Transcript [00:01] Hey everyone, I want to react to a clip [00:03] from Dennis Prager that's been making [00:05] the rounds. He was asked about the [00:07] tension between President Trump and the [00:10] Pope, Pope Leo. [00:12] And he said something that I think gets [00:14] at something really important, something [00:16] that goes much deeper than a [00:17] disagreement between the president and [00:19] the Pope. So, let me play you the [00:21] relevant part, just a couple minutes [00:23] of Dennis Prager [00:25] from the other day. Let's pull this up. [00:27] How do I do this again? Right, here we [00:29] go. [00:31] And [00:33] there we are. Yeah. What are you, [00:35] speaking of things that upset people as [00:38] of late, uh, [00:39] the relationship between President Trump [00:41] and the Pope. Uh, I don't know if you've [00:43] been following the story, but the the [00:46] Pope has has [00:47] >> The Pope has obviously entered into the [00:49] political arena by making certain [00:51] comments. The President has directly [00:54] commented against him. [00:57] And there was a post of a of a meme that [01:01] may have been misunderstood, but [01:02] certainly was in in bad taste. It was [01:04] taken down. That's a a a brief summary [01:07] of it, but what is what is your take on [01:10] what went what is happening between [01:12] President Trump and the Pope? [01:15] I side with the President on this. [01:18] The Pope's comments [01:21] are wrong [01:23] theologically, [01:25] morally, [01:26] having nothing to do [01:28] with Donald Trump or Iran. [01:32] He said, for example, and I'm [01:34] paraphrasing, I don't remember the exact [01:36] quote, [01:37] that God doesn't hear the prayers [01:40] of uh of uh soldiers at war. [01:46] And I was thinking, really? [01:49] God didn't hear the prayers [01:51] of the American troops [01:54] who stormed Normandy Beach [01:56] to uh [01:59] to [02:00] liberate Europe from the Nazis [02:04] and to end the the Holocaust? [02:08] Really? [02:11] I [02:12] What God? I even went to the to the the [02:16] uh [02:16] I went to the papal website [02:20] and just to read what did he mean by [02:23] that? Cuz it's [02:24] it's so morally wrong. [02:27] And they said, well, he didn't really [02:30] mean it as that. [02:32] But he said it. [02:34] And and it's [02:36] It's like it's like Tucker Carlson [02:39] said [02:40] I mean, [02:42] any killing of an innocent in war is a [02:46] murder and it's a crime [02:48] and it's an evil, [02:50] then you can't wage war. [02:53] There is no war possible [02:55] where no innocents will be killed. [02:59] We live in an age of such moral [03:01] confusion. [03:03] Well, I don't care about Tucker Carlson. [03:05] I care about the Pope of the Catholic [03:07] Church, [03:09] the Vicar of Christ on Earth. [03:12] If he isn't thinking clearly morally, [03:15] that's a bad sign. [03:17] Happily, a vast number of Catholics [03:22] have learned the sad way [03:24] not to agree with their Pope on every on [03:26] every matter. [03:28] And let me explain to everybody, [03:31] Popes are only infallible [03:34] when they invoke [03:36] infallibility. [03:38] And they have done so, [03:40] I believe, in the history [03:43] of infallibility, [03:45] twice. [03:47] And they were over [03:49] theological [03:50] church doctrines, [03:53] which have no [03:55] moral consequence. [03:58] So, you can be a great Catholic [04:01] and differ with your Pope. [04:04] And you are a great Catholic [04:07] if you do [04:09] in this matter. [04:11] Dennis, I know that many of your best [04:13] friends are Catholics, many of the [04:14] PragerU employees are Catholics, several [04:17] board members at PragerU are Catholics. [04:20] It is very difficult for me to see [04:23] the President [04:25] talking back at the Pope, right? You you [04:28] you think that the Pope is somebody you [04:29] don't talk back at. Except, my other [04:32] reaction to it is, is there an [04:34] expectation that if the Pope enters into [04:37] the political arena and starts talking [04:39] politics, is there an expectation that [04:42] nobody reacts to him when he talks about [04:44] politics? And that's what I think is [04:46] very tricky and difficult here. We we [04:49] want to give him the respect that he [04:50] should command and and deserve, but how [04:53] do you do