O, Say, Can You See?
Bible-Snatching - Thievery with a Halo?
Photo By: Flickr/Chris Eccles
From bookstores and libraries countless books are shoplifted every year, as you know. But guess which is stolen most? Right - it's the Bible - the Good Book that says, "Thou shalt not steal"!
This paradoxical situation manifests an all too common kind of conscience distortion - the moral heresy that " the end justifies the means" - that an evil act is acceptable if the ultimate purpose is good. This warped idea is the rartionale for an endless array of sins: unethical business deals, euthanasia, abortion, genocide, "ethnic cleansing," and other atrocities far worse than Bible-swiping.
"An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention, " says St. Thomas Aquinas (Dec Praec. 6). "One may not do evil so that good may result from it," says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1756, 1789). Thus, a desire to end a war doesn't entitle a country to atom bomb noncombatant civilians. Those "who suppress the truth...are without excuse" (Rom 1:18-20).
By usurping priestly functions for a "good motive," Saul sinned (see 1 Samuel 13:12); also in "glorifying God" by sacrificing forbidden spoil (15::21). Aaron's idolatry was to quell a rebellion (see Exodus 32:22-24). Mankind's first sin was for a "good intention" - to gain wisdom (see 33 Genesis 3:6). Ever since, man has found excuses for sin.
This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net
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About the Author
The Rev. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952, is a member of the Claretian Missionaries, and is founder and director of the Claretian Teaching Ministry. Listed in Who’s Who in Religion in America, he has served as parish priest, seminary professor and rector, college professor, lecturer, magazine writer, newspaper columnist, editor, retreat master, hospital chaplain, prison chaplain, campus chaplain, Cursillo director and director of suicide prevention programs in Texas and California.
He earned degrees in philosophy from Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles and from Notre Dame University, with postgraduate work at the University of Southern California and the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, in ascetical and mystical theology.
Find his many books and audio/visual recordings at www.Catholicbooks.net
