I just finished reading two interesting books.
Micheal Martins, Atheism a Philosophical Justification which is a good book in many respects. In it he looks at the common arguments for the existence of god and how they fail. He looks also at the problem of evil and the responses that have been proposed by theists and find them inadequate. In his conclusion he says belief in god, given the evidence, is irrational and I agree with him.
The next book is by Sophocles, The Oedipus Rex where Oedipus is guilty of killing his father and siring children with his mother. Though such a story is abhorrent to most of us, I think Oedipus is guilty of a single offence, that of manslaughter. I don’t see how he could have know Laius was his father.
Creon who takes over after him is a mean man and suffers at the end for his unreasonableness. I have no sympathy for him.
The pope has put the Catholics in a difficult spot with his latest pronouncements about animals going to heaven. One must ask of the theologians, given that one of the defenses for the problem of evil is that this is a soul making place, in what way are the souls of animals made? They should also tell us how and when they get souls. Now is the time to ask the Katlicks to tell us how many angels can dance on top of a pin.
Random thoughts 
6.8 angels can dance on a pin top at one time. Any more, and they start to fall off and damage their feathers. This is a fact of total, undeniable, indisputable truth that I just made up this minute. 🙂 Good reviews, Mak. I agree with you that Oedipus is guilty only of manslaughter, but in the minds of the ancient Greeks, he’s guilty of far more. His lack of knowledge about his wife being his mom does not make him less guilty of his incestuous crime. He, to them, is still screwed for having done it and still totally responsible. Bullshit logic, IMO, but terrific logic to Christians, as well as ancient Greeks. Crazy, screwed up thinking. I didn’t know the Pope said animals have souls, but I love that he did. Conservative Christians HATE that kinda stuff. And anything that bothers them, makes me smile. A lot.
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There has been a number of people writing about the pope’s pronouncements. I love them because they open the door to several theological questions.
I have faith that 6.8 angels can dance on a pin at the same time.
To accuse Oedipus of any crime beyond manslaughter is a stretch of logic. How would he know who his real parents were when the adopted parents treated him as their own?
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He couldn’t know. But, to the Greeks, he’s still guilty. Crazy. May the Golden Boot bless the Pope for raising a ruckus in Katick theology. Love ya, Pope-y, my friend! Love ya!
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The Golden Boot shower the pope with blessed kicks to help remove his foot from where it is stcuk
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Most will find a way to wiggle around the Pope’s words and change it to their likening. But there hopefully be a few who will see it as the tip and fall over on the other side or at least give a bit more thought to religion just being SS.
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They already have said the pope was speaking metaphorically, ex cathedra or whatever language popes use as they make stuff up.
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The language you’re referring to is called Lying.
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It is called pastoral language. I think it’s the same as lying
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Indeed it is.
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Agreed. Though lying is often just a fraction of the amazing heap of dung that Pastoral Language is. When the fundie engages pastoral language, he fully expects the listener to swallow all the bullshit – on the pain of eternal punishment. So the listener is provided two options by the fundie: swallow the big, fat lie with a smile, or the fundie’s sky daddy will get upset, and roast the listener for a trillion years.
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It’s crazy, don’t you think?
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Totally bonkers. A space alien, looking down on all this, would be busy scratching his head.
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The Catholics believe that the pope is infallible, and everything he states is 100% correct. Which, were it true, would mean that during Pope John Paul’s time, animals had souls, then they lost it during Benedict’s time, but got it back during Francis’ time.
A full grown Catholic human can look at the above nonsense, and somehow rationalize it to his or her own satisfaction, and then swallow it. It’s an amazing feat.
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Amazing and yet, sadly true. I once asked a priest which pope was infallible during the time in Church history when there were two of them, each claiming to be the “real” one. I got only a mean look in reply. There are two popes now. One active; one retired. Are they both equally infallible in matters of the Church, or does that responsibility fall on the active pope? Crazy. Insane shit. And completely useless. Yet it still continues. Ugh!
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Both popes were infallible and could declare the other not pope. The situation now is a bit strange, two popes one emeritus and one active.
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Weird, huh? The belief is the the pope is infallible in matters of the church regarding faith and canon law. Utterly ridiculous.
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What happens if he realises an infallible statement he made today is wrong and he wants to review it?
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Whenever I’d ask the priests and nuns who taught me in Catholic school questions like that, I’d get either ignored or stared at angrily. Guess some questions Katlicks aren’t suppose to ask, eh? How an organization made up of supposed adults can say such idiotic things like the infallibility of The Pope and the transubstantiation of flat waffers into the real body of Jeebus are real and unquestionable truths is an insult to my intelligence.
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I once asked a guy if he believed those words by the priest during mass had any effect, he said yes with a straight face. Shocking what people can believe
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Indeed.
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I thought it is not everything. It is just sometimes but if it is all the time, they are in deep shit.
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Good suggestions. Many mistakenly believe Sophocles’ Oedipus to have killed his father because he wanted to sleep with his mother. Thank you for highlighting the truth! Have a great weekend, my Nairobi brother! 🙂
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Have a pleasant weekend my friend.
Oedipus had heard about the Oracle but didn’t know who his real parents were until after the deed. Besides he runs away from his adopted parents so it doesn’t become true that he has killed his sire and defiled the father’s marriage bed
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