that if he's entering into [04:56] this arena where there is going to be [04:58] natural disagreement? And I I don't know [05:01] if if politics is even the arena of the [05:04] Pope. [05:05] No, I [05:07] I think that [05:09] certain I don't know what politics [05:11] means. [05:12] He is not going to say vote Democrat or [05:15] vote Labour. [05:16] But he [05:19] the issue he raised was moral [05:23] about killing. [05:24] And and God listening to the prayers [05:28] of people who kill. [05:30] And if God didn't hear, I'm not saying [05:33] God [05:34] responded, but if God didn't hear [05:37] the prayers [05:39] of the soldiers who liberated [05:42] France and the rest of Western Europe [05:46] from the Nazis, [05:48] then that's not a God I believe in. [05:51] I think [05:53] We believe in different Gods. [05:56] And especially, [05:58] what what is the ban [06:00] on non-Catholics [06:02] speaking against the comment that the [06:04] Pope makes? [06:06] The Pope is not immune [06:08] to difference. [06:10] And Donald Trump is not a Catholic. [06:14] It would be tougher for a Catholic, [06:17] but it was they've already learned from [06:20] Pope Francis [06:22] who said something to the effect that [06:24] capitalism was a [06:27] was a scourge [06:29] uh on humanity. [06:31] The only economic system that has raised [06:33] billions of people from poverty. [06:36] What we have here, [06:38] and I think the President said [06:41] that Pope Leo was elected Pope [06:44] in large measure because he was American [06:47] and could thereby, [06:50] they thought, stand up more [06:53] to Donald Trump. [06:55] That was the general consensus [06:59] of Vatican watchers, [07:01] that they elected a an American Pope. [07:04] Nobody [07:05] that I know of was even talking about [07:08] him as as a prospect. He came in on the [07:11] fourth ballot, [07:13] uh but that's probably the reason. [07:16] You have here not a battle between [07:18] Catholic [07:20] and Protestant. [07:22] You have here a battle [07:24] bet- between the American left and the [07:27] American right. [07:30] But I just want to end this part by [07:32] saying, [07:34] wouldn't it be a little [07:36] refreshing [07:38] if the Pope had come out and said, [07:40] "You know, [07:42] Iran is run [07:45] by terrible human beings, [07:48] irrespective of their religion. [07:51] I would say it whatever their religion. [07:54] They are running [07:56] a brutal dictatorship, [07:59] a country of no freedom, [08:01] of no independent judiciary, [08:04] independent press. [08:07] And my fellow Catholics, [08:10] God wants us to side with the good [08:13] against the bad. [08:15] Can you imagine [08:17] if he had said that?" [08:22] Okay. [08:24] Um [08:25] So, the So, first of all, before we get [08:27] into all my comments on this, [08:30] uh first of the [08:32] the statement that Pope Leo made, this [08:34] is as it was reported in Reuters here. [08:36] This was back at the end of March. Pope [08:37] Leo says God rejects prayers of leaders [08:40] who wage wars. [08:42] And he said that God rejects prayers of [08:44] leaders who start wars and have hands [08:45] full of blood. [08:47] And he was talking in St. Peter's Square [08:49] on Palm Sunday. And here's the quote. [08:52] "This is our God, Jesus, King of Peace, [08:54] who rejects war, whom no one can use to [08:57] justify war. [08:59] Jesus does not listen to the prayers of [09:01] those who wage war, but rejects them [09:02] saying, 'Even though you make many [09:05] prayers, I will not listen. Your hands [09:07] are full of blood.'" He said, citing a [09:09] biblical passage. Now, this is a verse [09:11] from Isaiah [09:12] chapter 1. [09:14] Okay, so here he he came right out and [09:17] and and said that exactly, God does not [09:19] listen to the prayers of those who wage [09:20] war. So, that's what he that's what he [09:22] said here. [09:24] Uh and that's what and and that's what [09:27] uh [09:27] that's what Dennis Prager [09:29] was responding to. [09:32] Now, I I want to talk about this for a [09:34] bit. [09:35] So, Prager makes a few points that I [09:37] think are worth unpacking. [09:40] He sides with Trump. He takes issue with [09:41] the Pope's statement that God doesn't [09:43] hear the prayers of soldiers at war. [09:46] And he notices, and I thought this was [09:47] the