Each day during the week of August 13 through 17 you'll find a new question and answer. Check back every weekday and scroll down to see that day's entry! Let us know what you think--or question!--by emailing us at tcanswer@osv.com»  

Question and answer for August 13, 2007

Foul Language?

Q. Doesn’t the Bible forbid foul language? -- S.H., San Antonio, Texas

A. It does indeed. You’ve touched on a topic that I’ve long thought receives too little attention, from Catholics in particular.

When we say “foul language,” we should note first that we’re referring to a whole range of speech: vulgarity (crude or coarse language, usually having to do with body parts or functions); obscenity (language that’s lewd or otherwise contrary to sexual purity); profanity (words with sacred or theological meanings used in a flippant or perverse way, such as “God,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” “damn” or “hell”). Two subsets of profanity would be cursing (expressing a desire that someone suffer ill, especially damnation) and blasphemy (the abuse or careless use of God’s name).

So why should we be concerned about our language? Isn’t it “just words,” as someone once said to me?  Let’s take a look at what Scripture says. 

• They may be “just words,” but they have remarkable power to impact people for good or evil. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).
• Our words are an indicator of what’s in our mind and heart. Jesus said: “From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil” (Matthew 12:34–36). 
• We’ll be judged by God for the words we use in this life. Our Lord’s solemn warning: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).

Some specific instructions in Scripture:

• “Let not your mouth become used to coarse talk, for in it lies sinful matter” (Sirach 22:13).
• "When a godless man curses his adversary, he really curses himself” (Sirach 21:27).
• “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place” (Ephesians 5:3–4). 
• “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14).
• “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming [upon the disobedient]. … [Y]ou must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths” (Colossians 3:5–8). 
• “Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless” (2 Timothy 2:16).
• “No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:20).

The misuse of God’s name is an extremely serious sin. Remember the second commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, in an empty or flippant way]. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). In Old Testament times, blasphemers were actually stoned to death.

See also James 3:1–12.

In light of all this, we should make King David’s prayer our own: “I will watch my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will set a curb on my mouth” (Psalm 39:2).

And here’s a final sobering thought from St. Ephraem the Syrian: “When you love unseemly conversation, you prepare a feast for demons.”

Question for August 14, 2007

What About the Rapture?

We received an email from “Jean” asking several questions that all have to do with eschatology (the doctrine of “the last things”). Let’s tackle them one day at a time. Here’s the first part of the letter:

Q. I have led a Bible study on the Book of Revelation. I mostly read Tim LaHaye’s commentary and Jack Van Impe’s commentary.

Our group is Catholic and Protestant. I have given Protestant viewpoints but I have not given the Catholic viewpoint. I think it is only fair to present the Catholic viewpoint too. I especially want to know: Do Catholics believe in the rapture of the Church?

A. For an in-depth answer, you should take a look at a book I wrote a few years back: The Rapture Trap: A Catholic Response to “End Times” Fever (Ascension Press, 2001). In it you’ll find a Catholic perspective on a number of issues in eschatology.

I also recommend three other Catholic books on the subject: Carl Olson, Will Catholics Be Left Behind? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, 2003); David B. Currie, Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind (Sophia Institute Press, 2003); and Father William Kurz, S.J., What Does the Bible Say About the End Times? (Servant, 2004). 

To answer your question briefly: The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end,” as the Scripture makes clear and as we affirm in the Creed every Sunday. But He will not have an extra, “secret” coming — a “rapture” — before that event to snatch Christians out of the world and leave everyone else to suffer the “great tribulation” of the last days. (More about the great tribulation tomorrow.) 

The rapture notion has never been part of the Church’s teaching. None of the fathers or doctors of the Church believed in it. An obscure Jesuit writer from Chile advanced a similar idea a couple of hundred years ago, but the Magisterium quickly rejected his books as heretical.

In fact, even the Protestant Reformers didn’t believe in the rapture. Neither Luther, Calvin, Zwingli or later leaders such as John Wesley held to that notion. So this isn’t really a Catholic-Protestant disagreement. The “rapture” is actually an eccentric idea that developed relatively recently in Church history among a particular group of Christians in England and America. The version as it’s popularly taught today didn’t appear till the 1800s.

