Material heresy is often driven by popular films. It’s no secret that people frequently, even though they know a particular film is fiction, pick up on some of its ideas and absorb them as their own. The fact is—and it is a particularly disturbing one—Hollywood has often become the unwary’s instructor.
Theology
Repentance: Conforming One’s Life to Reality
When Christ began his ministry he announced: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2, Mk 1:15). Our Lord’s words connect the necessity of repentance with obtaining the promise of unending happiness and joy found in God alone and life in his kingdom.
The Desire for Perfection
Whether we realize it or not, we are all searching for the five transcendentals: perfect truth, love, beauty, goodness/justice and being—although many people engage this search in a confused, haphazard or even disordered way.
Teacher, We Wish to See a Sign from You
The goal is to see with clarity. God’s grace is required for that, but also our own efforts are indispensable. In seeking eyes that see with the light of God, we must live by the light of Christ.
Acknowledging Christ
Deism is today the “common sense” religion of many Catholics and other Christians in America. On a subliminal and personal level, it has fused itself with Christian beliefs, forming a new kind of faith based on feel-good dogmas and relativized sexual ethics.