most important line in the whole [09:48] clip, he says that this isn't really [09:50] Catholic versus Protestant, it's the [09:51] American left versus the American right. [09:56] Now, he's right, but I want to go one [09:57] level deeper than that because I think [09:58] what we're actually watching is [10:00] something more serious than political [10:01] disagreement. What we're watching is [10:03] what happens when a leader of [10:06] a [10:07] biblical faith tradition, a biblical [10:09] faith [10:11] civilization, society, whatever you want [10:13] to call the Catholic Church abandons the [10:16] biblical moral framework. And I'm going [10:18] to explain exactly what I mean. Stay [10:20] with me. [10:22] I believe that the Pope and the Catholic [10:24] Church in general, not just under him, [10:26] has slid, maybe without realizing it, [10:29] into a [10:30] into a completely different moral [10:32] framework than the biblical one. Now, [10:33] before I get into that, [10:35] I can already hear some of you saying, [10:36] "Oh, you're a rabbi. Dennis Prager's [10:38] also Jewish. Who are you to tell the [10:40] Pope what what you know, what's the [10:41] correct Christian teaching, what the [10:43] correct Catholic teaching is?" That's a [10:45] fair point. [10:46] So, let me bring in someone else. I want [10:48] to pull up an article that was published [10:49] a couple weeks ago [10:51] um [10:53] on a website called Catholic Stand. [10:56] So, I want to pull this up here. [10:59] Give me a sec. Let me just get this. [11:01] Here it is. [11:02] By the way, I should point out that [11:04] first of all, I'm wearing headphones [11:05] because a number of a number of viewers [11:08] commented that when I when I do clips [11:10] where I play a video, there's often a [11:11] bad echo. There were some tech it's some [11:13] tech issues. [11:15] And I'm hoping that this will help that. [11:16] Let me know if if the sound is better in [11:19] this video than in some other ones. So, [11:21] you know, while I've also paused this, [11:22] let me [11:23] also encourage you. Please make sure to [11:25] be that you're subscribed to this [11:27] channel, that you're subscribed also to [11:29] Israel 365 News so you get all my [11:31] content. [11:32] And in the description of this video, [11:34] you'll find a link to subscribe to our [11:36] newsletters. [11:38] The Israel 365 News newsletter and the [11:40] Israel 365 Action weekly newsletter that [11:43] will really keep you up to date on [11:44] everything that we're doing. [11:45] So, go ahead and do that. [11:47] Uh so, yeah. So, here's this here's what [11:49] I wanted to share with you. [11:52] Um it's a publication called Catholic [11:54] Stand. It's a Catholic publication. The [11:55] writer is a cradle Catholic, a certified [11:57] catechist in the Archdiocese of Detroit. [12:00] His name is Jean Van Son. [12:03] And I think what he writes here gets [12:04] right to the heart [12:06] of what went wrong here. Here's what he [12:07] writes. And I want you to I want you to [12:09] see this particular passage with me. You [12:12] know, he was he was bothered by what [12:13] Pope Leo said. [12:15] And listen to this passage. [12:19] He says, [12:21] "A number of thoughts occurred to me [12:22] when reading this." And then he said, [12:24] "My thoughts were of my father, [12:27] a Marine who fought on Iwo Jima, [12:31] and my uncle [12:33] who was in Patton's army in Europe [12:34] during World War II. [12:37] And I thought of one of my [12:38] brothers-in-law and a cousin who fought [12:40] in Vietnam. [12:46] >> [snorts] [12:46] >> They all prayed to God to keep them [12:50] safe. [12:51] They were, after all, waging war." Then [12:54] he continues, he mentions that the Pope [12:56] was was using a verse from Isaiah. [12:59] And he says as follows, [13:01] uh cuz it says here [13:03] Isaiah chapter 1, that's where the verse [13:05] says sinful nation, people laden with [13:07] wickedness, evil offspring. [13:10] "When you spread out your hands, I will [13:11] close my eyes to you. Though you pray [13:13] the more, I will not listen. Your hands [13:14] are full of blood." That is the passage [13:19] in Isaiah. [13:20] So, what Van Son writes is he says, [13:22] "Isaiah is saying that God does not hear [13:24] the prayers of the wicked, the evil, or [13:26] the