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I have never understood people who follow Catholicism - or any religion - but my introduction to Catholicism (my first serious boyfriend) was the first time I solidly realised that religion made no sense.
Condoms for example. Obviously god had written nothing in the bible about them since they hadn't been invented yet. Yet this Pope guy made up some modern, highly irresponsible rule that they couldn't be used (which nobody with any sense followed anyway). And if I wanted to marry this guy (was never gonna happen) I'd have to convert to Catholicism. Seemed very two faced that we could break the rules when it came to condoms but not about marriage.
It was then I realised that this Pope could make up some rules and everyone would be expected to follow them... but then if he changed his mind somewhere along the way, everyone would have to abandon their previous belief system and set of rules and go with the new rules.
My mind was never going to work like that.
The Pope acknowledging that the Big Bang and evolution are true is great. But it's only what the rest of us have known for decades. Well done. So what is the Pope for exactly?
Which rules are Catholics supposed to follow? How can they trust that some Catholic big bod won't change his mind again? Now wonder so many people are leaving Catholicism.
And this is the problem with religion. You either have to stick to your guns or your religion loses credibility. But if you stick to your guns you look like you are forever stuck in the past.
Last edited by june 7th; 10-28-2014 at 04:03 PM..
Reason: Discussion moderator action.
Probably not. They'll just teach it as what it is: a creation story; not literally true.
In that they have previously been presenting it as the literal truth, are Catholics not supposed to notice that one of their eternal, unchanging truths has been declared a myth?
The good book is filled with parables, instructive lessons, principles and stories, but not necessarily accurate historical facts. This doesn't invalidate the usefulness as a basis of faith.
I went to catholic school, we were taught Adam and Eve weren't real. The story was basically just describing in a simple way how humans fell from grace. I don't remember much else.
Judaism has a long tradition of not taking Genesis literally, Catholicism not as long although it has been part of the belief system since 1950. O'course it seems as if religion is often mixed in with the politics of the times.
Quote:
Unlike much of evangelical Protestantism in the U.S., Catholic teaching traditionally has not been at odds with evolution. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed there was no opposition between evolution and Catholic doctrine. In 1996, St. John Paul II endorsed Pius' statement.
I went to catholic school, we were taught Adam and Eve weren't real. The story was basically just describing in a simple way how humans fell from grace. I don't remember much else.
Really? When I went to school (the dinosaurs were still alive but they were pretty sick) Pius XII was the Pope and Humani Generis was still fairly new. One of the subjects of this encyclical was evolution, which the Pope labeled as unproven and to be considered with great caution. A Catholic could believe in evolution with one very significant proviso.
Quote:
37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.
There had to be a real one and only male parent, conventionally called Adam, from whom all humans are descended. (Note the absence of any mention of Eve, leaving open the possibility of polygamy.) Without everyone being descended from this one primeval sinner (exact sin unspecified), the Church Teaching of biological inheritance of original sin goes bye-bye.
What we were taught in school was that it was alright to say that the human body is the product of evolution. The parents of Adam and Eve (she got put back in, maybe to avoid embarrassing questions) might have looked human but they would not have been endowed by God with souls. (A crazy thought that popped into my head, but stayed there for obvious reasons, was whether there might be any descendants of the ‘looked human but were not’ lineage still around.)
There is debate on whether Humani Generis is infallible and therefore binding on Catholics. It was not explicitly ex cathedra but one of the other things in it was that something does not have to be ex cathedra to be infallible and therefore binding. The next question is whether that was infallible.
Location: Sitting on a bar stool. Guinness in hand.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LuminousTruth
NO YOU ARE ALL WRONG. THE CREATION STORY IS TRUE. THE POPE TALKS TO JESUS AND THAT'S WHAT JESUS SAID TO HIM OK.
Moderator cut: irrelevant
OK SO IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME, Moderator cut: no proselytizing or preaching in the A&A forum OK GUYS LOVE YOU SO MUCH <33333333333333
You need to lay off the CAP LOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks.
Oh mensaguy......you're gonna have lots of fun with this thread. Ain't Ya.
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