Listening to a show on History Channel about the religious Apocalypse ... they've gotten to the bit about God casting the devil out of Heaven. And I can't help but think of "The Devil's Advocate," Pacino's insistence (as the Devil) that he is a fan of man.
Ramble ...
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Good News for Catholics!
According to this AP story (via Yahoo! News), the Pope says it's okay for you to believe in aliens.
(You still can't practice birth control, even if you're an alien, though.)
A snippet:
"Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God ... such a notion 'doesn't contradict our faith' because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like 'putting limits' on God's creative freedom, [Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory] said."
Now let us each turn to our neighbor and welcome the Roman Catholic Church to the 21st Century.
(You still can't practice birth control, even if you're an alien, though.)
A snippet:
"Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God ... such a notion 'doesn't contradict our faith' because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like 'putting limits' on God's creative freedom, [Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory] said."
Now let us each turn to our neighbor and welcome the Roman Catholic Church to the 21st Century.
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I've done some studying myself, and although it's clear that Satan's supposed to be the bad guy, I can't help but wonder. In some versions of the old stories, it was the bad guy that insisted Man be given free will, to choose to love God or not, unlike the angels which had no choice.
My favorite story (rarely found nowadays) is that the bad guy insisted Man not be left lonely in Paradise, but given a mate to love and be loved by, to cherish and be cherished by, and yes, to be challenged by. God wouldn't do it, so the bad guy did: Lilith, Adam's first wife. And she wouldn't kowtow to Adam, but insisted on being treated as his equal. And Adam threw a fit when she wanted to be on top for sex, and beseeched God to rid him of her. And God did, driving her from Eden; but she turned to that fan of man, Satan, and he gave her the strength and wisdom to find her fortune alone.
Of course, God gets all the good PR, and Satan and Lilith are cast as evil enemies of humanity. But I wonder. Wisdom carries its own painful price for those who dare seek it - how rational is it to think we should be punished further for daring to use these amazing brains supposedly given to us by a beneficent God?