We have a new Pope!!!!!!

A few things: In my education class in school we talk about current events, and of course John Paul II came up. Someone in the class said "I just dont understand how someone can say no to condoms in Africa". It turns out that over half the class didn't know why the Pope would say no to condoms! So of course, we explained it to them, and they still didnt get it. But it just shocks me that so many people dont understand these days. And if they dont understand why condoms are seen as "bad" then what else don't they understand? I would be one of those ppl...please explain. And what else am I not understanding??? Things/Views that are acknowledged by only catholics? or christians? I'm lost. Clue me in. While the pope might have been against condoms in Africa and Aids torn countries, that dandy with me....it's not like he could have actually enforced that rule.. (could he?!) :shock: ....it's only his belief right? ( no slam intended.. just curious as to what actual power the pope has, if any...and by that I know that he is the leader of Catholics etc.. but does he have any actual power or is he just someone to look up to?) Lil Miss, you said you had very different reasons from Missy as to why condoms should NOT be used, I'm curious to know what they are. ( no arguments from me.. just want to know what they are). And where do the names come from?? BenedictXVI .. who picks that? And what needs to be cleaned up and said Bye bye to in the Vatican? What is the vatican? if the pope is following the foot steps of the old pope what needs to be cleaned up? Sorry for all the questions, I am just trying to get edumacated here. :smile:

I can answer one question. Condoms can't be used because using any form of birth control, other than the rhythm method, is a sin. The rhythm method means that if you don't want to have children at a particular time in your life, you only have sex at the times of the month that you know that the woman isn't fertile. Pretty risky if you ask me. The pope can't enforce anything; however, he's a religious leader for billions of people and if some of these people don't use a condom because they don't want sin against God, they can get and spread aids, particularly in high risk areas like Africa, where most AIDS is spread by heterosexual sex. This also includes monogomous married women (and their children who get it in the womb) who have husbands who cheat on them, get AIDS, and pass it on to them and their children.

I would be one of those ppl...please explain. And what else am I not understanding??? Things/Views that are acknowledged by only catholics? or christians? I'm lost. Clue me in. While the pope might have been against condoms in Africa and Aids torn countries, that dandy with me....it's not like he could have actually enforced that rule.. (could he?!) Shocked ....it's only his belief right? ( no slam intended.. just curious as to what actual power the pope has, if any...and by that I know that he is the leader of Catholics etc.. but does he have any actual power or is he just someone to look up to?) Lil Miss, you said you had very different reasons from Missy as to why condoms should NOT be used, I'm curious to know what they are. ( no arguments from me.. just want to know what they are). Now that Missy has re-worded her theory about condoms, I dont think we have that different of views after all. Origonally she said "Yes. I do not use birth control and will have as many children as God will allow me to have.". From this it sounded like she chose not to use condoms becuase her intention is to have many children. Which is not uncommon, the bible says to be fruitful, and thats how many live. However, she later said "Birth control is considered contributing to the culture of death. We should be open to life and not look on it as a burden or a obstical to do what you want to do. I am pro-life and I fully believe this. I do not use birthcontrol and will have as many children as I am blessed with."....which is what I beleive in.... Basically, you either partake in the "culture of life" or the "culture of death". Many people beleive that God has a plan for you before you are even born. It is not our right to choose when someone should be born, that is up to God. And by using condoms its almost as if you are trying to make that decision for yourself. Some people see condoms as being as bad as having an abortion. Either way you are stopping someone from being alive. By using condoms you basically stopping the baby from being conceived and born. Does that make any sense?? When were talking during the class, we ran into other things that people didn't understand. For example, they didn't understand why people are against blood transfusions, or medical care or pre-dated deliveries....etc. This has nothing to do with what religion a person belongs to (if any) it was simply that the people in the class had never heard of it and therefore given any thought about it...

