It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Unrealised
Perhaps he's working for the Devil, or is the Devil.
I mean, the last Pope left without a good reason, to me, anyway.
Maybe Satan threatened him, so he left.
Greatest I am
For Pope Francis to know that God would adjust our time in purgatory, --- a place that the last two Popes said was in our own heads and did not really exist, --- he would have had to get permission from God and get God to accept bribes for compromising his justice.
Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven. (Catechism 210)
An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity. (Catechism 1478)
Pope Francis thinking that someone could pay money to lessen their punishment is a blatant lie.
pstrron
The only god here that accepts bribes is Satan
adjensen
Greatest I am
For Pope Francis to know that God would adjust our time in purgatory, --- a place that the last two Popes said was in our own heads and did not really exist, --- he would have had to get permission from God and get God to accept bribes for compromising his justice.
I suspect that you're confusing Limbo for Purgatory, as regards the last two Popes -- Limbo has never been an official church teaching, and they recently (last ten years?) said that it doesn't exist. The Catechism says this about Purgatory:
Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven. (Catechism 210)
So, it's a "state", not a "place", per that.
As for your gripes about indulgences, the church believes that it has the authority to grant them, because they were charged by Christ to do so:
An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity. (Catechism 1478)
Indulgences are granted (by God, there's no scorecard in your local parish,) for acts of piety, like praying the Liturgy of the Hours, attending Stations of the Cross, helping the homeless, etc. And, apparently, for following the Pope on Twitter. The financial abuses associated with indulgences in the 1500s have long been curtailed.
Whether they really have anything to do with God or not, if they encourage people to do good, then what's the harm?
pstrron
God can not be bribed nor can He lie. His laws are absolute and Pope Francis thinking that someone could pay money to lessen their punishment is a blatant lie. The only god here that accepts bribes is Satan but then again he is the father of lies so don't expect him to hold to the bribe either.
It sound like they need more money so it's time for the indulgence scam which is down right fraud but of course who's going to call the Pope out on it? They believe he is infallible! What a load of mammoth poo.
ScottProphhit
pstrron
The only god here that accepts bribes is Satan
Don't call him a God, he's less than human.
Greatest I am
Give your head a shake as I confuse nothing.
www.ewtn.com...
Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit (angel/demon) or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language. This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved, since it is tied to the temporal order in which this world and we exist. (From your link)
adjensen
Greatest I am
Give your head a shake as I confuse nothing.
www.ewtn.com...
Um, that says exactly what I cited from the Catechism, so what's your point?
Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit (angel/demon) or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language. This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved, since it is tied to the temporal order in which this world and we exist. (From your link)
Greatest I am
The point is that the Pope would have to negotiate with every mind as God is within us all.
Greatest I am
When did Pope Francis negotiate indulgences and God’s bribe price?
FlyersFan
Greatest I am
The point is that the Pope would have to negotiate with every mind as God is within us all.
God is within us. We are not all God. Those are two different things.
FlyersFan
Greatest I am
When did Pope Francis negotiate indulgences and God’s bribe price?
Making restitution to God for sins isn't 'bribing God'. It's showing God that you are sincerely sorry and willing to make sacrifices in order to make things right with him. Humans can only do so much to pay for their own sins (or bad karmic debt, whatever you want to call it). Making sacrifices to God to pay for sins has been the practice for a LONG TIME among humans .... it's not something newly invented by Pope Francis.
Zoroastrians and Hebrews and ancient Hindus did it for thousands of years before Christianity.
Indulgence is the same thing ... a little more modernized ... but the same thing.
Instead of sacrificing a goat to God, a person can pray and volunteer at a homeless shelter
to try to make up for the bad they have done.
To quote Raj from Big Bang Theory .. it makes sense and is practically Newtonian physics.
www.youtube.com...
edit on 10/25/2013 by FlyersFan because: (no reason given)
Greatest I am
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Greatest I am
I do when someone speaks for God and tells us what God will do when they have not spoken with God.
FlyersFan
Greatest I am
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Make Our abode with him. That's not 'change him into a God'.
The two are still separate entities.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Kingdom of God is within ... again, that's not 'you are God incarnate'.
That's keeping God in your heart. That's the Holy Spirit being with you to help you.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
I have no idea how you get that we are God by that. You'll have to explain.
BTW ... Greatest I am ... I enjoy your threads. Always provoking thoughtful dialog.
I don't always agree with your opinions .. but I enjoy discussions in the threads.
FlyersFan
Greatest I am
I do when someone speaks for God and tells us what God will do when they have not spoken with God.
- According to his religion, yes he can speak for what God will do. Matthew 16:18 & 19 gives the pope that authority. Along with the Acts of the Apostles showing apostolic succession.
- You are free to believe or disbelieve that the pope has the authority given to him by Jesus Himself. If you don't believe it, then just ignore the indulgences that the pope has measured out for the Catholics.
- You don't know if the pope has 'spoken with God'. You aren't with him in his prayer life and I don't think you can point to anything really evil that this man has done in which to doubt him. (although you may have a different view on 'evil' than others) But if you chose to believe the pope hasn't spoken with God ... go ahead. Disregard what he says.
- The pope doesn't actually have to speak with God for every pronouncement he makes. The authority given to him with Matthew 16:18-19 says that Heaven will hold bound whatever the Pope decides for the Church. (that's the belief of the Catholic faith). Jesus put the pope in charge and gave him full authority ... and Heaven honors that authority. (again, according to the popes faith).