Pope Benedict XVI's Nightmare: Justice Corrupted

By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
4/26/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Without belief in the true God our efforts are in ultimately fruitless, in fact not only fruitless, but they bear poisonous fruit

There is an opposite side to Benedict XVI's "dream." We may call it Pope Benedict XVI's "nightmare." The nightmare happens when this inclination or thirst for justice is corrupted, disordered, or misguided, so that instead of being a force for good, it actually becomes a force for evil. The nightmare arises when this inclination for justice is tied to a misunderstanding of (or rejection of) God, or a misunderstanding of (or rejection of) man.

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - In our last article, we wrote about Pope Benedict XVI's "dream." This "dream" is reason's answer to the fact that men and women of good will have an inclination for justice, that we may assume that the world was well-made by a benevolent God, that-as a whole-justice does not seem to occur as we should expect in a world well-made. Our inclinations toward justice are not satisfied.

Those realities led Plato and Cicero and other philosophers to suggest the possibility-by adopting myths and dreams-of an eternal life, with just judgment, where justice finally its day. They suggest this as a tentative hunch, as something plausible but beyond reason and the evidence of the senses. Hence the only way it comes to us is by myth and dream.

However, for Christians, the reality, the objective truth of this "dream" or this "myth" has become revealed, and its truth is seized by Faith when we accept Jesus as God's justice, when we accept Jesus crucified, Jesus resurrected, Jesus who will come again to judge the living and the dead. In Faith, our inclinations towards justice are satisfied in the hope that justice, in the Final Judgment, will have its day.

But there is an opposite side to this "dream." We may call it Pope Benedict XVI's "nightmare." The nightmare happens when this inclination or thirst for justice is corrupted, disordered, or misguided, so that instead of being a force for good, it actually becomes a force for evil. The nightmare arises when this inclination for justice is tied to a misunderstanding of (or rejection of) God, or a misunderstanding of (or rejection of) man.

Nightmares of justice occur if we are materialists, if we refuse to believe in spiritual realities-in God, and in the spiritual nature of man meant for communion with God in a life in eternity. If there is no eternity and no God to set things right sometime in the future, then we are compelled to set things right in the here-and-now irrespective of the cost. The noble saying fiat iustitia ruat caeulum-may justice be done though the heavens fall-becomes downright demonic if it becomes fiat iustitia sine caelo-may justice be done without regard to heaven.

The traditional saying does not violate the injunction that we may not do evil that good may come. (cf. Rom. 3:5-8) The second materialistic notion justifies any means, good or evil, to achieve what is seen as good. So we have, per exempla, Stalin's Gulags and the West's abortion mills. Horrible injustices justified by the pursuit of a perverted sense of justice without regard to God or to man.

Without belief in the true God our efforts are in ultimately fruitless, in fact not only fruitless, but they bear poisonous fruit. (Deut. 29:18; Matt. 7:17) "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain." (Ps. 127:1). In his 2010 Lenten message where he discusses these issues, Pope Benedict XVI quotes St. Augustine: "if 'justice is that virtue which gives every one his due . . . where, then, is the justice of man, when he deserts the true God?"

In his encyclical Spe salvi, Pope Benedict XVI elaborates on how the interaction of materialistic atheism corrupts the human inclination toward justice so as to make it nightmarish. Benedict XVI states that the atheism of the 19th and 20th centuries was, at heart, a moralistic venture, that is to say, an expression of man's thirst or inclination for justice. Those philosophical and political systems built upon atheism were built upon a "protest against the injustices of the world and of world history." Faced with injustice, these moralists blamed God, and rejected him.

And this is where the nightmare came in: "Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. . . . . [T]he claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim. A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power-whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts-will cease to dominate the world." Spe salvi, 42.

The inclination ...

1 | 2 Next Page

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 9 of 9 Comments

vance
1 year ago
Great article. I find that atheists are in hate with God rather than not believe in him. To the atheist moral law is arbitrary. Atheists make it up as they go along and of course it is what suits them best or whatever fits the occasion. They are utterly morally bankrupt.
David Carlon
1 year ago
Amen. Justice begins with man honoring, knowing and loving God...
Pete Brady
1 year ago
Andrew: Yet another really, really fine article. Thank you.
JeanCatherine
1 year ago
Juneau Alaska

I think your a good person but did you ever read the Pope's Encyclical concerning what were talking about? As for who gets into paradise Mother Angelica says sometimes I think: We wont know until we get there will we Juneau? Many blessings to you anyway with all due respect.

See here for link on Spe Salvi:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

Peace to you.
Andrew Greenwell
1 year ago
@Mike:
Perhaps the question is as follows. What is morality? Is morality conformity with some rule of reason, i.e., a law? If not, then the morality you speak of is not morality as I understand it, because if morality is not based on a rule of reason, it must be based upon will and be arbitrary. What else other than will or reason can the moral law be based on? Convention? I don't think convention defines morality at its heart because convention necessarily changes. I find morality and arbitrariness (or convention) are mutually exclusive. If morality is law, then there must be a legislator. The natural moral law therefore witnesses to a Divine Legislator. That's why, traditionally, atheism was seen as a moral lapse, not just an intellectual error. Under the natural moral law we have an obligation to worship God as First Cause and, if He has revealed Himself, to worship God as He has revealed Himself, and when we don't--when we deny his existence either as First Cause or (unless we are invincibly ignorant) as He has revealed Himself--we have violated the moral law. I don't know what Cardinal Pell said, so I can't comment on that, though perhaps he was referring to the invincible ignorance exception.

