If you put a "Saint" in front of the name, he would.
Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.
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Locked on 02/23/2011 7:05:41 AM PST by Religion Moderator, reason:
Old scandal article |
Posted on 02/08/2011 7:12:21 AM PST by Gamecock
HINDUS HAVE applauded Pope Benedict for including verse from ancient Hindu scripture Upanishads in the Good Friday Meditations and Prayers led by him at Roman Colosseum.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was a remarkable gesture from Pope and invited him to study more ancient Hindu scriptures, which were very rich in philosophical thought. He or other Hindu scholars would gladly provide the help and resources in this regard, if asked, Zed added.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, also commended His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for inclusion of a verse from India’s Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali and reference to peace icon Mahatma Gandhi in these prayers.
This year’s 'Way of the Cross at the Colesseum' Meditations and Prayers on Good Friday, led by Pope, included well-known verse from Brahadaranyakopanishad (“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality”), line from Tagore’s Gitanjali (“Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service”) and reference to Mahatma Gandhi.
Rajan Zed stressed that all religions should work together for a just and peaceful world. Dialogue would bring us mutual enrichment, he added.
Pope Benedict heads the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.
Unbelievers need to be taught The Truth and that does not happen by aligning themselves with their pagan beliefs at all. Did Jesus do that? NO WAY!
Acts 17:22-31 details the part where the Apostle Paul used the Alter of the Unknown God, to preach the Gospel of Christ. This gave him a platform to build upon a precept, and cause the people of Athens to ask questions and learn the truth.
The story of the Unknown God is an interesting one. But, one way to get people to ask questions, is to provide the opporutnity for them to learn. If they have an idol that tells them to love their enemy - wouldn't it be wise to use that philosophy to expound upon Christianity? We ask, we learn, we grow - and IMHO, all roads lead, eventually, to Christ.
I agree with you completely. But to a RCC, they believe the Pope is Christian. So I was trying to point out what a REAL Christian would be doing with Hindus or any other false religious system. Then its up to the individual based on Christ’s command “you will know them by their fruit [deeds]” to see if their leader measures up or not. Probably spinning my wheels, but it was worth the effort.
Of course the
WEASEL WORD TROOPS AND THE
RATIONALIZING BRIGADE IS ALREADY OUT IN FULL FORCE.
If you put a "Saint" in front of the name, he would.
Some of us hate
idolatry, blasphemy, gross outrageous heresy.
There’s a difference . . . your broadside is inaccurate.
I don’t hate the whole of the
Vatican Alice In Wonderland School Of Theology, Reality Mangling, Chronic Professional Blaming, Wailing and Whining Institute.
Just the outrageously unBiblical, Unhistorical, idolatrous, blasphemous, horrifically heretical parts, facets, factions, aspects.
Darth,
do you think that chronic bowing, scraping, kissing toes of statues
makes it easier for such folks to bow and light candles to Hindu deities?
Anyone catch B-16 comments on ‘New Age’ religions?
Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
‘cause there are SOOOO many Hindus attending a Catholic services on Good Friday.
When seeking common ground is you will often find yourself on a slippery slope.
. . . just thought your fine assertion deserved some Quixication.
Anyone catch B-16 comments on ‘New Age’ religions?
Try reading *Eternity in Their Hearts* by Don Richardson.
He provides many examples of redemptive analogies in various cultures which prepare them for receiving the Gospel. He does a specific treatment of the Unknown God scenario.
He also has some interesting things to say about secular anthropologists and how they’ve corrupted people’s thinking about things like was mentioned upthread.
Things like the similarities between pagan and Christian beliefs and which came first. His contention is that in cases where there are similarities, it’s because the true facts have been twisted. So, it isn’t that Christianity isn’t any different than any other religion because it has a God-man account,but rather the other religions have the God-man account because it started out as truth and got corrupted.
Who's judging? Only God has the authority to condemn.
But Christ was very clear in Matthew 7:20 "You will KNOW them by their fruit [deeds]" that someone's actions are how we are to discern truth from error. If you want to ignore Christ's command to be discerning knock your socks off.
