Posted on 09/11/2002 5:32:02 AM PDT by Pern
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, marking the anniversary of the attacks on U.S. cities, branded terrorism "ferocious inhumanity" but asked for prayers that God would show mercy and forgiveness for the attackers.
The pope also urged the world to change in situations of injustice that spurred the desire for revenge.
"We pray for the victims today, may they rest in peace, and may God show mercy and forgiveness for the authors of this horrible terror attack," he said in Polish, according to a translation provided by Vatican Radio.
The pope was speaking in unscripted remarks in Polish during a special general audience dedicated to commemorating the victims of the attacks by hijacked aircraft on New York and Washington landmarks.
The service included mourning music and a peace prayer.
"Terrorism is and always will be a manifestation of ferocious inhumanity, and because it is, it never will resolve conflicts between human beings," he told some 10,000 people in the Vatican's vast auditorium.
"Violence can only lead to further hatred and destruction."
But he called for changes in "scandalous situations of injustice and oppression, which continue to afflict so many members of the human family, creating conditions that are favorable to the uncontrolled explosion of the thirst for vendetta."
After his address, special prayers were read in several languages, including Arabic, for the victims of the attacks and for peace among religions.
MORE THAN 3,000 DEAD
More than 3,000 people died in the attacks on New York's World Trade Center, U.S. military headquarters at the Pentagon on the Washington outskirts and in a hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
The prayer read in Arabic asked believers of all religions to "firmly reject every form of violence and commit themselves to resolving conflicts with sincere and patient dialogue" while respecting different histories, cultures and religions.
Speaking in a somber voice in his address, the pope said injustices had to be tackled through urgent and resolute political and economic actions.
He said that when fundamental rights were violated in oppressive situations, "it is easy to fall prey to the temptation of hate and violence."
But one year on, the pontiff said it was not enough to commemorate the victims and pray for their families.
"We also want to interrogate the consciences of those who planned and carried out such a barbarous and cruel action," he said.
"One year after September 11, 2001, we repeat that no situation of injustice, no feeling of frustration, no philosophy or religion can justify such an aberration."
"On this very sad anniversary, we raise to God our prayer so that love may be able to take the place of hate, and, with the help of all people of good will, that concord and solidarity may take root in every corner of the earth," he said.
There is no longer any respect for the aged. Proverbs tells us that it is a blessing to have grey hair. The old used to be honored and revered now they are forgotten and disrespected. It is a sign of the times - they are everywhere if you just take time to look.
Of course your right, I'm obviously not doing the job right.
I'll try one last time.
Most people go to purgatory. After their "sentence" they go to heaven.
Very few people go straight to heaven.
Alot of folks go to hell, and they stay there.
My apologies for butchering Our Lady's words.
Prior to Jesus’ time, the Jews did not have a sharply defined, universal canon of Scripture. Some groups of Jews used only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch); some used only the Palestinian canon (39 books); some used the Alexandrian canon (46 books), and some, like the Dead Sea community, used all these and more. The Palestinian and Alexandrian canons were more normative than the others, having wider acceptance among orthodox Jews, but for Jews there was no universally defined canon to include or exclude the “deuterocanonical” books around 100 A.D.The Apostles commissioned by Jesus, 5 however, used the Septuagint (the Old Testament in Greek which con- tained the Alexandrian canon) most of the time and must have accepted the Alexandrian canon. For example, 86 percent of Old Testament quotes in the Greek New Testament come directly from the Septuagint, not to mention numerous linguistic references. Acts 7 provides an interesting piece of evidence that justifies the Apostolic use of the Septuagint. In Acts 7:14 St. Stephen says that Jacob came to Joseph with 75 people. The Masoretic Hebrew version of Gen. 46:27 says “70,” while the Septuagint’s says “75,” the number Stephen used. Following the Apostles’ example, Stephen clearly used the Septuagint. In the mid-twentieth century, Dead Sea Scrolls scholars discovered older Hebrew manuscripts that agree with the Septuagint rather than the Masoretic texts. The Septuagint was not only used by the Apostles, but in some cases it was more accurate.
6 (We also know from other ancient Christian documents, like the Didache 7 and Pope St. Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians, that the apostles’ successors not only used the Septuagint, but quote from all of the books in the Alexandrian canon as the authoritative word of God.) There is no divinely inspired “table of contents” for the Bible, therefore, Christians need an authority, like the infallible Church established by Christ, to discern which books are the divinely inspired ones. (Indeed, even if there were such a “table of contents” list, we would need an authority to tell if the list itself were inspired.) Even many Evangelical Protestant Bible scholars admit this:
While we know that at the time of Jesus there were different canons of the Old Testament because the canonical process was not yet complete, the glorious truth is that God has invited humans to be partners in the putting together of Scripture. I think the implications are that you cannot have Scripture without the community of faith [in other words, the Church]. It’s not just a private revelation. God gives us Scripture, but then the [Church], by God’s guidance, has to choose what’s in and what’s out.”
