Thread: Pope Benedict XVI

And the rest of the rational world sees you as a moron.

Which is why govt is there all the time

1. Although my denomination has held view #1 in the past, they are moving away from this. Personally I find this debate is more of a man vs. woman issue than a theological one. I find little support from a theological standpoint to keep women out of ministry. One cannot interpret the Bible w/o some type of subjective viewpoint. It would be nice if we could interpret it 100% objectively, but then I cannot even write this post and guarantee that everyone will interpret it 100% objectively. It's impossible. So I feel that this debate stems from culture more than it does theology. Yes there are evidences for women ministers in Acts and some other New Testament books. But one could also argue that Paul seems to point to men as being the leaders - but to interpret what Paul is saying does require a bit of study to understand his style and where he is coming from. I think it's sad for one to say that God cannot use a woman instead of a man. That is simply not true.

Bubba, I don't think anyone has a problem with a woman says or creates the sermon. The problem occurs when a woman attempts to perform the sacraments.

2. Music in and of itself is not an evil thing. No one style of music is better than another and it is the message behind the music that is what is important. Calling one genre the vehicle of anti-religion is ludicrous at best and far too radical for me to abide by. There are plenty of different styles of Christian music, be it rock, classical, etc, etc. You cannot say that one style or genre of music is any worse than another. I'd hoped we were past this point in our theological stances.

Agree with you here.

3. Although communion should not be taken unless one does is in fact a believer in right standing with God, it's not a good practice to refuse communion to any one group of people. When you start saying this sin is greater than that sin, you yourself are making the judgement call and not Scripture.

People are supposed to look at their hearts and determine whether they've committed any grave sins.

Theologically there is no basis for any one man pointing out that this or that sin is greater than another

Yes, there is. Some actions are more dangerous than others. What there's no basis for is pointing out whether a specific person's sins are more sinful than another's.

and there is no precedent for any pastor, pope, leader, etc, refusing communion to any one person or group.

Scandal can be a reason. If a man comes to commuion chewing food, the priest may refuse him communion because to do so would be to participate in breaking the required fast(depends on the church/rite). It's not a judgement on whether this man has gone to communion with an impure state, but whether the priest participates. You shouldn't knowingly partipate in someone's man sins. For instance, if someone comes to my store to buy rat poison, I may sell it to him, knowing there's a rare chance he might attempt to poison himself. But, if someone comes to my store, and leads me to believing he's suicidal, then I really shouldn't sell the rat poison to him.