Another verse: "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction." (II Timothy 4:2)
There is more than one type of judgment. One is solely God's domain: condemnation. The other we are commanded to do in II Timothy above. If you can't make any type of judgements as to right and wrong, truth from error, how are you going to obey that verse?
Oh, sure it was. < eyes rolling>
I’m flattered!
I think you could very well be deluded. Thus in a Matrix. Catholics cannot be open to reality when all their beliefs and practices are determined by the Leadership of their church and it’s authority over you, over that of Christ and His written word....who Is the rightful authority.
You state the Ecuharist is the central act of your faith. Where in Christianity the Ressurection is central...He Lives! and celebration of that. Without the Ressurection the Crucifixion is meaningless.
only 26% of [Roman et al] Catholics strongly agree that The Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches
only 33% of American [Roman eg al] Catholics strongly affirm that Christ was sinless on earth
" . . . only 9% of [Roman et al] Catholics strongly DISAGREE that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others they will earn a place in Heaven [salvation on the basis of merit]."
" . . . only 17% of [Roman et al] Catholics strongly DISAGREE that Satan is just a symbol of evil [rather than a real being]"
" . . . only 43% of [Roman et al] Catholics said they were absolutely committed to Christianity,"
"Volunteer church work (during past 7 days): Assemblies of God were highest at 30%, with the lowest going to Catholics at 12%.^8"
72% of Protestants vs 42% of [Roman et al] Catholics affirmed that homosexual sexual activity was sinful.
79% of [Roman et al] Catholics affirmed "Many religions can lead to eternal life."
"40% of Roman Catholics see abortion as "morally acceptable"
"88% of [Roman et al] Catholics believe that they can practice artificial means of birth control and still be considered good [Roman et al] Catholics."
"Only 30% of Catholics affirmed they believe they are really and truly receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine."
Only "26 percent of [Roman et al] Catholics polled strongly agree with the Church's unequivoval position on abortion. Catholic World Report; Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut."
"Only 20 percent strongly agreed with the Church teaching that only men may be ordained. ^Roper Center for Public Opinion "
"Catholic women have an abortion rate 29 percent higher than Protestants. Alan Guttmacher Institute http://www.catholicleague.org/research/Catholic_women_and_abortion.htm
The above gathered from:
http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.html#Sec4
OK, RC'S start your ENGINES
. . . errr start your WEASEL WORDS AND RATIONALIZATIONS!
OH, RIGHT, the weaselword troops and the rationalization brigade are already fast at work. What an unsurprise.
You use the story of the “Unknown God” to no avail. Hindu Gods are Known and worshipped as such....you have missed the point of the story entirely.
I've either traded posts with you or felt you raised an interesting point - but I must return to the real (non-FR) world now. I hope that my contributions and your responses have been civil and friendly (with one unfortunate exception.)
Much of the argument revolves around the central theme posted by the original poster:
So what degree of paganism is acceptable? 18.4% 71.9%?
My response is : The degree of paganism that is in harmony with Natural Law.
As was pointed out, there was nothing in that passage that was offensive to Christianity, and making a historical allusion to it was not in my view any embracing of paganism, any more than a literary allusion would be.
Reciting a Hindu prayer - not good. Referencing an idea from history that is in harmony with Christian belief - OK. Again IMHO.
There is much more of classical paganism in Christianity, Protestant AND Catholic, than many of you would care to admit. The idea of the LOGOS ("Word") comes directly from Neo-Platonic thought that was dominant in the "Civilized World" (Roman Empire) in philosophical circles at the time Christianity was at its ascendancy.
In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
We Catholics believe that Natural Law is written into every human heart by God, and human nature demands that we seek it. That some pagan philosophers may have found a nugget of Natural Law does not render that nugget untrue.
When Christ became incarnate, he lighted the way to Natural Law so that we would no longer struggle to find it on our own. We Catholics believe that the one, holy catholic and apostolic church is the complete fulfillment of that Natural Law.
If that notion is too pagan for many of you - so be it. It is a hard saying, who can believe it?
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