Full discussion here.
I see what you were saying. "After that" is rather ambiguous in this case. I was surprised that you would make such a bizarre statement.
SD
You want to try and pull theology from these books? Fine, but it's your own mortal soul at stake. Please, I emplore you take time with sufficient prayer and let God show you what He's always been trying to tell the world in the Bible. Use your God-given intellect and search and look for yourself.
For what ? For saying this?
"Sorry you do not like the possibility that they burn in hell ..but odds are unless they repented and believed they do today burn in hell"
You imply that the forgiveness of Christ is not unconditional when you say it is for a time..Is the forgiveness of Christ unconditional or can he take it back? That is the heart of that comment
Where do you get that from? There is evidence in the Bible itself indicating that the Apostles used the Septuagint (See my previous post to you*). Whose canon of the Old Testament do you trust, the canon of the Apostles or the canon of a Jewish Council that rejected the canonicity of the New Testament?
*In Acts 7:14 St. Stephen says that Jacob came to Joseph with 75 people. The Masoretic Hebrew version of Gen. 46:27 says “70,” while the Septuagint’s says “75,” the number Stephen used. Following the Apostles’ example, Stephen clearly used the Septuagint.
I don't see this as being a problem. Show me one quote from any of the Apacryphal books used by an Apostle anywhere in the NT. It's a large leap of logic to say because they quoted the Septuagint in one place that they gave all the book contained therin blanket admonition as official OT. OT Conon are those books written by a prophet or during the time of a prophet. It's a simple concept really.
1. Where in the Bible does it say you should pray to anyone but Heavenly Father?
2. Most Catholics "seemingly" revere Mary over Jesus
3. The touching and kissing of statues that represent so-called saints. I call that idolatry. What do you call it?
4. Chanting and repeating canned prayers and massaging rosary beads and incense burning??? What's up with that?
5. Believing that God and Jesus are the same personage. What sense does that make? 6. Preists can't marry. If Heavenly father wants anything for his children is to have a family. All of us. 7. Transconfiguration.
Answer these questions honestly and straightforwardly and convince me that Christ would approve of them or that any of thes practices are supported by the scriptures.
Greg
First off, how do you know the authorship and time frame of each of the OT books? You argue as if you have absolute knowledge, when I don't think anybody knows for sure the authorship of all the books.
Second, what is a "prophet?" Isn't it someone who speaks for God, delivers God's message to the world?
Then your argument is circular and self-defeating. If the authors of what you call the "Apocrypha" were truly inspired, then they were "prophets" and they obviously then lived during the "time of a prophet." It's tautological.
SD
I love that one!
Where in the Bible does it say that death is a barrier, dividing the Body of Christ (the collection of believers) into two pieces?
2. Most Catholics "seemingly" revere Mary over Jesus
If you ever attended or understood a Mass you would never say this.
3. The touching and kissing of statues that represent so-called saints. I call that idolatry. What do you call it?
Reverence. We celebrate the wonders God has done in transforming mere humans into beings worthy of being adopted sons of God.
4. Chanting and repeating canned prayers and massaging rosary beads and incense burning??? What's up with that?
Chanting is merely singing. "He who sings, prays twice," says Augustine.
As for having "canned" prayers, they are part and parcel of a liturgical people, who keep a remembrance of the entire history of salvation. We all enjoy a well-written text, else FR would be devoid of substance. To think that God will punish or disapprove of a person who expresses his heart with the words written by another is to imagine a God out of touch with humanity.
Likewise, humanity delights in providing the best the senses can sense in service to God. Sights and smells and sounds move men and women deeply. Again, to imagine a God who desires us to worship Him only by sensory deprivation is to imagine a God who has no knowledge of what being a man is about.
5. Believing that God and Jesus are the same personage. What sense does that make?
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. You'll have to explain your fallacious notion of what Catholics believe further.
6. Preists can't marry. If Heavenly father wants anything for his children is to have a family. All of us.
Then why did He inspire Paul to counsel that chastity is the desired state, and that marriage should be chosen only if chastity would lead one to sin? It's in the Bible.
7. Transconfiguration.
I think you mean "transmogrification." It is simply a case of the Catholics taking the Bible literally and Protestants not.
SD
Excuse me but are the Catholic haters arguing that Jesus was as vindictive as they are? Apparently they are. And they call theirselves "christian"..
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