The Pope Uses the Word "Discernment". I Can Use it Too.

The Pope calls the faithful to use discernment. He refers to it as a religious concept. He asks the faithful not to decide on the basis of what has always been but to decide on the basis of current circumstances. That is wise councel. However, it throws into disarray the legion of believers who thinks nothing ever has changed in the faith and never can change.

The Pope probably believes he is able to discern the will or intention of his God. My view is he cannot do this because so far as we know there is no god. Neither he nor anyone else can discern the will of something that does not exist.

Discernment also has a secular definition. If we combine Webster and Wikipedia we get something like "...being able to grasp or comprehend that which is obscure...the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well."

Measuring myself up against this secular definition, I give myself better than average grades in discernment. But, I'm not alone in this self evaluation. I would guess that if you asked a million people in the U.S., "Are you better than most other people at discernment in politics" nearly all of them would say yes. Everyone is better at discernment than everyone else.

I would guess this applies to religion. Probably every Christian thinks he/she is better at discerning the will of God than everyone else. That is why we have so many factions in the faith.

All that said, there is a place for secular discernment in religion. It is to use history, experience and observation to discern what the wealthy goat herders who wrote the Bible meant when they wrote it.

Because the wealthy class always wants to control the rest of society we can discern that was the intention of those wealthy people who wrote the Bible. When we read what they wrote, that sinners would be punished, that the faithful need to tithe, that a sin of record can only be erased by going through the god created by the wealthy we can discern they used religion as a tool to control the masses.

This is the way I use the word discernment. You are welcome to use it as you wish.


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