corrupt. You just I mean, it's not [13:28] even like you don't have to do any [13:30] exegesis. You just read the context and [13:31] that's what you see. So, back to Van [13:33] Son. He writes, "Isaiah is not saying [13:35] I'm sorry, Isaiah is saying that God [13:37] does not hear the prayers of the wicked, [13:38] the evil, or the corrupt. And not [13:40] everyone who wages war is evil, wicked, [13:42] or corrupt. I don't think George [13:43] Washington, our founding fathers, or [13:45] Abraham Lincoln were evil, wicked, or [13:47] corrupt. [13:49] And I think he listens to all of the men [13:51] and women who answer their country's [13:52] call and take up arms and wage war [13:56] in defense of their [13:58] country [13:59] against evil, wicked, and corrupt [14:01] aggressors." [14:04] And I notice what he's doing there. The [14:05] Pope grounded his statement in the [14:06] prophet Isaiah, but this Catholic writer [14:09] goes back to the actual Isaiah text and [14:11] shows that the Pope took it completely [14:13] out of context. Isaiah was condemning [14:14] the wicked, people whose hands are full [14:16] of blood, people who've turned away from [14:18] God. [14:19] He wasn't making a blanket statement [14:20] about every soldier who's ever picked up [14:22] a weapon in defense of his country. [14:24] So, the Pope took this verse [14:26] about wickedness and turned it into a [14:28] statement about power. [14:30] About who wages war. [14:33] About who has weapons and who doesn't. [14:36] And that's what I want to drill down on. [14:37] It's not a small mistake. It's it's a [14:40] it's like a category error. [14:43] And it matters enormously because it [14:45] reveals something about the lens through [14:47] which Pope Leo is reading this biblical [14:50] verse. I'll come back to that, but first [14:51] let me read you one more passage from [14:53] this article by Jean Van Son. [14:56] Let me let me pull this up. [14:58] He has uh [15:00] Let me find it. He talks about Saint [15:01] Augustine. [15:02] It's a great point. Here he is. [15:06] Here it is. He says, "Saint Augustine [15:08] spelled out what has become Catholic [15:09] teaching, [15:11] just war doctrine, [15:13] in his magnificent book, [15:16] The City of God. [15:19] He says in a nutshell, war is allowed [15:21] for legitimate reasons. [15:23] And this has been Catholic teaching [15:26] for 1,700 [15:29] years." [15:31] Then he continues. [15:33] He writes, [15:35] He writes, "I hope Pope Leo, where is [15:37] it? I hope Pope Leo meant something [15:39] other [15:40] than what he said. [15:42] I hope he meant that God does not listen [15:43] to the prayers of leaders who wage war [15:45] for evil, wicked, or corrupt purposes. [15:48] This would make sense because Isaiah [15:49] clearly is chastising the wicked. But [15:52] Pope Leo did not say this. [15:54] So, we are now left to wonder [15:57] what yet another Pope [15:59] is trying to tell us. [16:02] What yet another Pope is trying [16:05] to tell us." [16:10] Yet another. [16:11] In other words, he's not just talking [16:12] about Pope Leo. [16:14] He's talking about a pattern. [16:16] And Prager actually mentioned it in the [16:17] clip. He pointed out that Pope Francis, [16:19] Leo's predecessor, said that capitalism [16:22] was a scourge on humanity. Think about [16:24] that for a minute. Capitalism. [16:26] The economic system that has lifted more [16:28] people out of poverty than any other [16:30] arrangement in human history. And by all [16:31] accounts, if you take a look at the [16:32] Bible and what it says about ownership [16:35] and and prosperity and and it's [16:38] you know, the Bible is certainly [16:40] consistent with with with capitalism. [16:42] And Pope Francis called it a scourge on [16:44] humanity. [16:48] This is not a biblical critique [16:51] of greed or materialism when Francis [16:53] says this. The Bible has plenty of [16:56] critiques of greed and materialism. [16:58] They're those are legitimate. This is a [16:59] Marxist critique of capitalism. Word for [17:02] word coming from the Pope. [17:06] So, now we have two Popes in a row. One [17:08] who thinks capitalism is a scourge. One [17:10] who thinks that God doesn't hear the [17:12] prayers of [17:13] anyone who wages war, soldiers waging [17:15] war. And in both cases, if you step back [17:17] and