Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by doobydoll
As soon as I heard he was resigning, I suspected there was something else at the root of it and that we weren't getting the whole story. I knew it was only a matter hours before someone on ATS digs out the truth

Personally, I don't know what all the fuss is about over all this pope drama. He's just a bloke. And soon, yet another 200yo old fart will replace him and life goes on. I don't understand why the pope is hailed as some sort of descended Archangel everywhere he goes, - and what's worse is that he revels in it, so he obviously believes he deserves such adulation.

I believe in God. I believe God is inside us all and part of us, and is everywhere, and that is what I pray with, and to. I don't need no man-made churches to do it.

I love these Catholic bashing threads. Where do you get the idea that we worship the man? And if he loved the attention as much as you say, why would he resign? The Pope, as we believe is God's spokesman on earth. He draws crowds not from his own charisma but due to the message. We worship God, not the Pope. It is what he represents to us that makes him important, not who he is. John Paul II was credited with ending communism but he gave credit to God and the people themselves.

Time and time again people make up things and claim all catholics think that way, from pope worship to worshiping the Virgin Mary. The church has some big problems, why make things up when you can criticise based on facts? Nevertheless, a Catholic I will remain.

edit on 14-2-2013 by steppenwolf86 because: (no reason given)

Who says he is a spokesman for God? You? Or another human?

When did God appoint him as His spokesman?

I get the impression he loves the attention the way he lords it about in his scrote-mobile waving at his adoring fans. As for him resigning as I said before, the real reason will emerge soon enough. It's not because he's old because he was already ancient when he took the job. There's some other reason.

Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by doobydoll
As soon as I heard he was resigning, I suspected there was something else at the root of it and that we weren't getting the whole story. I knew it was only a matter hours before someone on ATS digs out the truth

Personally, I don't know what all the fuss is about over all this pope drama. He's just a bloke. And soon, yet another 200yo old fart will replace him and life goes on. I don't understand why the pope is hailed as some sort of descended Archangel everywhere he goes, - and what's worse is that he revels in it, so he obviously believes he deserves such adulation.

I believe in God. I believe God is inside us all and part of us, and is everywhere, and that is what I pray with, and to. I don't need no man-made churches to do it.

I love these Catholic bashing threads. Where do you get the idea that we worship the man? And if he loved the attention as much as you say, why would he resign? The Pope, as we believe is God's spokesman on earth. He draws crowds not from his own charisma but due to the message. We worship God, not the Pope. It is what he represents to us that makes him important, not who he is. John Paul II was credited with ending communism but he gave credit to God and the people themselves.

Time and time again people make up things and claim all catholics think that way, from pope worship to worshiping the Virgin Mary. The church has some big problems, why make things up when you can criticise based on facts? Nevertheless, a Catholic I will remain.

edit on 14-2-2013 by steppenwolf86 because: (no reason given)

Someone with calibre, and pragmatism, unlike to whom you are replying, and no harm to he/she, is somewhat confused as to whether the Pope is a bloke, or that God is inside of him/us/them and the added assumption that the Pope revels in being a pop idol, (that being the case WTF is he resigning for?) I think being a 200year old fart, is so much better than being a ten year old twat.

Originally posted by SproutKY

Originally posted by DarknStormy
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the next pope is the last.. This religious entity is about done..

There are definitely prophecies about it.
Do you think it's along the lines of "end of the world" or just "end of the Catholic Church"?

End of the Catholic church??

You are joking right??

Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by doobydoll
As soon as I heard he was resigning, I suspected there was something else at the root of it and that we weren't getting the whole story. I knew it was only a matter hours before someone on ATS digs out the truth

Personally, I don't know what all the fuss is about over all this pope drama. He's just a bloke. And soon, yet another 200yo old fart will replace him and life goes on. I don't understand why the pope is hailed as some sort of descended Archangel everywhere he goes, - and what's worse is that he revels in it, so he obviously believes he deserves such adulation.

I believe in God. I believe God is inside us all and part of us, and is everywhere, and that is what I pray with, and to. I don't need no man-made churches to do it.

I love these Catholic bashing threads. Where do you get the idea that we worship the man? And if he loved the attention as much as you say, why would he resign? The Pope, as we believe is God's spokesman on earth. He draws crowds not from his own charisma but due to the message. We worship God, not the Pope. It is what he represents to us that makes him important, not who he is. John Paul II was credited with ending communism but he gave credit to God and the people themselves.

Time and time again people make up things and claim all catholics think that way, from pope worship to worshiping the Virgin Mary. The church has some big problems, why make things up when you can criticise based on facts? Nevertheless, a Catholic I will remain.

edit on 14-2-2013 by steppenwolf86 because: (no reason given)

Cardinal Sarto, who became Pope Pius X, said this: The Pope represents Jesus Christ Himself.

In 1512 Christopher Marcellus said this to Pope Julius II: Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, thou art our physician, thou art our governor, thou art our husbandman, thou art finally another God on earth

Just recently, in 2004, Bishop Patrick Dunn of Auckland said this: It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross.

The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII says this: But to believe that our Lord God the Pope the establisher of said decretal, and of this, could not decree, as he did decree, should be accounted heretical

The Catholic Church said that The Pope supersedes God on Earth. Give me a break mate it's all a scam, you've all been had!