The biblical passage most often cited to support this teaching (1 Thessalonians 4:17) doesn’t refer at all to a “secret” snatching up of believers. From the earliest centuries, this verse has continually been viewed by serious biblical interpreters — whether Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant — as a reference to the Second Coming of Christ. At that time, believers will be “caught up” to meet Him as He appears in glory to judge the world and the dead are raised for the final judgment. (More about the judgment later this week.)

I am quite familiar with the teaching of LaHaye, Van Impe and others like them. Their eschatology is deeply flawed by fundamentalist Protestant assumptions. I urge you to consult faithful Catholic interpreters of Scripture rather than trust the books of these two men as reliable guides to the Book of Revelation or any other part of the Bible.

Question for August 15, 2007

What About the Great Tribulation?

 Today we respond to the second “end times” question from Jean. (For the answer to her first question, about the “rapture,” see above.)

Q. Do Catholics believe in the tribulation? If so, does the rapture take place at the beginning, middle or end of the tribulation?

A. The Catholic Church affirms that “before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers [cf. Luke 18:8; Matthew 24:12]. … The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in His death and resurrection” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675, 677). This period is popularly known as “the great tribulation,” based on Jesus’ description of it in the Gospel (see Matthew 24:21 and the surrounding passage; also Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21).

The Catechism speaks as well about the role of the Antichrist in that tribulation: “The persecution that accompanies [the Church’s] pilgrimage on earth [cf. Luke 21:12; John 15:19–20] will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of His messiah come in the flesh [Cf. 2 Thessalonians 5:2–3; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:18, 22].”

Since the Catholic Church rejects the notion of a secret rapture (see the answer to yesterday’s question, above), Catholics have no concern to debate the timing of it with regard to the tribulation. Christ will return once, in glory, after that period of terrible trial.

Question for August 16, 2007

What About the Last Judgment?

Today we respond to the third “end times” question from Jean. (For the answer to her first two questions, about the “rapture” and “the great tribulation,” click here and here.)

Q. What do Catholics believe about when the final judgment of believers will take place, and whether they will be judged just for their works (see Ephesians 2:8–9)? Also, who is judged in the “Great White Throne Judgment” (see Revelation 20:11–15)? Is it the unbelievers?

A. The Church teaches that there are two judgments: the particular judgment, which takes place for each individual at the time of death; and the general judgment, which will take place at the end of the world and involve all people together. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1021–1022 and 678–679.) We’re speaking here of the general (final) judgment of the world.

The Catholic Church affirms (as noted in the Creed) that this last judgment of all people, both believers and non-believers, will take place after Christ’s return and the resurrection of the dead. There is no separate “Great White Throne Judgment” for unbelievers at the end of the world. The passage you refer to in the Book of Revelation is simply one of several biblical texts referring to the one final judgment that includes everyone.

Why would some Christians come up with the idea that there are two judgments instead of one? Because several passages in Scripture tell us that in the end, people will be judged according to their works (e.g., Matthew 25:31–46; Revelation 20:11–15; 2 Corinthians 5:10), and these passages contradict the common Protestant “faith alone” notion (which implies that God will judge us only according to our faith, not according to our works).

Some “faith alone” believers have tried to get around this problem by claiming that any biblical description of a judgment according to works must apply to a separate judgment of non-believers, since they insist that believers cannot be judged according to their works. But this is an entirely artificial interpretation imposed on the text.

The scriptural passages themselves contain no evidence of one judgment for believers, according to faith, and a separate judgment for non-believers, according to works. Rather, as St. Paul teaches, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

This matter shows how interpretation of the Bible can be colored deeply by theological assumptions that are themselves without biblical warrant. For this reason, I urge you to consult faithful Catholic commentators on Scripture.

Question for August 17, 2007

Why Purgatory?

Today we comment on a final question from Jean, whose email contained several queries about Catholic teachings on the last things. (For replies to the other queries, click here, here and here.)

Q. The thought came to me that perhaps purgatory might be when some will be saved but only as through fire ... regarding their works, not their faith in Christ. I do pray that some day purgatory, like limbo, will be discredited as a fact. It frightens young and old and gives no sense of peace or relief for Catholic loved ones who have died, even though the Church says it is just a place to be purified.