I do not think that believing in a Divine Legislator and a natural moral law which requires us, in justice, to worship the God who made us is a "carrot-stick" paradigm. Ideally, we obey the moral law out of love for the Creator, and, if we are Christian, out of love of the God who became man and redeemed us from our prior (and future) failures. (It also happens to be good for us, in that it makes us happy, but that's another issue.) When we confess our lapses, we ask God's mercy because "most of all" it offends God "who is all good."

I am a theist, and I likewise "do good for goodness sake," so our moralities share that formula. But within my understanding of "good," I include the worship of God. And as to "goodness," I believe all things have goodness, but only one being is goodness, and that is God. I once disbelieved in God, and so I know that the morality you cherish--do good for goodness sake--can only become enriched when you expand good to include the worship of God, and goodness to include God himself.

I appreciate your thoughtful comments, and keep reading (and perhaps even praying!)
Honeybadger
1 year ago
I witnessed injustice at first hand today.

It made me sick to the core and scared witless for any innocent victim who hopes for justice from the so-called justice system.

Bullying, abuse of authority, bad behaviour, misrepresentation of the facts and the sloth brazenly demonstrated by someone whom we trusted to pay close attention to - and question even - the most obvious inconsistencies in the evidence provided. My blood is boiling.

God and Our Blessed Lady help us!
Juneau Alaska
1 year ago
This current pope is hell-bent on demonizing atheism yet just last week Cardinal Pell ,on an Australian show with Prof. Richard Dawkins, said atheists can go to heaven.

Attention! Atheism isn't materialism. Atheism isn't evolution. Atheism isn't any of the bigoted terms often applied to it by people of faith. Atheism has a very simple definition. Look it up.

Furthermore, this article suggests that without God (I presume Yahweh, not Vishnu or Thor or Wotan!), one cannot be moral. What dishonest nonsense. Since when does someone have to believe in moral absolutes vis-a-vis religion to simply hold a moral position? I reject the carrot-stick paradigm of religious morality (do good for a crown in heaven, do bad and your flesh will melt, only to be regrown so it can melt again ad infinitum). I am an atheist. I do good for goodness sake. Tell me what is more moral my way or the fear/punishment faith way? Mike
DLL
1 year ago
Jesus was completely obedient to Divine Justice. Divine Justice is governed by a God of love and mercy,the God of a Holy Kingdom,the Kingdom not of this world. This is the kingdom that gave Moses the 10 Commandments,Heaven above,the place that receives all of our prayers and answers them with a Divine wisdom so that civil,natural and moral laws ultimately become perfected in and in accordance with Divine law. Divine law,common law and civil law forms a trinity a legal system,that must exist in accordance with each other so that justice is fixed in a fairness of legal equity,with doctrines as well as mandates,to insure the administration of justice with a purer sense of mercy and love. God cannot be denied and all must be obedient to God as Christ was,even to his death on a cross. This means that life is defined as love. The great Commandment is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself. This is the natural state of simply being and justice is natural to this state of being,that maintains the dignity of every human being. We must pray for a justice of mercy,administered with love and in truth,that preserve the dignity of all with equity and through the love for God and for the health,wellbeing and love for each other. God works with all humankind because love governs the Kingdom of Heaven itself and helps all humanity to learn the lesson of mortal life itself as a lesson of love. Prayer itself is love as well as communication with God the author of life and love and that is the truth. The state of all human existence is related to the way in which we all love and understand our relationship to God as this is integral to the way we love and understand,or fail to understand each other. God and humankind,they are inseparable in Heaven or on earth. Prayer is the communication the link between Heaven and earth. All justice and law must be established and maintained as a lesson of love and mercy. That is what fairness and equity is. Love than becomes ultimately justice for all. When all humankind finally understand this then there will be no such thing as prison as sin itself will have become obsolete. God's will will be finally done on earth as it is done in Heaven. You see Heaven is perfection and purity,the perfect and ideal way of being,our place with God and inseparable from Him and of one mind with Him for eternity. To be of one mind in Christ is to be of one mind with God and that happens when all are obedient to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of God that with the consent of our own free will,seeks to accommodate and to act in accordance with all individuals to purify them now and for eternity. Jesus is knocking at the door to our human hearts so that we will all know that Divine Justice is the Justice that insures peace through love and mercy itself. In God we seek our ideal of freedom knowing that we are inseparable from him and in Him we are free to be with Him,one mind,as He is as He says He is,"I AM",the one true being,who defines each and every human being,that ever was,is,or will be again.!!!!!!!!
abey
1 year ago
The basis of Justice being good over evil or right over wrong & if in today.s world evil is taken for good & good taken for evil, same being the case with right & wrong, what then be the Justice in its application on the basis of twisted understandings.as seen today , due rejecting Biblical guidances but hugging to pagan appeasings to Harlotry, where the truth of pagan beliefs & worships is against true worship of God, 'cause it is not in the truth of God, but against Him, deceitful in nature, in other words Paganism is the Antithesis to all things of God but everything to do with man in the fallen state, which results in mistaken identities with respect to the Truth & hence it becomes to challenging God, like that of Babel trying to get to heaven without the remission of sins, instead of the challenge to oneself for God is with man & not against man. It is through this grave mistake that results in reversing of right & wrong, good & bad, against life & as God is Life it becomes thumbs down for man, to the view of fools who in the pride say god learns from man, the interpretations of man.

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment