Pope says those who launch bombs are not Christians
(www.ansa.it)
newsOh, yeah, that will get everyone upset.
Yeah, but what's he know?
You "drop" bombs and "launch" missiles.
Proves that he is no true christian.
What about mortars.
I believe the proper verb for that is to "fire". Could be wrong though.
Mortars are hybrid, first you launch the mortar round, then it drops on the target.
The only requirement to be a Christian is to believe in the Resurrection and its purpose according to scripture. Anything else is just argumentative between sects of the religion.
To be Christ-like is what he really was referring to, and most people, whatever beliefs they have or don't have, would have a hard time with that measurement because it is set so high. Almost too high for a human to meet. But it's a goal, not a final outcome, and that's really key. Even as a non-believer I can appreciate the better parts of the Bible, just like any other religious or philosophical text. It's a shame that too many of the believers of the religion don't understand or care to understand some of the basics, the ones that they'll even quote themselves while being okay with harming others.
The only requirement to be a Christian is to believe in the Resurrection and its purpose according to scripture. Anything else is just argumentative between sects of the religion.
I'd say even that is up for argument.
I'm sure many would claim that the message is more about how to live your life in the here and now. At least that's how I heard some say it, and that's how I choose to interpret the Pope's message.
PS: oof, I just realized that you differentiate between being Christian and living according to Jesus' message.
Hell, Secular Christianity might even have a following, not believing in any of the fantasy stuff, but following the lessons of Christ
You and I are on the same page, and the Pope is basically trotting out the "no true Scotsman" fallacy. I get that he's trying to sway people away from war and I applaud his efforts, but to quote Steven Weinberg: "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."
Well its not quite the same. A no true Scotsman fallacy is an appeal to purity based solely on membership of a group. When the group is defined by adherence to a code of conduct then it's not a fallacy. For example "no true vegan eats animal meat".
Christian is literally defined as being a follower of the teachings of Christ. The specifics of those teachings vary by what parts of the New Testament you consider apocryphal. But broad strokes all agree that it's something along the lines of rejection of worldly things, forgive your enemies, love God and your neighbor, etc.
The Old Testament has a very different tone because its a mix of myth + law + history for a Bronze Age civilization. The Bible explicitly says that the fire and brimstone, wrathful old God has been superseded by Jesus's new covenant. Basically it's there for continuity and pedigree but if you follow the OT rules over the New Testament then you're not a Christian.
There's a good argument to be made that almost no modern denomination (including the Catholic Church) can claim to be Christian because their creeds integrate too many obviously counter-Christian values. But that doesn't make the Pope wrong here. Using selected passages from the Bible to justify bombing innocent people makes you a militant Biblicist, not a Christian.
Nicely pedanted.
They very much are Christians, which is the problem
heretics
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more-focus-areas/resources/killing-in-the-name-of-god/
How convenient for Christianity.
Any comment on those who direct their subordinates to launch bombs? Because I’m seeing quite a few loopholes here
The biggest loophole is that you drop bombs, you launch missiles.
Between my mouth that lives to eat dead things and my ass that loves to shit deader things.... I mean. All you can eat salad. Who wants to toss this salad? 🥗
Cool. So Catholics aren't Christians. Or does it not count because they didnt have bombs in the 12th century?
Those Catholics in specific aren't christ-like or christ followers (christian in that sense) but they might have been believers (another type of christian)
Makes sense? Might be a language thing
It's not that hard to find catholic church saying they did unchristian-like things - but bitching about previous management years ago & with no consequences is cheap, even worth it.
The Pope does NOT Represent ME!
-People who think The Bible TM should be LAW!
