Octopus Overlords

Rip wrote:[I find it ridiculus to think that is there is a heaven getting there depends on what religion you are or what diety you believe in. It would it seems depend on what your "actions" were while living. I would hope that even if you have no idea of what religion is making the right choices and taking the proper actions during your lifetime would still get you there.

If it is just about rooting for the right team and has nothing to do with how you play the game color me disappointed.

Grifman wrote:

Rip wrote:[I find it ridiculus to think that is there is a heaven getting there depends on what religion you are or what diety you believe in. It would it seems depend on what your "actions" were while living. I would hope that even if you have no idea of what religion is making the right choices and taking the proper actions during your lifetime would still get you there.

If it is just about rooting for the right team and has nothing to do with how you play the game color me disappointed.

Ok, Rip, bear with me but I am going to ask you a series of simple questions to illustrate the Christan view, one by one.

Question 1:

Let's assume you were a doctor and saved 1,000 lives during your career. What if tomorrow you brutally murdered your wife. What should our criminal justice system do with you?

1) Let you go free because of all the good you've done
2) Send you to prison because you killed your wife

What's your answer?

Holman wrote:I'll bite. The obvious answer is "Send you to prison because you killed your wife." Saving lives doesn't earn you wife-murdering privileges in our legal system.

I assume this was the level-one introductory question.

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst had dominated tabloid headlines for weeks in Germany as details emerged of a $42 million renovation of his official church residence in the western town of Limburg and a first-class plane trip he took to India. Leaked photographs of fancy upgrades to his residence clashed with Francis’s own example of living in a far less swanky apartment on the grounds of the Vatican.

$iljanus wrote:I Pope Francis:

Pope Francis launches reform of Vatican bureaucracy, with cleanup of Vatican bank

and

Pope Francis places luxury-loving German bishop on leave

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst had dominated tabloid headlines for weeks in Germany as details emerged of a $42 million renovation of his official church residence in the western town of Limburg and a first-class plane trip he took to India. Leaked photographs of fancy upgrades to his residence clashed with Francis’s own example of living in a far less swanky apartment on the grounds of the Vatican.

The bishop in question, Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, was not amused and attempts to use Force lightning on the new Pope.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Cufflinks. Nice. Bet he wears fingerless gloves while driving his Porsche. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's a wedding ring in Germany.

Must be all the local cheese.

LordMortis wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote: Cufflinks. Nice. Bet he wears fingerless gloves while driving his Porsche. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's a wedding ring in Germany.

Must be all the local cheese.

Wrong hand. Or do they wear wedding rings on their right hands in Germany... Or is the picture inverted...

Wiki wrote:In some Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic and Protestant countries such as Russia, Greece, Georgia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and India, the wedding ring is worn on the ring finger of the right hand.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

LordMortis wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote: Cufflinks. Nice. Bet he wears fingerless gloves while driving his Porsche. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's a wedding ring in Germany.

Must be all the local cheese.

Wrong hand. Or do they wear wedding rings on their right hands in Germany... Or is the picture inverted...

Wiki wrote:In some Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic and Protestant countries such as Russia, Greece, Georgia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and India, the wedding ring is worn on the ring finger of the right hand.

Mr Bubbles wrote:As has been stated. He is not going to change doctrine, but at least he is cleaning up what corruption he can. I give him credit. He has changed the direction the church is going without totally rewriting the book. Now we can only hope this movement because permanent.

Pyperkub wrote:

Mr Bubbles wrote:As has been stated. He is not going to change doctrine, but at least he is cleaning up what corruption he can. I give him credit. He has changed the direction the church is going without totally rewriting the book. Now we can only hope this movement because permanent.

I'm having trouble fathoming how he was actually elected. Benedict must have really angered a lot of people for this kind of swing.

LordMortis wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote: Cufflinks. Nice. Bet he wears fingerless gloves while driving his Porsche. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's a wedding ring in Germany.

Must be all the local cheese.

Wrong hand. Or do they wear wedding rings on their right hands in Germany... Or is the picture inverted...

$iljanus wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:

LordMortis wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote: Cufflinks. Nice. Bet he wears fingerless gloves while driving his Porsche. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's a wedding ring in Germany.

Must be all the local cheese.

Wrong hand. Or do they wear wedding rings on their right hands in Germany... Or is the picture inverted...

