The Scatholic Church, par deux

Jan baby this is for you.

The Catholic Church was not established by Christ himself! First of all, the Bible as we know it was put together by St. Jerome as ordered by the Emperor Constantine 200 years after Christ's death. So, technically, the "Catholic Church" did not even exist yet.

One of the problems I have with most devout Catholics is their insistence on equating God with their Church. If you look down on the Church, you look down on God. If you criticize the Church, you criticize God. I am not apprehending God and His will (or whatever). I have no contention with God. It's the Catholics I can't stand -- no offense. And yet you also say that it's a human institution so it's allowed to make mistakes. You can't have it both ways.

I don't mind inconsistencies in a religion too much, that's what creates the mystery. However, there is a fine line between inconsistency and hypocrisy. And it is a line that the Church has crossed many times.

A woman can be a saint and the mother of God but she can't be a priest? That's not an inconsistency that's what we call a double-standard.

"No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that." Leviticus, 18:22 (a rather mild version you must admit) and this is the backbone of the Church's stand against homosexuality yet on the same chapter it also states not to have sex with a woman during her monthly period because she is ritually unclean. Does the Church still believe a man who had sex with a woman during her monthly period an abomination? Does the Church still consider a woman who is experiencing her monthly period unclean?

The incapacity of the Church to change is not something that should be applauded but questioned. The world changes, people change, ideas change; one hundred years ago Africans were considered sub-human; two hundred years ago a British(?) vicar postulated that by going by the Bible the Earth was created around five (or seven tops) thousand years ago; a thousand years ago people thought the moon was a lamp hung in the sky. Things must change otherwise they become stagnant, static.

I also believe that there were good reasons why certain doctrines were espoused but these were created hundreds of years ago. I also believe that the world we live in now is so vastly different from the one before that these doctrines must be reexamined to see if they are still relevant.

To steal your argument, I guess I just prefer to keep an open mind rather than flat out accept a doctrine of faith just because it's traditional.

And I categorically refuse not to use my intelligence when I deal with things especially with regards to religion and faith. It's people who blindly follow their faith and choose not to think who strap explosives to their chests and set it off in crowded malls. It's people who blindly follow their faith who perform genital mutilation on 13 year-old girls in Africa. It's people who blindly follow their faith who think that those that don't follow their faith are damned and so their lives aren't worth anything.

By the way, birth control means control. When the population spikes on either end (overpopulation, negative population) then there is no control.

I did not give up my faith, just my faith in the Catholic Church. The dogmatics of the faith make-up the Catholic Church. It's what makes it different from the Anglicans, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Mormons. It's why people choose to belong in different religions because they cannot agree with the dogma of the other religions.

"What does the beliefs of the dogmatics in the Church have anything to do [with] your faith?" Nothing. I believe with or without the dogmatics of the Church. I just don't agree with them. I'm not like you Jan, I have to love or at least like the institution I'm a member of and I have to agree with their tenets.

The Scatholic Church

I was going to respond to Jan on the comment page in my last entry but my reply, as usual, got pretty long so I pasted it here instead.

Jan, there is absolutely no error in my logic. Granted I'm sometimes irrational, but I'm never illogical (case in point, please note that the previous statement is irrational yet not illogical).

I haven't given up on my faith, just the expression of it, which was Catholic. Catholicism is the church or the way people worship. Protestants and Catholics are all believers, like me, but how we believe and how we practice those beliefs are different.

I don't think Catholics worship the Church, Jan. I'm sure that's not what you meant and where, oh where, in my last entry did I ever imply that I did? Or that I believe that I do?

I honestly believe that Catholocism is the most beautiful of the Christian sects (or maybe the Anglican, depending on how Austenish I'm feeling on a given day). But how can I allow myself to be part of something, no matter how beautiful, which rejects what is so fundamental about me?

The Catholic Church believes I'm an abomination. No ifs, ands, or buts. I may be kinky but I'm definitely not a masochist. I 'm not going to be a part of any sect who thinks that no matter what I do -- save the world, donate to charity, save lives, educate the masses, feed the hungry, clothe the poor -- I'm still damned because I like men. And their reason and justification for it is so lame. One diddly line in a book so far back in the Old Testament, that I'm sure even Jesus would've thought it weak. And to add insult to injury, all the other diddly lines in that book they ignore as "old-fashioned", "barbaric" or "not in keeping with the times". And add hypocrisy to the list as well, I wouldn't blame the Church if their priests molested little boys -- that's the failure of the priest, not the Church -- but they helped cover up these crimes! And I'm the abomination?

I will consider going back into the fold once the Church acknowledges it made a dire booboo. But you know what? It's okay if they don't. I don't need them to tell me what my relationship with the Old Man is like (oh by the way, He says "hi" and not to worry, you're not going to Hell with what you did last Thursday...however if you don't get absolution for Mar 15's dirty little prank he'll sic the Pope of Bacolod on you).

By the way, I disagree with you, the Catholic Church is NOT sound. Aside from the gay issue there are two things off the top of my head that I have problems with the Church. One is why won't they ordain women as priests? It's misogynistic! Granted despite my fruitiness I can be a chauvinistic asshole at times but come on! We have women who decide whether people live or die (as doctors, world leaders), we have women putting their lives in the line of fire (either as cops, firefighters or even soldiers), we have women in charge of some of the most powerful institutions in the world (in business, politics, entertainment etc), we have women breaking athletic records, they'll put women in charge of the next generation of humanity but they won't let them marry a couple? Or baptise a baby? Or oversee last rites? No reason in the world can justify excluding half of the friggin' population from the priesthood. Funny thing, the Muslims don't have women clerics either.

The other is the issue of birth control. Let's ignore for a moment their impact on the rest of the world, just here in the Philippines. I just read this in Time. Did you know that 30% of Filipinos are not aware that sex leads to pregnancy? And that we have one of the highest birthrates in the world? 4000 babies are born everyday. Wrap your head around the figure for a minute...f o u r t h o u s a n d. And the Catholic Church won't have us do anything about birth control. It's inhuman.

I look at the Church, as well as the other Christian Cults (hehehe) with the same eye an anthropologist or historian would when reading about or discussing the cults of Odin and Zeus. "How fascinating! And what a rich literary source! Think of all the stories and literary archetypes one can cull from this!"

So you see, I have considered this. I know I sound flippant, but just 'cause I act like a flibbertigibbet, doesn't mean I make major decisions lightly.

(I just love taking potshots at the Church, it's such a big target and they make it so easy!)

So join the Dark Side, Jan. It's waaaaaaaay more fun.