The Big P is now slipping in and out of consciousness according to CNN, but he’s still holding on … he’ll pull through … someone needs to put an end to the rampant non-use of condoms, keep women out of the priesthood, and flame homosexuals as sinners who will all burn in hell … afterall, as the Pope said in his latest book, the whole gay marriage thing is one of the great Evils of modern times. He’ll pull through, dont worry …
What I’m worried about is poor Monaco. Prince Albert is now the regent, and he doesn’t have an heir … so if he dies without a male son, doesn’t that mean that Monaco gets engulfed by … gulp … France? GOD SAVE PRINCE RAINIER AND PRINCE ALBERT!!!
The papacy tends to be short considering the age limit they put on them. People crying in the streets for a man who was gone a long time ago. Are they crying because they’re not sure where he went or out of joy that he went where they think he should have? Not sure how his subjects could feel sadness and anguish if the whole goal is to die peacefully and be reunited with God for eternity. Seems kinda selfish (and hypocritical) to me. But what do I know?
And for everyone who voted in the poll…y’all know you’re going to hell, right? Jerry Falwell will be saving you a seat by the fire.
Jerry Falwell has been very ill recently too. I, for one, will be dancing in the streets when that bigoted bastard is finally gone from this earth. And while I disagree with many things the Pope has said/advocated, I still think he was a decent man. He and Jerry Falwell will certainly not end up in the same place (if there is anything after death).
[quote=“Someone”]Chuang Tzu’s wife died, and when Hui Tzu came to offer his condolences, he found Chuang Tzu hunkered down, drumming on a pan and singing.
Hui Tzu said, “You lived with this woman, raised children with her, and grew old together. To not weep at her death is enough, already! But this drumming and singing, isn’t this a bit too much?”
“No,” Chuang Tzu replied. “That’s not how it is. When she was first born into death, how could I have not felt grief? But I looked deeply into it and saw that before she was born into life, she was lifeless. Not only was she lifeless, but she was formless. Not only was she formless, she didn’t even have any ch’i. Somewhere there in the vast imperceptible there was a change, and she had ch’i; then the ch’i changed, and she had form; the form changed, and she had life. Now there has been another change, and she is dead. This is like the mutual cycling of the Four Seasons. Now she lies resting quietly in the Great Chamber. If I were to go running in ‘Boo-hooing’ after her, that would certainly show a failure to understand what is fated. So I stopped.”[/quote]
I think ImaniOU was saying something like this. But what do I know?
Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus all mourn the loss of loved and respected leaders. What do you know? :s[/quote]
Not everyone loved or respected the Pope, and he certainly wasn’t my leader. It’s all very well to claim that Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus do something, but do ALL people of those faiths do it? And what about people who believe that faith is silly? Don’t their opinions count?
I’m not mourning the loss of a bigoted old man who ordains that people who want to shall not be allowed to practise birth control. And I don’t care if he was a leader of some people, nor do I care if he was loved and/or respected by some people. He didn’t stand for anything I believed in and didn’t do half as much good as someone in his position could have done.
And, as Imani said, he’s gone to where the good people go. Think of it as a promotion. Why the crying? Someone who was horribly sick has gone to a better place. If you genuinely care about the guy then you should be glad he’s dead.
It is precisely because of the Roman Catholic church that RC parts of the world are poor, and Protestant ones are rich. Name two rich Catholic countries.
Sorry to be cynical, but he was old and if he’s going to heaven, I can’t see how that would be a sad event. He’s not suffering anymore and he’s with God. What’s so sad about that?
If you ask me, mourning for old people at a funeral borders on selfishness because all you want is for that person to have more time with you no matter how horrible of a condition they were in when they died. Just my philosophy. I have never mourned an older relative because I feel that they are happier in the state they are in than in the state they were in when they passed away. I have never understood mourning the death of someone who had led a full and happy life.
[quote=“ImaniOU”]Sorry to be cynical, but he was old and if he’s going to heaven, I can’t see how that would be a sad event. He’s not suffering anymore and he’s with God. What’s so sad about that?
If you ask me, mourning for old people at a funeral borders on selfishness because all you want is for that person to have more time with you no matter how horrible of a condition they were in when they died.[/quote]
I think you may have answered the question in your first paragraph with your second. Sometimes people feel sad when a friend moves far away. They feel sad because they will miss their friend. It’s hard to see it as a matter of selfishness since they are not doing anything to prevent their friend from leaving. Indeed their sadness may be mixed with happiness that their friend is moving to a nice place. But surely a certain sadness at the loss can still remain?
I definitely see your point hexuan. But I’m not sure if the countries line up quite as predictably as you make it sound. In other words, there are certainly more than one or two exceptions.
[quote] A Man Who Changed the Course of History
By Michael Barone
“One man can make a difference: that is the lesson of the life of Pope John Paul II. If someone had told you, 50 years ago, that the three men who would do the most to advance human freedom in the next half century were the parish priest of St. Florian’s Church in Krakow, the military cadet who was the grandson of the last king of Spain and the star of the recent movie “Bedtime for Bonzo,” you would not have believed him. But so it has been. History takes surprising turns. And it is often individual men and women, for good and for evil, who do the steering.”
-snip-
“Karol Wojtyla thought something different. He was 19 when Nazi Germany overran his native Poland; through World War II he worked in a quarry and acted in clandestine illegal plays. He sheltered Jews and was once arrested by the Gestapo. Then, after the Red Army swept into Poland and installed a Communist government, he attended seminary and became a priest, a bishop and an archbishop. In the pulpit and out he called for religious freedom and freedom of conscience, implicitly rebuked a regime built on lies. Today, we can read about the millions of people murdered by Hitler and Stalin. Pope John Paul II lived under their rule, but kept his own mind and conscience free.” b realclearpolitics.com/Commen … 05_MB.html[/quote]
“After the fall of communism, Pope John Paul II released a papal encyclical titled “Centesimus Annus” (1991), which explained within a Christian framework why communism had failed and from that failure drew lessons about social, political and economic organization.”[quote]The Polish pope’s role in the fall of communism[/b]
Jack Kemp,April 4, 2005
"Scholars and historians will debate for years to come the precise causes and historical forces that produced the sudden collapse of communism at the end of the 1980s. One matter not in dispute, however, will be the earth-shattering role played in the process by Pope John Paul II, the Polish pope.
From the moment of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla’s election to the papacy in October 1978, he began to shake the very foundations of communism. His first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 helped undermine government censorship as the Polish people heard the pope talk about human dignity and pray, “Spirit, come and renew the face of the Earth.” As young Poles gathered in throngs to hear the pope preach, they saw masses and felt the press of individuals just like themselves and knew they were not alone in wanting freedom and human dignity.
It was no accident that the Polish church became a primary force behind the resistance against communism, uniting both Catholics and non-Catholic Poles in solidarity against communism. The pope was without a doubt the major source of hope and encouragement to his fellow countryman Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity workers’ union and future president of Poland post-communism."b[/b] townhall.com/columnists/jack … 0404.shtml[/quote]
