Thursday, August 07, 2003
I hope this commentary enlightens instead of enraging, but I am compelled to respond to Lisa's Blog post on my Pope rant.
"...I wonder if I should be offended by josh's imitation of the pope or not. :)"
There are two outcomes when someone reads a rant: They will be entertained or they will be offended. I totally expected people to be offended, but really that wouldn't make sense. The Pope is a good guy, the Bible is pretty good, the Church is just a little rigid, is all.
"I didn't know that the pope accepts gays (just not them doing it)..."
Well, since I don't really know what the Pope thinks in his head, I kinda guessed. Since he's the spiritual leader of a religion that believes all people can be redeemed (up until they die, anyways), it doesn't make sense that he'd reject someone simply because of their sexual outlook. The Pope loves everyone just like his God does. It's his job to try and convince them to be better in the eyes of God, be them a cute little school kid, a vicious murderer, or some guy that likes guys.
"I wonder if that isn't a little [hypocritical]."
You think the Pope is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion?
"...he [The Pope] isn't allowed to change the rules if he doesn't like them...He's just trying to do his job, I think."
That is exactly what I was saying. I'm 100% certain that he'd be all for Gay Marriage if the Bible didn't specifically say it was very wrong.
"If you want to be a good christain then don't be gay."
That is NOT what I was saying. You can be the MOST Homosexual person on the planet and still be a perfect Christian. The line is drawn at Homosexual sex. That is the described sin, not actually being Gay. You can talk about stealing something all you want, but until you actually do it, you haven't broken the Law.
Ofcourse, Christianity is a funny religion in that there really is always a safe way out. If you commit a sin and then repent for it, you are CLEAR. That's why there's confessional. It's actually a real thing that people use and not just a lame plot device for stupid movies. If may seem hard to believe, but its true.
"I hope the pope does not change that newly made law about gay marrages though."
He can't and he wouldn't. The Church can do nothing about the Law. They made sure of that a LONG time ago. The best the Pope can do is point out that it is wrong and that you shouldn't do it. It's up to people to make the choice...ofcourse, only now is that choice really available. The whole "People have to make their own choices between good and evil" is pretty much on every page of the Bible. It's the same with any other sin according to the Bible. There's no Bible Police to stop you from lying, but ofcourse, there certainly is Local Law to put a stop to anything really bad.
"What if [Hindu], or [Buddhists] believed in gay marrage. The law would be infringing on their religious rights."
Actually, that's interesting. Being such a specialist on Catholicism, I only know the suface beliefs of religions so far removed from Christianity. Since those specific religions are so easy going and probably would have no specific rules against Homosexuality, I would assume you are correct and that they have been technicaly oppressed. Ofcourse, the Atheist population is a totally different story. Since they aren't affiliated with a religion, the old Governmental Law just didn't make any sense at all.
"...let society choose wether they want to be good christains or have a gay marrage outside of the church."
That is exactly why the Law has been changed in Canada.
Canada rocks.
"...I wonder if I should be offended by josh's imitation of the pope or not. :)"
There are two outcomes when someone reads a rant: They will be entertained or they will be offended. I totally expected people to be offended, but really that wouldn't make sense. The Pope is a good guy, the Bible is pretty good, the Church is just a little rigid, is all.
"I didn't know that the pope accepts gays (just not them doing it)..."
Well, since I don't really know what the Pope thinks in his head, I kinda guessed. Since he's the spiritual leader of a religion that believes all people can be redeemed (up until they die, anyways), it doesn't make sense that he'd reject someone simply because of their sexual outlook. The Pope loves everyone just like his God does. It's his job to try and convince them to be better in the eyes of God, be them a cute little school kid, a vicious murderer, or some guy that likes guys.
"I wonder if that isn't a little [hypocritical]."
You think the Pope is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion?
"...he [The Pope] isn't allowed to change the rules if he doesn't like them...He's just trying to do his job, I think."
That is exactly what I was saying. I'm 100% certain that he'd be all for Gay Marriage if the Bible didn't specifically say it was very wrong.
"If you want to be a good christain then don't be gay."
That is NOT what I was saying. You can be the MOST Homosexual person on the planet and still be a perfect Christian. The line is drawn at Homosexual sex. That is the described sin, not actually being Gay. You can talk about stealing something all you want, but until you actually do it, you haven't broken the Law.
Ofcourse, Christianity is a funny religion in that there really is always a safe way out. If you commit a sin and then repent for it, you are CLEAR. That's why there's confessional. It's actually a real thing that people use and not just a lame plot device for stupid movies. If may seem hard to believe, but its true.
"I hope the pope does not change that newly made law about gay marrages though."
He can't and he wouldn't. The Church can do nothing about the Law. They made sure of that a LONG time ago. The best the Pope can do is point out that it is wrong and that you shouldn't do it. It's up to people to make the choice...ofcourse, only now is that choice really available. The whole "People have to make their own choices between good and evil" is pretty much on every page of the Bible. It's the same with any other sin according to the Bible. There's no Bible Police to stop you from lying, but ofcourse, there certainly is Local Law to put a stop to anything really bad.
"What if [Hindu], or [Buddhists] believed in gay marrage. The law would be infringing on their religious rights."
Actually, that's interesting. Being such a specialist on Catholicism, I only know the suface beliefs of religions so far removed from Christianity. Since those specific religions are so easy going and probably would have no specific rules against Homosexuality, I would assume you are correct and that they have been technicaly oppressed. Ofcourse, the Atheist population is a totally different story. Since they aren't affiliated with a religion, the old Governmental Law just didn't make any sense at all.
"...let society choose wether they want to be good christains or have a gay marrage outside of the church."
That is exactly why the Law has been changed in Canada.
Canada rocks.