ask, what's the underlying thinking, [17:20] the framework, the worldview that [17:23] produces these conclusions? [17:25] The answer is the same. And it's [17:27] certainly not the Bible. It's it's not [17:29] Augustine. It's not 1,700 years of [17:31] Catholic teaching. [17:34] It's a power-based oppressor-oppressed [17:37] framework [17:39] that has been absorbed, probably without [17:40] anyone quite realizing it, [17:42] by the Catholic Church from the [17:44] intellectual culture of the modern left. [17:47] And that's what Jean Van Son is grieving [17:50] when he writes that line, "So, we are [17:52] now left to wonder what yet another Pope [17:56] is trying [17:58] to tell us. [18:01] What yet another Pope is trying [18:04] to tell us." Think about that. [18:07] That's a faithful Catholic, a catechist, [18:09] someone who loves his church. And he's [18:12] genuinely bewildered because the Pope [18:13] didn't just say something politically [18:15] inconvenient. Right? He he contradicted [18:18] 1,700 years of his own church teachings. [18:21] The just war doctrine developed by [18:23] Augustine, [18:24] you know, the the theologian [18:27] of the Catholic Church. [18:32] And [18:34] did anyone notice that Leo just the Pope [18:36] Leo just ignored [18:38] that doctrine? So, the question I want [18:40] to ask is, how does this happen? How [18:41] does a Pope [18:43] a Pope, the leader of the Catholic [18:45] Church, end up with this [18:47] what looks like a Marxist worldview or [18:49] kind of postmodern worldview? Here's my [18:51] answer. [18:53] And this is what I think Prager was [18:54] pointing to [18:55] without quite naming it. [18:59] When you remove absolute moral [19:01] categories, like an absolute good, an [19:04] absolute evil, right and wrong, [19:07] like an unequivocal clear [19:10] um conviction about what is good and [19:12] what is evil. [19:13] If you remove that, [19:17] you don't end up with neutrality. No one [19:19] ends up with neutrality. Nature abhors a [19:21] vacuum, and so does moral thinking. What [19:24] fills the vacuum almost every time [19:26] is if you don't have good and evil, like [19:28] a belief in absolute in absolutes and [19:31] truth and good and evil, you end up with [19:33] a power-based framework. [19:35] Who has power, who doesn't, who's [19:37] oppressing who? [19:38] The strong and the weak. And in that [19:40] framework, [19:41] the powerful are automatically suspect [19:44] and the powerless are [19:45] automatically um [19:49] arouse our sympathies. [19:51] We see them almost as virtuous by virtue [19:54] of the fact that they're being [19:55] victimized and powerless. [19:57] Sound familiar? [19:58] It should [20:00] because that's Marxism. [20:02] That's the operating system of the [20:04] modern left. And increasingly [20:07] it's the operating system of a lot of [20:09] people who think that they're just being [20:10] compassionate. [20:12] Now think about what the Pope said. God [20:13] does not hear the prayers of those who [20:15] wage war. Let's follow the logic. [20:18] Who wages war? [20:20] Who wages war? The armed, the powerful. [20:23] The ones with weapons, the ones with [20:25] armies, the ones with air forces. [20:27] And in the oppressor oppressed framework [20:30] being powerful and you know, good at [20:33] waging war, that's enough to determine [20:34] whose side God is on. [20:37] Right? So in that worldview, before [20:38] you've asked a single question about [20:40] what they're fighting for, who they're [20:41] fighting against, right? Things that [20:43] kind of matter to whether or not this is [20:45] a war that is moral. No, no, no. [20:48] It doesn't matter if those soldiers are [20:50] liberating a death camp. It doesn't [20:51] matter if they're the only if the only [20:53] thing if they're the only thing standing [20:54] between a civilian population [20:57] and a regime that will slaughter that [20:59] civilian population. [21:01] Like the framework has already done the [21:02] thinking for you. Power equals guilt. [21:05] That's the conclusion you reach when [21:06] you've traded [21:08] when you've traded your biblical moral [21:10] compass for a postmodern moral compass. [21:13] And then, and this is the really [21:15] dangerous part [21:17] you go back to the Bible [21:19] and you pull up a verse and you