Pope declares evolution and Big Bang theory are right and God isn’t ‘a magician with a magic wand

[gambit]

So he is officially saying bible is wrong!!!

No...He did not.

The issues of homosexuality and homosexuals are actually not that complicated and this Pope is willing to force the Catholic Church and Catholics to confront those issues -- IN THIS LIFE. You cannot use the Old Testament as a guide on how to treat sinners and since the issues of homosexuality and homosexuals are brought up, let us talk about them sensibly.

When Jesus came, he did not said that he came to 'replace' the laws, as in Old Testament laws on how to live according to God's will. Rather, he said he came to fulfill those laws. The cryptic meaning here is that he want the people to internalize those laws. Since we all are flawed and if you were borned a homosexual, you should refrain from homosexual behaviors. If you feel no desire for women, then marry neither man nor woman. You will not have an easy life, but that is the price we all paid for Adam's and Eve's screwups. If you are not a homosexual, you should be kind and even loving towards homosexuals -- REGARDLESS OF THEIR LIFESTYLES. In the afterlife, God will judge you according to how you treat others -- including homosexuals -- in this life. You let God judge the homosexuals according to his laws, not your whims.

Basically, what God said was: 'I gave you a bunch of laws (Old Testament) and you people still screwed up. Despite your outer appearance of piety, in your souls you are still corrupt. Regarding the Ten Commandments, you find ways to go around them and justify your misdeeds by claiming to know my will. So I have descended from Heaven and became one of you (Jesus) and will show you how to live according to my laws as how I originally wanted you to live (New Testament).'

Note that in the New Testament, Jesus did not strike down sinners, even though he had the powers to do so. After all, he is God, even though in human form. Jesus forgave sinners, not killed them. The point was that it is better to forgave sinners in this life and let God deal with them in the afterlife than for you to take matters into your own hands with your flawed nature and characters. If God would punish the homosexuals for their behaviors -- not their nature -- so will God punish you for your behaviors -- not by how much Bible knowledge you know and spewed. God may condemn a 'flaming' and promiscuous homosexual to Hell, but he will also condemn you to the same Hell if you kill one such homosexual in his name.

Marriage can have a religious component and background but it is largely a secular one. In this life, the state sanctions marriages all for legal purposes, not religious ones. So what this Pope is saying is that we should let the homosexuals enjoys all the legal benefits of marriages -- in this life -- as part of our struggle to forgive sinners and let God deals with them in the afterlife. If any homosexual want to live a religious but lonely life, let God will deal with him/her in the afterlife, but essentially YOU leave all homosexuals alone in this life.

Do you understand now ?

 

[vostok]

No matter how many cycles of contraction and expansion were in the history of the Physical Universe. Even if there were an infinite set. But someone had to start all over. Or someone had to lay the fundamental laws, the basic principles on which our world operates.

 

[k7x]

No one till date has given what is the true nature of universe.

There are still many hypothesis

Some are weired, some are logical, some are inferred.Some are just made up.

Science may one day answer some of our question.

 

[MarkusS]

What the pope does is awesome. God made us with a brain. The bible is written in a way that makes you wonder and think. Only stupid people would read it word by word.

This pope inspires people. And a church that is pro science can only win.

The universe is a fact and so is the god who created it. How we imagine this is irrelevant, because science won´t bend because our wishs and believes. If we gain a deeper understanding about the universe, that means we get closer to our creator. If we hold on old ideas and ignore the facts, we insult god. Evolution is fact. The big bang is also a fact, we simply don´t know yet what caused the big bang. But we know it happened and can see its effects.

And as for homosexuals, the pope never " allowed" it. He simply said: " Who am i to judge about them?"

 

[Schutz]

I dont care or want answers, some things cant be answered and some things wont be answered for a long time, there is no "creator" because that hypothesis leads you back on a continual path of who created the creator, who created that creator etc its just not an answer. We happened, the universe happened and thats all that matters, a creator in the sense of a god has to be the least likely scenario I can imagine as its based on the thought process of people who lived at a time when you were lucky to be alive past your 20's, when the best you could hope for in life was not dying of a cold, when the only thing you knew about life/existence was that you come out of your mother, when knowledge was in the hands of a privileged few and that knowledge was what these days less than a 10 year old would know.

Humans need to stop seeking answers or believing in the divine when it comes to obtaining those answers, the unexplainable will generally be forever unexplained and frightened extremely uneducated peoples thought process from thousands of years ago should really be no where fucking near ours in the year 2014 where we live in a time where we are weeks away from landing a probe on a comet, something which people who came up with these ideas of creators probably believed was an angry fireball from god. The big bang and evolution happened, I dont need to know why or how because I dont have a time machine and my brain would not comprehend the amazing set of events which took untold millions of years to occur, I certainly wont find an answer in a book with words spoken of people who may not have even existed and who had a lower education level of somebody from tribal Pakistan.

