocrites, you would not read nor hear of that. Ever think of that?
Can you give me some examples of Christ or his apostles blessing (useless) material objects?
I mentioned this earlier. You've upped your ante to useless in order to bolster your erroneous claim. Christ took the bread and the cup, blessing it. The loaves and fishes, too. The same thing is done at every Sacrifice of the Holy Mass by the priest.
Can you see Jesus blessing cars or sporting events?
If such things are so useless to you now, why can't you see Him blessing them for what they are anyway? If Christ said that He could have diverted His very crucifixion, how is it you think that He can't do away with cars and sporting events? He said, "The heavens and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away."
Where will I find candles in Christian worship...or images?
You've been around electric lighting forgetting that when the early church met to hear the Gospel preached there were candles to see, and icons to remind them of saints who had departed, just like people tweet and twitter with all kinds of glitter. Rituals also used such things in special ways with symbolism attached to the Gospel, i.e., the Troika, a three stemmed candle representing the Trinity.
Exactly...so why did the clergy pray with the soldiers asking God for victory over the enemy and bless the bombs and guns that were going to used to kill innocent women and children? How is that loving your enemy?
And who is the enemy?
The swords were there to fulfill a prophesy...nothing more. Jesus never advocated violence to anyone. Loving one's enemy precluded it.
That would be "prophecy". "Prophesy" is the verb form. Jesus said that of His healing on an occasion, that it was to show the work of God. But the teaching of the two swords and saying, "That is enough", was to show the importance of their mission, as previously He had sent them without anything, in comparison.
Yes.
You honestly think this pertains to blessing weapons that would be used to murder people?
No. It pertains to blessing, and not cursing.