read it [21:21] back into the text, which is exactly [21:23] what the Pope did with that verse in [21:24] Isaiah. [21:28] Now Prager mentioned he mentioned Tucker [21:30] Carlson in the clip. Kind of brushed him [21:32] off. I said, "I don't care about Tucker [21:33] Carlson." I don't want to brush him off [21:34] though because Tucker gives us [21:37] a very clear [21:38] understanding of where this logic ends [21:41] up. [21:42] Tucker's position, and he's been pretty [21:43] explicit about this, is that killing [21:45] innocents in war is always murder. [21:47] Anytime a civilian gets killed in war, [21:48] it's murder. It's always a crime. It's [21:50] always evil. [21:52] And if you accept that [21:54] as Prager points out you've effectively [21:56] ruled out all war, period, full stop. [21:59] There's no wars anymore. [22:01] Now Tucker might [22:03] he might embrace that and say, "Yeah, [22:06] let's end war. War is all evil." [22:09] Tucker might call it wisdom [22:11] or restraint. [22:13] He'd say, "No more war, problem solved." [22:16] But let's follow the logic. [22:18] Who benefits from a world where the good [22:21] guys have committed themselves to never [22:24] using force [22:26] to never going on the offensive? Who [22:28] benefits from that? [22:29] Not the innocent. [22:31] Not the weak. [22:34] Or look at our current context. [22:36] Not the Iranian people or the other [22:39] good people in the world who who who [22:41] don't want to be terrorized by Iranian [22:43] terror networks worldwide. [22:48] Right? [22:49] If good people say it is wrong to ever [22:51] go to war because God does not hear the [22:53] cries of those who go to war and all [22:55] deaths [22:56] all collateral damage in war is murder [23:00] so therefore we're good people, we're [23:01] not going to commit murder, we're not [23:02] going to go to war. Who benefits from [23:03] that? [23:04] The people who benefit from no war ever [23:08] from that camp are the people who are [23:09] already winning. The people already in [23:12] power, the oppressors. [23:14] Right? So like [23:15] when you have evil regimes and good [23:17] people in the world feel no compulsion [23:20] whatsoever to remove them [23:23] we're just allowing evil to perpetuate [23:25] itself. [23:29] So [23:30] by standing by and doing nothing in the [23:32] face of evil [23:33] the evil wins. [23:35] The oppressors win because the [23:37] oppressors don't need war to maintain [23:39] their position. The people who need the [23:40] option of war are the ones being [23:42] oppressed. [23:43] So a no war ever doctrine [23:47] is not a moral achievement. It's not a [23:49] moral position. [23:51] If you follow it If you follow it to its [23:52] logical conclusion, it's the most [23:54] pro-oppressor [23:56] position imaginable. It just doesn't [23:57] look that way because it sounds [23:59] peaceful, right? We don't want to have [24:00] war. [24:01] But it's childish. It's childish [24:03] thinking, not childish in the sense of [24:04] stupid. That's not what I mean. Tucker's [24:06] not stupid. The Pope's not stupid. I [24:09] mean childish in the sense that it's [24:10] refusing [24:12] to reckon with an actual world [24:15] in the the real world as it is. [24:18] That's what makes it childish. The world [24:20] as it is [24:22] it actually contains evil people in [24:24] positions of power who will not stop [24:28] doing evil things unless they are [24:30] stopped by force. This has been true in [24:32] every generation of human history [24:35] and it is true today. [24:39] And here's Here's where I want to speak [24:40] directly to anyone watching this [24:42] who holds the Bible as sacred because [24:45] this should be obvious to us. [24:48] The God of the Bible is not a pacifist. [24:52] I I can't believe I have to say that. [24:53] The God who drowned Pharaoh's army in [24:55] the Red Sea in the song of the sea that [24:57] the people of Israel sing [24:58] in in Exodus 15 [25:01] it refers to God as a man of war. Adonai [25:04] Ish Milhama, God is a man of war. The [25:07] Lord is a man of war. [25:09] Okay, the God who explicitly commanded [25:11] Moses to attack the Midianites the end [25:14] of the book of Numbers. [25:17] Okay? This isn't Israel deciding to go [25:19] to war and asking God's blessing after [25:21] the fact. This is God