From Penang
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
musings - POPULAR OR PROPER?
T'was the middle of the night and my eyes were closing but my ears were listening to BBC World News as my brain drifted in and out of consciousness. British finest news network were of course covering the Pope's death with a 6 hour special programme but the part that my ears were listening to at 5 o clock in the morning concerned the pope's successor and whether he would be a 'hardliner' (for wont of a better word) or more 'liberal' regarding such matters such as divorce, abortion, homosexuality and so on.
The one line that caught my attention was when the presenter was uttering words along the lines of, "if a hardcore Pope is elected then they might drive away the younger Catholics from the church and fail to attract new followers," and they gave an example of Ireland which used to be very Catholic but after joining the E.U. and thus bringing in a bout of affluence to the country, church attendences have hit a downward spiral. It also presented the link that as people get wealthier, they rely less on God (much to the chargain of the older community).
Anyway what struck me was the idea that the new pope would have to be more liberal in his dealings regarding issues, such as abortion and so on, with his people in order to attract/maintain new/existing followers. Surely then, that is the Catholic church simply just looking at the numbers game? It sounds like a dubious choice of quality vs quantity!
From a Christian point of view; it reads like, "you come to our church and we'll drop a few of the rules. Obviously we'll keep the big commandments like thou shalt not murder but we'll let a few of the others slide. I mean who doesn't swear by saying Jesus Christ these days? That one about not coveting your neighbour's house/car/wife is a bit over the top too. Committing adultery is so common these days too..."
In the end it seems that it is a faith that has no backbone if things are so easily changed to please the secular world. It would be a weak faith. It would do nothing for people except give them surface satisfaction re: their own spirituality. And in the end it would only be false. Does it not make sense to people that the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom? That an Almighty God who designed and made us knew what he was doing when he gave us instructions regarding life on earth? That it might not be the best thing to ignore them?
T'was the middle of the night and my eyes were closing but my ears were listening to BBC World News as my brain drifted in and out of consciousness. British finest news network were of course covering the Pope's death with a 6 hour special programme but the part that my ears were listening to at 5 o clock in the morning concerned the pope's successor and whether he would be a 'hardliner' (for wont of a better word) or more 'liberal' regarding such matters such as divorce, abortion, homosexuality and so on.
The one line that caught my attention was when the presenter was uttering words along the lines of, "if a hardcore Pope is elected then they might drive away the younger Catholics from the church and fail to attract new followers," and they gave an example of Ireland which used to be very Catholic but after joining the E.U. and thus bringing in a bout of affluence to the country, church attendences have hit a downward spiral. It also presented the link that as people get wealthier, they rely less on God (much to the chargain of the older community).
Anyway what struck me was the idea that the new pope would have to be more liberal in his dealings regarding issues, such as abortion and so on, with his people in order to attract/maintain new/existing followers. Surely then, that is the Catholic church simply just looking at the numbers game? It sounds like a dubious choice of quality vs quantity!
From a Christian point of view; it reads like, "you come to our church and we'll drop a few of the rules. Obviously we'll keep the big commandments like thou shalt not murder but we'll let a few of the others slide. I mean who doesn't swear by saying Jesus Christ these days? That one about not coveting your neighbour's house/car/wife is a bit over the top too. Committing adultery is so common these days too..."
In the end it seems that it is a faith that has no backbone if things are so easily changed to please the secular world. It would be a weak faith. It would do nothing for people except give them surface satisfaction re: their own spirituality. And in the end it would only be false. Does it not make sense to people that the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom? That an Almighty God who designed and made us knew what he was doing when he gave us instructions regarding life on earth? That it might not be the best thing to ignore them?
Comments:
I agree absolutely, Dez! The world judges the success of the church by the number of people attending the services but God judges the church by whether the people obey His Word.
# posted by 
: 7:12 pm
: 7:12 pm
It's very much a Quality vs Quantity issue although in an ideal world, it's possible to have both! Oh and it's nothing personal against large churches or for small churches (Dez adds hastily).
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