 

[gambit]

Not exactly.. the Vatican speaks for the Catholics but the Protestants and others do not abide or follow them. ..i.e. sects
The same way, while Mecca is taken as the site of pilgrimage. there is no common "Pope" to lead them because of similar Hanafi, Hanbli, Ja'afaria... etc sects


To all posters
Please avoid insulting religion

or Ye shall face my wrath

The Episcopalian Church already allows ordination of homosexuals and performs marriages for the same. In this, the Catholic Church is behind. Whether the Catholic Church will take after the Episcopalian Church or not is a different issue, but the fact that Christendom's largest denomination is steering away -- albeit slowy -- from ages old hatred of homosexuals and towards open arms, it will sway the other smaller sects into the same path.

Perceptions of religions are based upon the behaviors of its believers and practically never from their philosophies, and it is the behaviors of today, not of the past. If we read the testimonies of converts, and practically all religious believers came from conversions, we invariably see how the prospects were initially attracted by the behaviors/speech of the believers, the studying of philosophies and doctrines came later.

This move by the Catholic Church, no matter how slowly the turn, and the inevitable following by the other Christian sects, will make Christianity more attractive to possible conversions.

 

[soulk]

What I am implying is that the concept of time(from which we essentially measure a magicians trick) does not have any implications for the creator. Hence the idea of time for a big bang or evolution as it means for us has little implications for the creator.

 

[livingdead]

While I absolutely agree with the "big bang" an evolution concept.. the magic wand ideal is a little too far for my beliefs.

so what is your current belief. god initiated big bang, and then did not intervene afterwards?

 

[Jungibaaz]

With all due to respect to the Pope. He should really stick to all matters religion, Bible and philosophy. It's not his place to comment on where his religion and texts stand alongside the modern day understanding of our origins and the origins of the universe. Leave that to the scientists.

He's entitled to his own approach, as have his predecessors had. From a theist perspective ,the magic wand comment must have raised some eyebrows, forget the evolution/big bang part.

 

[Cat Shannon]

You should hear Zakir "nayalak" Naik talk about it !

I really like this Pope. the good people deserve this guy. Thumbs Up Pope !

 

[Jungibaaz]

This thread should really be a debate in the senior's cafe.

What I am implying is that the concept of time(from which we essentially measure a magicians trick) does not have any implications for the creator. Hence the idea of time for a big bang or evolution as it means for us has little implications for the creator.

In fact all dimensions of our physical existence and our highly limited perception of those dimensions all mean nothing when applied to the creator.

 

[livingdead]

What the pope does is awesome. God made us with a brain. The bible is written in a way that makes you wonder and think. Only stupid people would read it word by word.

This pope inspires people. And a church that is pro science can only win.

The universe is a fact and so is the god who created it. How we imagine this is irrelevant, because science won´t bend because our wishs and believes. If we gain a deeper understanding about the universe, that means we get closer to our creator. If we hold on old ideas and ignore the facts, we insult god. Evolution is fact. The big bang is also a fact, we simply don´t know yet what caused the big bang. But we know it happened and can see its effects.

And as for homosexuals, the pope never " allowed" it. He simply said: " Who am i to judge about them?"

catholic church has still to catch up with anglican church.. you should listen to archbishop of canterbury.. pope sounds like ancient compared to him, even though current pope seems to be less dogmatic than previous ones.

 

[soulk]

Founder of Sufi Order Qalander Baba Auliya (R.A.) says:
That the spiritual interpretation of “the pen has dried”in Quran is that the past rules over the universe and, since man took the responsibility of the trust upon his shoulders, he has accepted the responsibility to be ruled by the past. The past is time, and time is Allah . It is a saying of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that,
“Do not speak ill of the times; Allah (God) is time.”

Everything has already happened in eternity” does not mean that Allah the Exalted has bound or restricted humankind [to a prewritten script]. In fact, within the book that has been written in eternity, not only are the two paths, of mercy and of pain, mentioned, but it has also been made clear that man has been given the freedom to choose between either of the two paths.

when we mention the make of a fabric we do so with the realization that fabric is made from the interweaving of numerous pieces of thread. On this woven fabric, designs and patterns are also made such that they are a part of the fabric. When human features are knitted into woven lights, it is called an aura. Light is free from the constraints of time and space, as time does not have a hold on light. This freedom from time and space means that man’s [spiritual] eye can reach the vastness of the heavens, and its depth of vision is able to grow so much that man is able to see what the mortal eye cannot.

When a person gains familiarity with his aura (light), his speed becomes that of light, and with that speed, a person is not only able to take flight, but he is also able to witness events that happened hundreds of thousands of years before his lifetime, and events which will take place that many years in the future.

The wise man by studying nature enters into the unity through its variety, and realizes the personality of God by sacrificing his own. I dont know what pope did.

'He who knows himself knows God' (Sayings of Prophet Mohammed)
'The Kingdom of God is within you' (Bible)
'Self-knowledge is the real wisdom' (Vedanta).

 

[ApparentRaceTraitor]

I wonder what Jerry Falwell or the Westboro Baptist church OR the bible belt in the States would have said to that?

 

[Skull and Bones]

Interesting, i hope pretty soon some pope will come up with the acceptance that there is no entity as 'God', and the character has been created by the fear of one's death, an overlord, who'd give admittance to one's soul in the land of eternal peace and honey.