In a recent article, we covered how Pope Francis twists the Bible passages in Luke 9:49,50 to say that good atheists will go to heaven. “Just do good” was his challenge, “and we’ll find a meeting point.” (source) Once again, Pope Francis is twisting Scripture, this time to justify homosexuals.
During an 80-minute news conference on his flight home from participating in World Youth Day in Brazil, Pope Francis told reporters that it was not his job to judge homosexual priests.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” he said. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this, but that they must be integrated into society.” (source)
The full original quote appears in the National Catholic Reporter:
When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem … they’re our brothers.
Another article on this issue is entitled “‘Who am I to judge?’ Pope Francis refuses to condemn gay priests and says their sins should be forgiven and forgotten” The reporter stated,
Speaking to reporters on a flight back from his week-long visit to sexually permissive Brazil, Pope Francis said he ‘would not stand in judgment’ of gays in the Vatican and that they should not be discriminated against. (source)
Rather than calling homosexuals to repent of their sin, the Pope is giving them a license to sin by twisting Jesus’s glorious sermon on the mount. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) is one of the most quoted and yet most misunderstood Bible verses in the New Testament. Judging is making a moral call. We cannot resist any temptation without first making a moral judgment. Judgment is to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong, something God wants us to regularly do as we live our lives. We are commanded to make judgments as Jesus instructed, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
On July 28, one day prior to the Pope’s statement, former Anglican bishop and social rights activist Desmond Tutu also made headlines saying he would prefer hell over a homophobic heaven. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic Heaven. No, I would say, ‘Sorry, I would much rather go to the other place. . . I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.” (source) Paul the Apostle does not describe heaven as homophobic but he does say that the unrighteous which includes homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9,10)
As evil men and impostors wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived, the Pope’s Bible perversion is going to become more and more common. What does the Bible teach about judging? Jesus calls for non-judgmentalism, calling for self-examination rather than self-righteousness (Matthew 7:1-5). Jesus teaches us that we will be judged by the same standard by which we judge others. For example, beholding a mote or speck in a person’s eye (Matthew 7:3) can be likened to critiquing or judging somebody harshly and above a standard by which you yourself would fall short. Thus, you cannot critique a person about the speck in their eye when you have beam in your own eye (Matthew 7:4). However, if you remove the beam from your own eye, then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5). In other words, once we are living according to the standard by which we judge, we can righteously pronounce something morally right or wrong in someone else’s life or remove the speck out of their eye. If we have repented of the sin of homosexuality, then we may call homosexuals to repentance. A person is a hypocrite (Matthew 7:5) who claims to see well enough to critique or judge another person but has the same problem in their life, even greater than the person they critique. It is possible to remove the beam from your eye in order to see clearly and remove the speck in another’s eye. Therefore, Jesus is teaching here not to judge by a double standard. He is teaching against judging in a way in which we not wish to be judged ourselves.
Paul asked, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?” (Romans 2:21-23). Paul speaks of several judgments that Christians are to make: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). Paul says, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (1 Corinthians 2:15). A righteous man who does not have a beam in His eye can see clearly to judge all moral matters and has no comparable offense in his own life. For example, Paul, a righteous and spiritual man said concerning a person in a incestuous relationship, “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed” (1 Corinthians 5:3). Christians should judge the moral behavior of those inside the church but Pope Francis says, “They are our brothers.” Conversely, Paul said, “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” (1 Crinthians 5:11)
Paul again encourages Christians to make moral judgment calls, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-5).
Jesus does not want us to make wrong judgments (Matthew 7:1-5) but right judgments by repenting of our sin in order to help others with similar sins. Unrighteous judgment would also include speaking evil of your brother, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge” (James 4:11). Every judgment that a person makes becomes a basis for their own judgment: ” My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1,2). We are also advised against the unrighteous and severe judgment against others, judging out of season, or decisively judging a person’s future state or intentions of heart, which is to take the seat of God, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). Actual evil is obvious, it is not wrong to call it by its right name.
Christian News reports:
Mike Gendron of Proclaming the Gospel Ministries, a former Roman Catholic, told Christian News Network that Francis’ words are at odds with both Scripture and the statements of the previous pope, Benedict XVI–and that popes are to be infallible according to Roman Catholic doctrine.
“There are two issues here: One is that the word of God has already judged homosexuality, but secondly, you’ve got a papal infallibility [conflict],” he explained. “You’ve got two popes now disagreeing on what is definitely an issue of faith and morals. One pope says that homosexual men should be barred [from the priesthood], and now the new pope says that he is not to judge gays as long as they’re seeking God. So, it’s a contradiction and infallibility is at stake here.”
Gendron said that by failing to outline what the Scriptures state about homosexuality, Francis is causing eternal harm to the souls of men. (source)