New Pope elected...

[Resolute 14]

Originally posted by Crazy Flamer@Apr 19 2005, 04:57 PM
I'm a Catholic, but the election of Ratzinger as the new pope does not sitl well with me. What kind of a church tells people not to use their own brains, that the Church will do all the thinking for them?

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark here and say: All of them.

[Calgary Flames]

Originally posted by Snakeeye+Apr 20 2005, 07:44 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Snakeeye @ Apr 20 2005, 07:44 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Crazy Flamer@Apr 19 2005, 04:57 PM
I'm a Catholic, but the election of Ratzinger as the new pope does not sitl well with me. What kind of a church tells people not to use their own brains, that the Church will do all the thinking for them?

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark here and say: All of them. [/b][/quote]
Zing!



I didn't make this.

[Crazy Flamer]

Originally posted by Snakeeye+Apr 20 2005, 01:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Snakeeye @ Apr 20 2005, 01:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Crazy Flamer@Apr 19 2005, 04:57 PM
I'm a Catholic, but the election of Ratzinger as the new pope does not sitl well with me. What kind of a church tells people not to use their own brains, that the Church will do all the thinking for them?

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark here and say: All of them. [/b][/quote]
I agree with you to a certain extent. I think there are some churches and some spiritual leaders who are more willing to listen and change their ideals. Then there are some who say ,"this is the way it is and if you don't do what I say, you'll be damned to hell."

The Catholic Chuch, with the election of Ratzinger as Pope, claims their theological views cannot change just because there is social pressure for them to change. But what's wrong with change? As we learn more about all aspects of human life, we begin to see things in a different light. So maybe we should look at WHY societal values have changed. Perhaps they have evolved beause we now know more about human beings. Perhaps the Church just has a hard time accepting this new knowledge. It woulnd't be the first time.l

There, Im finished my little rant for now.

[Resolute 14]

It comes down to one simple question: Do you think for yourself, or do you prefer the church (government, ect) do it for you?

There is no way any organization, especially one as large as the Roman Catholic Church, can speak for all members. Inevitably, the churches doctrince will conflict with a fair percentage of it's membership.

Actually, I think the better question is: do you believe God is as inflexible as the man elected to represent Him? If you believe He is not, then I would recommend trusting your faith rather than the words of a man.

[Crazy Flamer]

Originally posted by Snakeeye@Apr 20 2005, 06:50 PM
It comes down to one simple question: Do you think for yourself, or do you prefer the church (government, ect) do it for you?

There is no way any organization, especially one as large as the Roman Catholic Church, can speak for all members. Inevitably, the churches doctrince will conflict with a fair percentage of it's membership.

Actually, I think the better question is: do you believe God is as inflexible as the man elected to represent Him? If you believe He is not, then I would recommend trusting your faith rather than the words of a man.

Good post!

And I must say, I agree with you. I just wish the Catholic Church could be just a little more like the God they claim to represent. A little more open minded, more understanding, more enlightened.

[Resolute 14]

My understanding is they wanted a short reign for the next Pope, so Benedict XVI fits nicely. He will appease the hardliners and conservatives, and in four or five years when he kicks the bucket, that might be the time to break out with a more liberal Pope.

[octothorp]

Originally posted by Snakeeye@Apr 20 2005, 11:50 AM


Actually, I think the better question is: do you believe God is as inflexible as the man elected to represent Him? If you believe He is not, then I would recommend trusting your faith rather than the words of a man.

Excellent question. I'm non-believerish, but I would have to say that were there a God, he would have to be fairly inflexible. Granted, there are instances in the bible of God's mind being changed by mortals--I'm trying to remember where this was, might have been regarding Sodom and Lot in Genesis, where God initially planned to destroy a city, and then the mortal basically convinced God that if he could find ten just men in the city, it would be spared. Ultimately, the city was destroyed anyway, and so God's original intent was not changed. You would have to think that God knew all along exactly how many just men were in the city, so he played along with the mortal anyway. Any truly omniscient God would see the entire course of human history and make judgements based upon that--two thousand years ago, he would have already seen the social pressures of the late twentieth century and given that some thought. It's difficult, because old testament views of God suggest limits to the range of God's vision and foresight, but new testament versions portray him as having all of history planned out from the beginning. If the former is true, yes he could be flexible. If the latter is true, no he could not be flexible. My personal take would be that God would be inflexible, but tolerant, and simply misrepresented by the various churches over the years.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Good to see that I'm not the only one who immediatly thought he looked like the emporer.
But remember, there are always 2. A master and an apprentice.

[Resolute 14]

I donno Octo, that's a little too deep for me. :P

I generally believe in a god (or gods), but I also believe in two other things:

1. We were more than likely created for the amusement of the gods, little more.
2. We are too arrogant to believe otherwise.

Organized religion, to me, is very little more than men playing god, and generally more corrupt than secular governments.

True religion is about faith. Not necessaraly faith in a diety, but faith in yourself. More than anything, we need to be true to ourselves. Many of my personal convictions would align with a conservative view of the RC church, but they are completely my own, not the result of what I was told to believe. A person who lies to himself is empty, no matter what vices he tries to fill himself up with.

So, I suppose it isnt God that is being flexible or inflexible, but we that are. We (in general) believe in a more liberal view of religion and the religious universe, so we pass that belief onto whatever god we believe we answer to. The people that have elevated themselves to the highest levels of their churches have the most power to project their beliefs as being those of their gods.

Meanwhile, God, Buddha, Allah and friends are probably playing poker having a good laugh at how gullible we are.