If he is the representative on Earth for 'G*D', and is here as a means of being 'the middle man', than why is it not G*D that chooses who stands? A Catholic Rep who is voted by Catholics that are Human that are from Earth. Does that not put it all into a fishy start from the get go? I didn't buy my Buick because Buick said it was a good car. So therefor, why could not they elect a Pope based on a survey of all People, religions, backgrounds? Call him the 'Rep of the People'? As far as I'm concerned, a Rep of G*D would just randomly show up out of nowhere, and be 'not quite human' somehow, and noticeably something we should pay more attention to.

Could someone possibly explain to me the concept of the 'end of the Roman Catholic church'????

I've seen this notion posted several times in this thread. Does anyone actually think / believe that the Roman Catholic church will, as an entity, suddenly just throw up their collective hands and say..."Sorry everyone, just kidding, we've decided we're just not gonna' do this, the whole Catholic church thing, anymore" (?????) C'mon! Really???

Thirty million dollars is a drop in the ocean to the church! How will they pay? Well, chances are they won't, but even if they did it wouldn't make even one iota of difference to their bank accounts. But, just what if they couldn't pay, what then? Does anyone think someone is going to foreclose on the church? That they will somehow go through some kind of papal bankruptcy??? That we will be seeing the Pope-mobile up on the auction block shortly forthwith???

I mean really; does anyone actually think the Catholic chruch is just going to fold up its tent, to cease to exist and leave literally billions of followers standing there in the void going "Huh?" That Christianity is somehow going to just vaporize into the ether overnight?

I'm not a big religious guy at all (and certainly not a Catholic), but even I am sitting here asking myself...'no one could actually believe something like this...could they???"

WOW!!

Perhaps he found out what was really going on behind the scenes and was disgusted and resigned. Don't throw him to the wolves yet.

Here we go... watch before your very eyes as this promising intellectual discussion on the subject of Popeness degenerates into an unapologetic p#ssing contest of who's religion is the best. Who didn't see that coming? God himself is shaking his head in frustration at you fools.



News-flash to all spiritual neanderthals: the same god made you all, and that very same god is beyond fed up with all of your sh#t - equally! He doesn't play favorites... because we're all One. - Yeah, One big mess of pitiful beings hell-bent on self-destruction & lost in the visceral depths of our own corrupted egos and seemingly-boundless naivety.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, pope boy!

...whatever, man... as far as I'm concerned, placing your trust in another human being to be a reliable middle-man for god & god's "word" (no matter how righteous their intentions may seem) is, plain and simply, spiritual suicide. The pope knows no more about god than you do. And if you think he does.... well, may god have mercy on your soul. Or some such nonsense.. I don't really care about any of this to be honest. Catholicism is as redundant to me as floppy disks in the modern world. Sure, you can rely on it if you want to.... but you're fooling yourself if you believe that the old ways are best. Religion has had its day... and the "Grand Deception" isn't coming - it's already been perpetrated upon us.

God has never, and will never, resort to Fear to procure obedience from its own Creation. That defeats the entire purpose of... well, everything. It's like a computer programmer creating a game and then punishing the characters in the game for disobeying the programmer's orders, even though in order for the disobedience to be possible in the first place, the programmer had to allow the characters to disobey his orders in the code he wrote. What kind of narcissistic paranoid deity would behave in such a manner - and yet claim to come from a place of Love?

Not our deity. Only human beings are that rudely bold and sadistic. God - the benevolent creator and source of all things - has nothing to prove to anything or anyone. He simply allows us to be, and shares (quietly) in the experiences which we all choose for ourselves both collectively and individually. And all this is done rightly so! We see this concept as "bad parenting" in modern society. But realistically, what we're faced with is "total freedom". Which, in the right light I suppose, can be seen as "bad parenting"... or it can also be seen as "unconditional love".

Or, of course, you can subscribe to the nihilistic belief that the universe is the result of Nothing creating Nothing out of sheer Nothingness following a split moment of random chance... a directionless universe of Nothingness which is perpetually unfolding into more Nothingness with no inherent purpose or sense to be made of our complicated lives as sentient creative beings whatsoever... a giant Nothing that keeps evolving into more pointless Nothing.

Hmm... personally, I find that concept nearly as absurd as our dogmatic religions. But believe what you want. You've got it all wrong - God doesn't care! Whatever you believe in - God created it! Therefore it cannot be wrong - nor can it be right. It simply is. It merely exists as an "option" - an option which you choose. You decide if it's the right one or not. And no matter what you pick - you're not wrong for whatever you believe. There is no right or wrong - only the consequences of your actions.

So - choose your beliefs wisely... because God's not doing all this for his own glory or for the recognition & empty praise from his own creation - he's doing it for you! So that you might live, and choose, and be. That's Love. Not this eternal Hell bullsh#t, or this "original sin" crap, or the whole "give me coins and I'll clean your slate" abuse of religious authority (which used to go on - I don't even know if it still does or not since I'm not Catholic)... not to mention the whole pedo thing, which requires drastic scrutiny from all human beings to understand and solve this important issue!

But in any case, I digress. the point is: God loves you no matter what you do because you're a part of "him"/it. You can't not be loved by him/her/it, since nothing can possibly exist outside of existence itself (aka - God).

Brothers.. sisters... if you fear any aspect of God, then you've got it all wrong. And religious institutions like Catholicism are firmly rooted in Fear. So f#ck religion, and f#ck the pope. That's my opinion on the matter - not that anyone cares lol

Peace & love! Please, anyone who reads this - focus more on what unites us and not what divides us, as division is an illusion. Unity is the true nature of all things; however, we live in a very delicate realm of precarious balance. But we are all still connected by the same 'energy field'. And it's past time we behaved as such!

What You Think; You Become.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; as it becomes your destiny.

Some Old Bloke