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It is possible for someone to oppose God's wishes, through ignorance and muddled thinking, and not to be blameworthy. But it is a sad thing when an adult Catholic looks at two thousand years of constant teaching on a serious moral matter, and says to God - by her choices - "I believe I am right, and you and your Popes, Bishops, Saints and theologians are wrong, and I am going to use contraceptives".

It is possible for someone to oppose God's wishes, through ignorance and muddled thinking, and not to be blameworthy. But it is a sad thing when an adult Catholic looks at two thousand years of constant teaching on a serious moral matter, and says to God - by her choices - "I believe I am right, and you and your Popes, Bishops, Saints and theologians are wrong, and I am going to use contraceptives".

The Church needs fervent witnesses who know Christ, as well as theologians who can explain the truths of the Faith. A theologian is like a geography teacher who can give very valuable facts about the world and its resources. A witness is like an experienced traveller who can tell people through TV programmes, "I have been to meet Christ - and this is what He is like! It is really worthwhile to make the journey."

A disobedient man will one day learn the truth. Thousands of souls who persist in mortal sin fall into Hell, at death; yet even people guilty of lesser sins must suffer after death, if they are not fully purified and ready for Heaven. For example: Bishops, priests and theologians who have failed to teach the Faith in its fullness or who have led others astray by their support of heretical ideas.

The Catholic Faith is something simple enough for a child to understand, even though it also fascinates and satisfies the most profound souls and the greatest intellects. A child can grasp the truth about a loving, Divine Saviour, Whose family, the Church, hands on the truth about how to do good and prepare for Heaven.

No theologian will do well if he only reads and reflects upon truth. He or she needs the Divine Light, which is given in prayer, when a person opens a door from the inside so to speak, and becomes illuminated - mind, heart and conscience - to 'see' truth in what is being studied, and to be of one mind with God and his Church.

No theologian is right, who claims that it is all right for a man and woman to make their union sterile, not fertile, and who works to overturn the constant teaching of the Church on marriage, and the transmission of life. Christ looks on with gladness whenever a faithful Catholic speaks out to defend the truths taught by the Church.

On the heights of Sinai, God gave the truth to Moses, in the Ten Commandments. These showed out the truth about the purpose of life, and about the relations between men and women. These truths can never change. No wise theologian contradicts them to say that God's will need not reign supreme, or that men and women can make their union sterile not fruitful.

A teacher or theologian who freely fixes a curtain between herself and the Papacy, so that she need not put into practice the constant teaching of the Church, will be in danger, when called home to God at death. She will be entangled in the 'curtain' of dissent and heresy which she herself erected, and will risk being unable to rise up to glory, and risk going down to Hell.

When members of the Clergy, or theologians, or other people in the Church urge people to believe that behaviour once everywhere known as sinful is nowadays to be seen as reasonable or even good - such as contraceptive use, or sexual activity outside marriage - they endanger souls. To encourage people to sin is to help them on the way to Hell. The demons lie in wait for careless souls just as wild animals lie in wait for safari tourists who are foolish enough to leave the safety of the path.

Just as a mathematician finds joys in his calculations, as he explores obscure aspects of his subject, so, some theologians like to make nuanced statements about obscure aspects of doctrine; yet theologians are unwise if they neglect basic principles of the Faith, or forget that, in essence, it is simple, consisting of truths about God's plan of salvation, and how we can be saved.

Some theologians are reluctant to accept Christ's claim to be the only Saviour. It's as if they are willing to explore a dark cave in the hope that it will lead to a cave-system that will stretch as far as the bright land beyond the mountains, when there is only one way over. Similarly, there is only one Route to heaven: Christ Himself - visible, safe, and well-known - which begins in Baptism.