Didn’t Jesus say, “It is finished” on the cross? What can we add to His bloody sacrifice and why?

A. First, let’s recall something we said in response to one of your earlier questions: According to multiple passages in Scripture, and the constant teaching of the Church, we will all be judged according to both our faith and our works. Those who are saved are of course saved by God’s grace, but that doesn’t mean their works will be ignored on judgment day. Scripture makes that abundantly clear. (See Matthew 25:31–46; Revelation 20:11–15; 2 Corinthians 5:10.) 

Second, though the notion of limbo has never been definitively taught by the Church’s Magisterium — and could therefore one day be definitively rejected — that’s not at all the case with the doctrine of purgatory. The truth about purgatory is a part of the solemn teaching of two ecumenical councils, those of Florence and Trent (see the Catechism, 1030–1032). So it’s a dogma of the Church, not subject to being “discredited as fact.”

Purgatory is a reality. You view it as a frightening prospect. I believe it’s a comforting one. Let’s look at it more closely.

What exactly is purgatory? According to the Catechism, “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification” (1030–31).

Before the dead in Christ can go to heaven, they must be purified. Here’s why.

Sacred Scripture and Tradition repeatedly affirm that God’s ultimate intention is for us to become perfect as He is perfect (see Matthew 5:48). Why? Because God wants us to live forever in friendship with Him, and He Himself is completely holy — without sin or weakness of any kind. To see God face-to-face in heaven, and to know, love and enjoy Him there fully forever, we must be like Him (see Hebrews 12:14; 1 John 3:2–3).

In fact, heaven simply wouldn’t be heaven if those who live weren’t perfected. If we were to bring along with us all the sins and weaknesses we have in this life, heaven would be just as full of troubles as our life on earth — troubles that would last for eternity.

Didn’t Christ die to forgive us our sins and save us? Yes! But even those who have escaped, through His infinite merits, the penalty of hell and have been restored to friendship with Him know all too well that sin has countless other consequences.

It disorders our souls. It injures others. It leaves us overly attached to things we have chosen to love more than we love God.

If we’re to live with God forever, then, repairs and reparations are necessary. That is, we must be healed and we must make amends.  If we’re selfish, we must learn to love. If we’re deceitful, we must learn to tell the truth. If we’re addicted, we must break the addictions. And if we’re bitter, we must forgive.

Suppose a driver injures himself and totals another person’s car in a collision because of his willful recklessness. As the ambulance arrives at the hospital, he expresses remorse for his misbehavior. So the other driver forgives him; that is, the other driver chooses to let go of the personal offense and not hold it against him.

Yet other consequences of the reckless driver’s sin must still be dealt with. His broken bones must be set. The wrecked cars must be paid for. His driver’s license must be suspended until he successfully completes a course that trains drivers to be responsible.

The process will not be pleasant. Having broken bones set is painful. Paying for a wrecked car is costly. Learning to change lifelong habits is wearying.

Even so, the process is restorative — a matter of both mercy (the repairs) and justice (the reparations). In the end, the reckless driver will be a new man.

The truth is that we’ve all wrecked our lives, and the lives of others, to one extent or another. Whether in this life or the next, however, God doesn’t wave a magic wand, bypassing our free will, to fix the situation. Instead, we undergo a procedure to undo what we have done: paying our debts, letting go of whatever binds us, straightening out whatever is crooked within us, learning to drive aright.

Of course, this process has already begun in the lives of the faithful on earth. Through doing penance and accepting in faith the inescapable sufferings of the present life, we can be purged of sin’s effects and grow in holiness.

Nevertheless, if we look honestly at those we know who have died — even if they were faithful Christians — we must admit that few if any were perfect when they left this world. They still needed, as we ourselves probably will, some “cleaning up,” a painful but purging “fire,” as the Scripture calls it (see 1 Corinthians 3:14–15).

In this light, it should be clear that purgatory is an expression of God’s mercy, His gracious provision for our perfection.

For more on the subject, read Patrick Madrid, A Pocket Guide to Purgatory (OSV, 2007).