I honestly thought that the majority were hoping for a new Pope who would start to embrace changes in the catholic religion as far as birth control went, and also the cleaning up of the catholic church with regard to the problem of pedophile priests and such. Obviously I was wrong! I'm still not clear on the whole issue of not wanting aids torn countries to use condoms, or anyone else for that matter. My guess would be that those people who think condom use is morally wrong also never had sex outside marriage. I don't know, changes need to be made in the catholic religion to bring them more in tune with the times and other religions, IMO.

I think priests should be allowed to marry. I don't understand why not. And someone tell me .... what's the big deal about condoms?? Missy, what will you teach your kids about sex? Do you honestly think that they will simply not have sex until they're married? Or do you suggest condoms? I don't get it. I will teach my kids abstain from sex. If I suggest condoms, then that is giving my ok on sex before marriage. I do not agree with that and do not think I should encourage it. The old saying "their gonna do it anyway" doesn't fly with me. There are more and more kids abstaining until marriage. What is so wrong with that??

I honestly thought that the majority were hoping for a new Pope who would start to embrace changes in the catholic religion as far as birth control went, and also the cleaning up of the catholic church with regard to the problem of pedophile priests and such. Obviously I was wrong! I'm still not clear on the whole issue of not wanting aids torn countries to use condoms, or anyone else for that matter. My guess would be that those people who think condom use is morally wrong also never had sex outside marriage. I don't know, changes need to be made in the catholic religion to bring them more in tune with the times and other religions, IMO. So the Catholic Church should cower down and play nice just because time have changed and people want to run around having sex outside of marriage? The whole pedophilia thing is not just in the Catholic Church. Since the Catholic Church is so big, it is more publisized. There are plenty of preachers, rabbis, ministers doing the same thing, but since it is not associated with the Catholic Church the media doesn't grab a hold of it as much. Perhaps other Churches, organizations and so forth that have "gotten with the times" is what is wrong with our society today. We didn't have half the problems we do now back then. I guess since times have changed everyone else should follow suite?? These are just my beliefs, it is how I was raised. I did get away from the Church for SEVERAL years, but have recently went back and am beginning to understand some of the "rules" I didn't agree with before and why they are in place.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it if it works and I hope for your sake (or your children's sake) that it does. But we all know what kids are like and I quite frankly think that if kids are being taught that using condoms is wrong, that they are also being made very well aware of the consequences of unprotected sex, not just pregnancy but disease as well which is far more dangerous these days than even 20 years ago. And one thing that boys need to be taught is that if they get a girl pregnant, they are just as responsible as the girl. I hear far too many stories of girls getting pregnant and the guy simply walking away and saying "she shouldn't have been so stupid". They should all be nailed for child support, no matter what their age. So yeah, condoms and education = a good thing.

Re: A New Pope
All I have to say is that I'm glad I'm a Baptist and not a Catholic. :wink:

I honestly thought that the majority were hoping for a new Pope who would start to embrace changes in the catholic religion as far as birth control went, and also the cleaning up of the catholic church with regard to the problem of pedophile priests and such. Obviously I was wrong! I'm still not clear on the whole issue of not wanting aids torn countries to use condoms, or anyone else for that matter. My guess would be that those people who think condom use is morally wrong also never had sex outside marriage. I don't know, changes need to be made in the catholic religion to bring them more in tune with the times and other religions, IMO. So the Catholic Church should cower down and play nice just because time have changed and people want to run around having sex outside of marriage? The whole pedophilia thing is not just in the Catholic Church. Since the Catholic Church is so big, it is more publisized. There are plenty of preachers, rabbis, ministers doing the same thing, but since it is not associated with the Catholic Church the media doesn't grab a hold of it as much. Perhaps other Churches, organizations and so forth that have "gotten with the times" is what is wrong with our society today. We didn't have half the problems we do now back then. I guess since times have changed everyone else should follow suite?? These are just my beliefs, it is how I was raised. I did get away from the Church for SEVERAL years, but have recently went back and am beginning to understand some of the "rules" I didn't agree with before and why they are in place. I don't mean the catholic church should "cower down" but a little dose of reality never hurt anyone. Aids is out there and spreading, and the use of condoms is only going to help slow down the spread. Abstinence would help too, of course, but unfortunately reality again rears it's ugly head. And it's not the actual pedophilia that people go on and on about in the Catholic church, it is the lack of action and being held responsible. Simply moving the offending priest to a different church, city or country is not solving the problem, merely sweeping it under the rug. That is the big issue in the articles in the newspaper that I read. And I agree that there are many things wrong in our society today, but the bottom line is that the problems ARE there and they ARE going to stay, so rather than going with a "stick our head in the sand" solution, I believe that people have to change with the times and adapt to make things better. I am talking about social programs, single parent recognition, women and fairness in the job force, children children children, who are being brought up in countries where AIDS is as common as flies, children who are living in squalor, starving, dying .... and if the use of a condom could control the spread of this horrific disease, then WHY NOT???? AIDS is here, it's not going away by itself.

