Before I pose my questions, let me make it perfectly clear that I AM NOT being sarcastic, critical of anyones beliefs or anything else of a negative nature. I am simply putting forth a question as to how you are going to react to this latest ruling by the pope, ok? And I humbly ask for a correction and clarification if necessary. It was reported on the Compuserve Home Page this am that the Pope has declared Sunday a total day of devotion to God. It was reported that he has said Catholics cannot watch or go to sporting events and I assume work on Sundays or do anything that takes away from ones devotion to God. First of all, is this true? Secondly if it is, how do you as a good Catholic plan to respond? Are you going to give up these things and spend time in your Bible and other devotions or are you going to ignore it? Do you believe that this is divinely inspired? Thank you for your answers.
I did not realize the Pope's ruling has said basically that his faithful can't go to sporting events on Saturdays. Boy, that means some very long lines and interesting exchanges at the confessional booth on Monday. I'm not Catholic, but I firmly believe we should honor the Sabbath by keeping it holy. I fail to see how a prohibition on participating in or observing sporting events helps in doing that, however. Where I come from, you kept the Sabbath holy by going to Sunday school and church on Sunday morning. At my church in the fall, it kinda became a tradition for several years to have a buffet dinner in the fellowship hall or at a member's house following the services while watching the Saints and/or the Cowboys play. Then, after the game, the evening services and Bible study would be held. That was what we did and I thought it was nice. I certainly didn't think the Sabbath was defiled or the Lord was displeased with us watching the ball game. It was just a way to all get together and have fun and enjoy fellowship. And it was great. The Catholics (and all Christians) need to be careful not to fall into the trap of the Pharisees in Jesus' time, of making so many ridiculous ticky-tack rules concerning the Sabbath and formal worship of our Lord and our Savior that the true message of Christ gets lost in the shuffle. Sunday should be a day to honor God, and his Son, and his Creation, in a sincere and thoughtful manner. That, to me, is what Sunday is about, regardless of how big the game that afternoon is. I'll admit, sometimes I'm thinking about it when I'm sitting in the pew on Sunday morning. But football is not my religion. I think most Catholics feel the same way. The Pope just needs to trust them a little bit on this.
Orthodox Jews aren't allowed to do much of anything on their Sabbath, which falls on Saturdays. Ken, a friend of mine who lives in Florida is Jewish but not Orthordox or not even in his religious beliefs. Ken has business dealings with an Orthodox Jew named Yakov who lives in Israel. Yakov not only won't talk to Ken on the phone on Fridays in Florida when it is already Saturday in Israel, he won't talk to Ken on Sundays in Israel because even though Ken is not Orthodox, Yakov thinks that Ken should be observeing the Sabbath in Florida because he is Jewish by ethnicity.
I think Religion can be a WONDERFUL THING -- TAKEN IN MODERATION!!! I grew up Catholic but am not a practicing Catholic. I left the Church years ago because of its devotion to ANOTHER God -- MONEY!!! Most of what the Pope says today is just LAUGHABLE. He's almost become a caricature of himself. He's an 80-something year old forgetful old man who thinks WAY too much of himself and his own opinions. AND, he's driving away GOOD PEOPLE from the Catholic Church with all of his BULL$HIT.
The Pope has put no such prohibition on Catholics. Check this link: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040326/od_nm/pope_sport_dc He merely encourages Catholics to find a little more time for God on Sunday.
Thanks for the link, Gman. the article I saw was basically a tidbit and the local paper (such as it is) carried pretty much the same thing, so I asked only what I thought to be the subject.