initiating a war, [25:23] commanding it [25:25] ordering it. The God who commanded [25:26] Israel to wage war against the nations [25:29] of Canaan, these these [25:30] evil pagan nations who were engaged in [25:32] child sacrifice and all manner of [25:34] depravity. [25:36] God commanded Israel to wage war against [25:38] them. [25:39] God told Saul, and this is a this is [25:41] obviously a crucial story, that his [25:43] failure to defeat Amalek was not mercy. [25:46] Saul was being merciful, it was that [25:48] sin. [25:49] Because being merciful on the wicked, [25:51] being merciful on the evil is a form of [25:53] evil. [25:55] Saul Saul thought he was being [25:57] compassionate and God told him he [25:59] failed. [26:01] So the next time someone tells you that [26:02] God is on the side of those who refuse [26:04] to fight [26:06] ever at all [26:10] ask them if that includes those who [26:11] refuse to fight evil. [26:15] Ask if it includes the people of Israel [26:18] in Numbers 31 when God told them to [26:20] fight Midian. [26:24] God commanded them to. [26:26] The biblical framework, the biblical way [26:28] of thinking about war is not avoid [26:30] violence at all costs. [26:33] The biblical framework is you are [26:34] responsible for defeating evil when it [26:36] is within your power to do so and that [26:39] inaction [26:41] is not [26:43] innocence or piety. [26:45] When you stand aside while evil people [26:47] slaughter the innocent because you don't [26:48] want to get your hands dirty [26:51] that that is moral failure. [26:54] It's a grave moral failure. It's not a [26:55] fringe This isn't a fringe reading of [26:57] the Bible. This is the plain text. And [26:59] Augustine knew it, which is why he [27:02] developed just war doctrine in the first [27:04] place, which became the doctrine of the [27:05] Catholic Church. He wasn't trying to [27:07] sneak violence into Christianity. He was [27:09] being honest about what the Bible says. [27:14] And [27:16] and and building a careful serious [27:18] framework for thinking about when war is [27:20] justified, when it is not justified. [27:24] Like the Pope just walked away from that [27:26] framework [27:27] in his in his Palm Sunday homily just [27:30] saying, "Oh, God hates all war." Right? [27:32] So here's where I end up on this. The [27:34] Pope's statement [27:36] was It wasn't just politically clumsy. [27:39] It was theologically revealing. This is [27:42] why I made this video. [27:44] When you read Isaiah, that verse in [27:46] Isaiah as a statement about power [27:49] rather than as a statement about [27:50] wickedness and corruption [27:53] you've imported a foreign operating [27:56] system into the biblical text. [27:59] You You've imported this Marxist way of [28:01] thinking. When you declare that God [28:02] doesn't hear the prayers of soldiers [28:05] without asking what those soldiers are [28:06] fighting for [28:08] you've replaced the biblical category of [28:10] good and evil [28:12] with the Marxist category of powerful [28:14] and powerless. [28:16] And as this Catholic writer points out [28:18] this isn't the first time. This is two [28:20] Popes in a row. [28:22] One condemning capitalism using the [28:23] language of the Marxists and one [28:25] declaring that God doesn't hear the [28:26] prayers of soldiers using the language [28:29] and the logic [28:30] of the anti-war left. [28:33] So Catholics who love their church are [28:35] asking what yet another Pope is trying [28:38] to tell us. Like they deserve a better [28:40] answer than this. [28:42] And here's Dennis Prager, a Jew, who's [28:44] defending the biblical worldview more [28:46] faithfully here than the leader of the [28:48] Catholic Church. [28:54] Right? It This should concern everyone [28:56] who believes in the biblical tradition [28:58] and who believes in the biblical basis [29:00] of our civilization. [29:02] And that the biblical worldview is the [29:04] only thing [29:07] standing between us [29:10] and the and the and the complete [29:13] dissolution of our civilization. We need [29:15] more biblical thinking. [29:19] Anyway. [29:20] That's my take on this [29:22] on this Pope situation. [29:23] Thanks for watching. Please share this [29:25] if you found it valuable. Thank you for [29:26] helping grow the channel. [29:28] And God bless.
