The Pope Did What to be Closer to God?

[Teresa]

When I remove myself from the influences and socialization of religion and culture and look at it all as if I was an alien,,, it seems somewhat similar to the way followers of some religions choose to be "martyrs".

And this makes it seem even more nutty.

Just sayin'

I would guess early christian martyrs started the whole practice!!! seriously! I love St Francis of Assisi and have visited his beautiful little town in Italy. Its such a serene gorgeous wonderful town that is dedicated to preserving his memory. Then you go read about Little Francis and his story is pretty wild. He was a wonderful holy man of God. But, he was also a bit crazy, I think. his story and others are totally bizarre. its hard to relate to much of it. but these people are usually worth reading and knowing about - they have a lot to teach us even if we don't go for the religious stuff.

 

[scooterbug44]

I was playing tour guide/translator at museums for family recently and there is nothing like having to quickly explain the various martyrs, the iconography, and how they died to make you realize how nuts it all is!

This is the virgin who cut off her own breasts, this is the guy they roasted on a grill, and of course you recognize ol' Sebastian w/ all the arrows! :roll:

 

[Teresa]

I was playing tour guide/translator at museums for family recently and there is nothing like having to quickly explain the various martyrs, the iconography, and how they died to make you realize how nuts it all is!

This is the virgin who cut off her own breasts, this is the guy they roasted on a grill, and of course you recognize ol' Sebastian w/ all the arrows! :roll:

HBO should do a drama on the lives of saints and martyrs. it would be a huge hit. and it would be far more interesting, and brutal, than red neck vampires.

 

[Geo]

I was trying to make the point that Christianity with all its self inflicted pain to get closer to its god sounds a bit like the practice of radical Muslims blowing themselves up and detouring planes into buildings. And also- the article about the pope self flatulating (misspelling was an attempt at humor) reminds me of the scenes on the movie Fight Club when Ed Norton is beating the snot out of his own self!

 

[Geo]

The first rule about Fight Club is to never talk about Fight Club. The second rule is to NEVER talk about Fight Club!

 

[scooterbug44]

Not quite the same thing - Christians self-flagellate to share the burden of suffering, humble themselves, and increase self-awareness.

Muslim terrorists kill innocent people and create chaos because they mistakenly think they will be rewarded in the afterlife for violating the basic tenets of their religion.

 

[Teresa]

I was trying to make the point that Christianity with all its self inflicted pain to get closer to its god sounds a bit like the practice of radical Muslims blowing themselves up and detouring planes into buildings. And also- the article about the pope self flatulating (misspelling was an attempt at humor) reminds me of the scenes on the movie Fight Club when Ed Norton is beating the snot out of his own self!

I don't think that point or comparison can really be made here. most obvious is that the Pope may privately flagellate his body for personal spiritual reasons, but he would do anything possible to stop the killing of innocent people - especially in War.

try again my Geo!

 

[30A Skunkape]

Explain your cute answer to the thousands who were abused during their youth by the church protected priests.

Evildoers will have to account for their actions one day. I feel so lucky that I survived Catholic upbringing without being molested:roll:

I think it is pathetic that you read the entire article Geo posted and pulled out a sentence that you could use as an inroad for the reliable 'Catholic priests are pedophiles' crap. If you hate Catholics, don't go to their church. If you know of a priest that is molesting a kid, call the cops.

What good do you think you are doing by perpetuating a very painful chapter in the life of abuse victims and the millions of Catholics who had nothing to do with child abuse and recognize it for the vile sin that it is?

 

[Geo]

Good points, all

 

[John R]

Not sure how many children are aware enough to practice self flagellation.

Explain your cute answer to the thousands who were abused during their youth by the church protected priests.

How about I explain it to you like I'm a third grader? Your (lack of) comprehension is amazing.

The original sentence read as: In actual Catholic self-flagellation, "there is no blood, no injury, nothing to harm a person's health, nothing traumatic. If it caused any harm, the Church would not allow it," he wrote on Opus Dei's Web site when the movie came out in 2006.

You, for some reason known only to yourself, chose to key onto "there is no blood, no injury, nothing to harm a person's health, nothing traumatic. If it caused any harm, the Church would not allow it," completely disregarding the entire point of the sentence that pertained to self-flagellation. You made a leap that had no basis in logic. Help me understand how a "protected priest" relates to self-flagellation?

And BTW, I thought your comment was referring to corporal punishment inflicted by parents. Additionally, please keep your pathetic comments about my compassion for abused children to yourself. You have no idea what my history is with regards to this subject.