why IS the pope here, anyway?

[dave from knoxville]

I'm an atheist and I find much of the church's teachings to be offensive and wrong.  Nevertheless, unlike some strains of American fundamentalist christianity, the catholic church has taken a progressive and commendable stance on a number of issues, from the death penalty, to economic justice, the environment, and war.

And abortion!

Wait

[dania]

Pope's a good guy, I'm not disputing that, but he's not Gyod (that's my way of spelling G-d).  Why do people act as if he were Gyod?  That's the real kicker for me, when a person can have that much influence over that many people, it's scary and shocking especially when I hear him speak and I can barely understand anything he's saying and it wouldn't take a genius to come up with any of that stuff anyhow and I say to myself, "is this a run-on sentence?" 

[John Junk 2.0]

Dania, I think what you're trying to say is that he sounds stupid and he should go shop for a coffin.

He's supposed to be the voice of Gyod on Earth.  It's a big deal.  He's supposed to literally be God's mouthpiece on Earth.  It's a lot of power.  Martin Luther didn't like it either.  Many consider the Pope the Antichrist. 

[chrisfoll577]

Pope's a good guy, I'm not disputing that, but he's not Gyod (that's my way of spelling G-d).  Why do people act as if he were Gyod?  That's the real kicker for me, when a person can have that much influence over that many people, it's scary and shocking especially when I hear him speak and I can barely understand anything he's saying and it wouldn't take a genius to come up with any of that stuff anyhow and I say to myself, "is this a run-on sentence?" 

you have something in common with conservative jews, who also refuse to write the name of god... although i suspect for different reasons

i don't believe people treat the pope like a god... just the head of his church.  i think the frenzy has a lot to do with this age of celebrity, 24 hour media coverage, and also that he's the head of the world's largest religion... that's a pretty powerful combination.  

i think the main reason you can't understand him is his thick bavarian accent and that he's 81 years old.  benedict xvi is in fact a very learned man who speaks in ten languages and has two doctorates. he has been criticized for writing encyclicals that are in fact too academic and scholarly and that go way over most people's heads.  his homilies are much simpler so that might be the reason why you don't think they are that original, but nonetheless they are based in pretty profound theology.

i can understand how you don't get why people are making such a big deal about it... i don't get phish and nascar, but they have lots of fanatical followers, and i don't suppose anybody can explain to me why they're so popular.  and i guess the pope and his fans are a hard thing to explain to you.  

[Stan]

Pope's a good guy, I'm not disputing that, but he's not Gyod (that's my way of spelling G-d).  Why do people act as if he were Gyod?  That's the real kicker for me, when a person can have that much influence over that many people, it's scary and shocking especially when I hear him speak and I can barely understand anything he's saying and it wouldn't take a genius to come up with any of that stuff anyhow and I say to myself, "is this a run-on sentence?" 

you have something in common with conservative jews, who also refuse to write the name of god... although i suspect for different reasons

i don't believe people treat the pope like a god... just the head of his church.  i think the frenzy has a lot to do with this age of celebrity, 24 hour media coverage, and also that he's the head of the world's largest religion... that's a pretty powerful combination. 

i think the main reason you can't understand him is his thick bavarian accent and that he's 81 years old.  benedict xvi is in fact a very learned man who speaks in ten languages and has two doctorates. he has been criticized for writing encyclicals that are in fact too academic and scholarly and that go way over most people's heads.  his homilies are much simpler so that might be the reason why you don't think they are that original, but nonetheless they are based in pretty profound theology.

i can understand how you don't get why people are making such a big deal about it... i don't get phish and nascar, but they have lots of fanatical followers, and i don't suppose anybody can explain to me why they're so popular.  and i guess the pope and his fans are a hard thing to explain to you. 

 What, no fourth edit?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

What, no fourth edit?

Stan, by revealing how often and how frequently you've visited this thread, you've zung Chris L with what I could only call a suicide zing; you've zung yourself in the process.  But I like you, so I'll make this into a suicide zing myself: it's like when Mister Fantastic chases Galactus off with the Ultimate Nullifier.

[Man Machine]

What, no fourth edit?

Stan, by revealing how often and how frequently you've visited this thread, you've zung Chris L with what I could only call a suicide zing; you've zung yourself in the process.  But I like you, so I'll make this into a suicide zing myself: it's like when Mister Fantastic chases Galactus off with the Ultimate Nullifier.

Does this mean the thread will fold in upon itself and disappear?

[Stan]

What, no fourth edit?

Stan, by revealing how often and how frequently you've visited this thread, you've zung Chris L with what I could only call a suicide zing; you've zung yourself in the process.  But I like you, so I'll make this into a suicide zing myself: it's like when Mister Fantastic chases Galactus off with the Ultimate Nullifier.

 I've fallen on my sword and I can't get up.

[dania]

He's supposed to literally be God's mouthpiece on Earth. 

Gyod's secondary mouthpiece
[youtube]16YGYVEuWRs[/youtube]

[senorcorazon]

Gyod's secondary mouthpiece

I thought Bob Odenkirk was a genius for creating the Cursing Preacher on Mr. Show, but I guess he stole that one. Creflo Dollar has nothing on this guy.

If I remember correctly, I think the priest at my church used to instruct us to "repeat it after me, bitch".