Pope betting

[amlthrawn]

[quote="Deacon";p="483296"]See, that's one thing that does certainly annoy me about the Catholic church: some old dude in a hat doesn't get to say what is an what is not a sin. That's pretty much the way it worked in the system Jesus came to throw out (see: Pharisees). Otherwise, you might as well toss the entire book of Romans right out the window :/
[/quote]

Jesus' point was to dispense with "law for law's sake." Inherent in the pope's infallibility concerning Church doctrine and teaching comes guidence on how Catholics are to live their lives best (in accordance to church teaching). As times change and more challenging questions arise (i.e. those that did not exist at the time of Christ) we rely on what is vested in church teaching (the catechism, for example) for guidence. I find it very difficult to draw parallels between the church's teaching concerning many of the issues which have raised "contraversy" over the last few decades and the types of dictates the Pharisees were conveyed in a negative light for impressing on the people.

Thus, I suppose we will agree to disagree on this point.

[Deacon]

We will indeed, because he didn't come to abolish "law for law's sake." He came to abolish the law entirely. Seriously. Romans is a great read. And what you see as "guidance" I see as some dude going above and beyond the Bible and Paul's teachings to make up new rules along the way. There are tremendous problems I have with the way the Catholic church works and basic doctrines, things that change the fundamental nature of the whole picture of things, that would take probably an entire book to get into. This is just one example of where Catholicism has departed from the teachings of Jesus and his apostles and followed its own path, ceremoniously tipping its humongous hat to the gospel as it passes it on by.

[SunTzu]

Luther was right! The catholics are wrong! Long live the protestants!

[amlthrawn]

Deacon, you aren't saying anything new. These are the difference between our Churches. Lets just live with them.

And I'm a big fan of the Book of Romans, by the way.

[TonyIsGod]

[quote="sneaky ninja";p="482710"]Oh. But what if he turns out to be the best pope ever, and everyone loves him, then all of a sudden he just up and dies? That would be too bad. I don't really know how I feel about this whole system of electing popes [/quote]

Isn't that kind of what just happened with John Paul II, or am I missing the joke here?

[Deacon]

She's referring to the notion that he'll only be around for a couple of years, as compared to his predecessor, who was around for quite a while.