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You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;'                but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.                If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.                If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.                'It was also said, 'Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,'                but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.                'Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,'                but I tell you, don't swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;                nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.                Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can't make one hair white or black.                But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No.' Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.                'You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'*                But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.                If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.                Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.                Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you.                'You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor,* and hate your enemy.*'                But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,                that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.               
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Love One Another! 3/2004 → The main topic

Love One Another



Democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism ...

A Democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism (Veritatis Splendor, 101)

“The current situation in the world with its ‘lights and shadows’ should make us all fully aware that we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’” (Evangelium vitae, 28).
Jesus Christ has revealed to us the infinite dignity and value of each and every human person. Every person, without exception, has an inalienable right to freedom of conscience and to life from the moment of conception to natural death. If history has taught us a lesson, it is that the rejection of Christ leads invariably to the rise of criminal totalitarian regimes, genocide, the decline of culture and freedom, and the moral unraveling of whole societies – in a word, to a real hell on earth. Thus, the greatest threat to mankind is the sin of rejecting God and His laws. And hence the great danger posed to the democratic order by politicians and citizens who reject the Ten Commandments and support the cause of abortion, euthanasia, sexual license, homosexuality, contraception, pornography and moral permissiveness.
In the interests of all of humanity, unbelievers included, our societies should be striving to do their utmost to base their legal order on the Christian system of values. It alone defends the dignity of every human being from the moment of conception to natural death. It alone defends our inalienable right to life and freedom of conscience. Every attempt at building a social order apart from these fundamental values, every flight into moral permissiveness, which rejects the existence of stable moral norms, creates, in the words of the great Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “something so hideous, so blind and inhuman, that the entire structure will come crashing down under the sheer weight of man’s curses.” Guided by the same insight, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, comments ruefully on “the risk of an alliance between democracy and ethical relativism, which would remove any sure moral reference point from political and social life and, on a deeper level, make the acknowledgement of truth impossible….If there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism” (Veritatis splendor, 101).
These, then, are the principles, which ought to guide all people of good will when making extraordinarily important decisions such as those we make during every democratic election. In this connection, the upcoming US presidential elections present a crucial challenge to all voters of good will.
“Jesus himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (cf. Mt 4:1-11). As he taught his disciples, some demons cannot be driven out except in this way (cf. Mk 9:29). Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life. May this same power turn their hearts to resolutions and goals inspired by the civilization of life and love” (Evangelium vitae, 100).
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The above article was published with permission from Miłujcie się! in November 2010


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