Wiki wrote:In some Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic and Protestant countries such as Russia, Greece, Georgia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and India, the wedding ring is worn on the ring finger of the right hand.

Probably just a run of the mill Bishop's Ring...or one of the nine Rings of Power.

ImLawBoy wrote: This. I've even seen regular old Catholic priests wearing what appear to be wedding bands - I always say they're married to the church.

"Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting."

...

"As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems."

...

"Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills."

Pyperkub wrote:The election of Francis after Benedict seems to have made for a dramatic change at the top of the Catholic Church. From the outside, it seems as if Pope Francis is actually embracing what I was taught that being a Christian meant and it feels revolutionary to me. Rather than focusing on a message which (it seemed to me) bordered on hate, he seems to be preaching compassion and love.

It's enough to make the religious cynic in me pay attention.

Moliere wrote:Curiosity sucks too.

Pope Francis warned against the "spirit of curiosity" when attempting to find God and religious messages in outside forces, or trying to predict when Jesus Christ will return, reminding believers that the "The Kingdom of God is among you."

Fireball wrote:

Moliere wrote:Curiosity sucks too.

A pretty specific form of it:

Pope Francis warned against the "spirit of curiosity" when attempting to find God and religious messages in outside forces, or trying to predict when Jesus Christ will return, reminding believers that the "The Kingdom of God is among you."

Bachmann was a longtime member of the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minn., which belongs to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), a council of churches founded in 1850 that today comprises about 400,000 people. WELS is the most conservative of the major Lutheran church organizations, known for its strict adherence to the writings of Martin Luther, the German theologian who broke with the Catholic Church and launched the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. This includes endorsing Luther's statements about the papacy. From the WELS "Doctrinal Statement on the Antichrist":

Since Scripture teaches that the Antichrist would be revealed and gives the marks by which the Antichrist is to be recognized, and since this prophecy has been clearly fulfilled in the history and development of the Roman Papacy, it is Scripture which reveals that the Papacy is the Antichrist.

Isgrimnur wrote:That's not likely to fly well:

Bachmann was a longtime member of the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minn., which belongs to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), a council of churches founded in 1850 that today comprises about 400,000 people. WELS is the most conservative of the major Lutheran church organizations, known for its strict adherence to the writings of Martin Luther, the German theologian who broke with the Catholic Church and launched the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. This includes endorsing Luther's statements about the papacy. From the WELS "Doctrinal Statement on the Antichrist":

Since Scripture teaches that the Antichrist would be revealed and gives the marks by which the Antichrist is to be recognized, and since this prophecy has been clearly fulfilled in the history and development of the Roman Papacy, it is Scripture which reveals that the Papacy is the Antichrist.

“Just like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes to apologize for the Catholic Church.”
“Just like Obama thought he’d won over Putin by promising a reset, Francis thinks by talking vacuously about the poor, he will be respected.”
“Like Obama, Francis is unable to see the problems that are really endangering his people.”
“Like Obama he mistakes the faithful for the enemy, the enemy for his friend, condescension for respect, socialism for justice and capitalism for tyranny.”
“In trying to please the media and the modern world, Francis mistakes their glee for respect.”

Kraken wrote:Some FOX News commentator called the Pope "The Catholic Church's Obama."

“Just like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes to apologize for the Catholic Church.”
“Just like Obama thought he’d won over Putin by promising a reset, Francis thinks by talking vacuously about the poor, he will be respected.”
“Like Obama, Francis is unable to see the problems that are really endangering his people.”
“Like Obama he mistakes the faithful for the enemy, the enemy for his friend, condescension for respect, socialism for justice and capitalism for tyranny.”
“In trying to please the media and the modern world, Francis mistakes their glee for respect.”

I think I like this Pope fellow.

$iljanus wrote:If they have such a problem with Francis wait till they read about this Jesus fella.

$iljanus wrote:If they have such a problem with Francis wait till they read about this Jesus fella.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, will no longer serve in the office.

Burke is considered an outspoken critic of abortion and same-sex marriage and a favorite of conservative Catholics. He has also been publicly critical of Francis's changes in the direction of the church. Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.

A document obtained by The Associated Press on Friday shows Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests over just two years for molesting children.

The statistics for 2011-12 show a dramatic increase over the 171 priests removed in 2008 and 2009, when the Vatican first provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Prior to that, it had only publicly revealed the number of alleged cases of sexual abuse it had received.