Re: The New Pope
And where do the names come from?? BenedictXVI .. who picks that? I was wondering the same thing.

Am I the only one that thinks that a lot of the rules that were made were made for very pragmatic reasons at a time when mortality rates were far different than they are now in non-third world countries? People needed to have as many kids as they could. Mainly because they needed them as free labor to help work the land. One man and one woman could never take care of everything. They had lots of children and they also stayed with their nuclear familes. The days when one woman sat at home all alone with her kids is very recent history. Also, infant mortality has been very high through most of recorded history. A woman could have 10 kids and only see 2 of them make it to age 5. In addition, women commonly died during childberth so not many of them ever actually had the chance to bear 10, 11, 12, 13 kids. She'd die long before that. MEN had big families because they'd marry again in order to have a woman to take care of the surviving kids and bear more.

Re: Religion
I do agree that there seems to be a lot of rules in the Catholic church. And I don't really understand the need for a Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, etc. But the way I see it, if someone doesn't agree with the rules or the doctrine of the Catholic church, they're always free to choose another denomination. There are lots of denominations to choose from.

There is a girl in my office who is in her early 20s. She has been dating this guy since mid-Jan. In Feb she found out she is pregnant. When I was talking to her she commented on how her life is changing now. She had planned on doing the moving in thing, then an engagement, then marriage and then family. She talks about all the things that now will be put on the backburner etc etc. She says she is Catholic and talks about the religion. Her and her boyfriend are planning on getting married now. But what disturbed was when talking with her she said she didn't use any birth control and was suprised that she got pregnant. Obviously she didn't understand the whole rythm method thing. So in my mind, her Catholic teachings didn't help out a whole lot once the abstinence thing was thrown out the window. I guess my question is, since condoms and birth control are against the Catholic religion. What is a Catholic to do if he/she choses to pass up on the whole abstinence thing, ends up pregnant and marrying a guy she's known for maybe a month before ending up pregnant? It doesn't sound like a great start for a marriage to me. Since times are changing and Catholics are having sex before marriage too, how is the church helping these midguided young adults?????

Condoms, birth control AND PREMARITAL SEX are against the catholic religion. Maybe the girl you're talking about skipped sunday school on the third day. Sorry if I'm offending, but that's where the hypocrisy comes into play. She's obeying her religion and not using condoms or birth control, but she's having sex outside of marriage, where's the logic here????

Condoms, birth control AND PREMARITAL SEX are against the catholic religion. Maybe the girl you're talking about skipped sunday school on the third day. Sorry if I'm offending, but that's where the hypocrisy comes into play. She's obeying her religion and not using condoms or birth control, but she's having sex outside of marriage, where's the logic here???? I admit I don't think she has much common sense, but times have changed so shouldn't some of the rules. How many Catholics have broken one of the rules??? Are they still considered good Catholics or only the ones that follow the letter of the law??? My main point is that, we are human and make mistakes. How many people who are all into the Pope thing right now and are Catholic are true Catholics through and through. You did not offend me. And I don't think anyone is trying to offend the Catholic religion. I think that alot of people feel that there are alot of things that are taught in religion that the average person has a hard time incorporating into today's society. IMO

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