Pope Francis declares evolution and Big Bang theory are right and God isn't 'a magician with a magic

[Canuhearme?]

[QUOTE=Deng;46366784]
Do you have a source for this? Again, most of the people who went on crusade ended up losing their fortunes or lives.
[/QUOTE]

He's referring to how the Crusades were a result of the Byzantine emperor Alexios calling for aid from the Pope against the Seljuks, who had conquered almost all of Asia Minor back in 1071 and established the Sultanate of Rum.

It's also ironic how he's using the Crusades as some terrible, unforgivable act of unwarranted aggression to violently take the Levant from a foreign Empire when the Caliphate [I]did the exact same thing against the Byzantines (same land as well) 300-400 years before.[/I]

[EpicRandomnes]

[QUOTE=Deng;46366784]St Peter is traditionally viewed as the first bishop of Rome (pope), appointed by Jesus.
[/QUOTE]
Evidence please. That's completely subjective to your definition of Catholicism (or rather, Christianity), and is free to be interpreted by anyone more or less. Peter did in fact go to Rome to help build the Church, but it was the Church that relied on Jesus' teachings and... oh, am I missing something? Oh, that's right. The pre-New Testament Bible. Both of which were merged into what we now call the Bible today, and thus is now a record of what was used to start the Church, aka this means the New Testament is completely reliable, providing it has not been changed since being first authored (which there is a lot of evidence for).
[/QUOTE]
That's entirely subjective to the person. If you rely on a mortal man rather than the Bible that God Himself is claimed to have written, then how can you be sure that the mortal man has not turned morality into a salad bar? It's a rabbit hole, you don't know how deep it's going to go. It's hypocrisy, it claims you cannot be trusted to pick and choose from a book but claims that you CAN be trusted not to pick and choose from any old joe off the street. Furthermore, where did that man's sense of morality come from? Also, what I just wrote before this ^
[QUOTE=Deng;46366784]
Yes, but it wasn't as widespread a practice as many people commonly believe. I don't see what's wrong with putting people as statistics because how else are you to compare things? Protestant countries killed just as many Catholics (indeed, anti-Catholicism was still prevalent countries such as Britain as late as the 20th century), Communists killed even more. This is not to say I don't condemn the practice of killing people for being different, but the impact of the inquisition has been frequently exaggerated.
[/QUOTE]
Anti-Catholicism is a very broad term. Be careful with how you use it.
[QUOTE=Deng;46366784]
How am I justifying any of those things? I said none of those things. Stop making things up and read what I said again carefully. I'm not giving this a proper reply because what you just said above corresponds in literally no way to what I said in the quote.
[/QUOTE]
I never made you out to have said anything, but in the end it's what can happen. Your own beliefs, like mine, indicate this is a fallen world. Over time, change can happen. Look at the homosexual movement, 2 years ago the majority of people on this forum were laughing at them and using the word "gay" as an insult, now it's a sacred law never to insult someone with that. Give them 60 years, and using the word "gay" as an insult in a joking manner will be seen much like how the word "nigger" is used today. My point is, seasons change, people die, and the Earth spins. It does not take much for humanity to change its mind about any given subject, and when that happens, it's preferable to have a standard, unchanging moral code rather than fluctuating opinions.
[QUOTE=Deng;46366784]
A great deal of what is said about the Catholic Church is rumour. It's a massive ancient organisation that has been involved in numerous scandals and affairs, but that's to be expected when its that old and that big. It covers well over a billion souls, and to say that the whole institution is corrupt is stupidity. When I go to check out most of these rumours, they tend to be exaggerated or wholly invented. The worst kind of people think that Catholicism is against science, or made the middle ages stagnant, or that every clergyman is a pedophile.[/QUOTE]
I never said the institution was fully corrupt (though if I wasn't holding back my tongue, I would be hurling all sorts of insults). Nor did I say they were against science, or that every clergyman is a pedophile. The stagnation that was the Middle Ages was mostly due to the organization of society, but I'm not going to say the Catholic Church was without fault in it.

Apologies for my comments on the Crusades. I'm not going to tip-toe around words here, I messed up big-time. Haven't been able to find any worthwhile sources for what I had been told. So again, sorry about that.

Anyway, this is getting really off-topic now. It's just devolving into a religious debate.

[shackleford]

The thing is Deng, tradition is not evidence that Peter was supposedly the founder of the R.C.C. The R.C.C do claim that he is the founder but again, there's a lack of evidence- and just because he was the founder of that church doesn't necessarily make the R.C.C the one true church because other 'churches' sprung up as well. If he did however create a 'church' these would be essentially followers of Jesus Christ (actual people)- not an actual building.

It is a bit 'unchristian' that these R.Cs are practicing some pagan religious festivals and intertwining it with their own religion. It's just irrelevant and not even necessary as part of other Christian doctrines in order to follow God. The main purpose of living life is to worship and follow God, and also to supposedly spread the word of God. That is why having traditional ceremonies/monolithic statues/decorations/festivals/stupidprayerbeads/confessionbooths etc. are useless regarding to the faith of God because it's not needed as you can just follow the teachings from the Bible. Then again this is just an individual interpretation and it's best if you debate against someone who holds protestant views in order to enrich your understanding of the collective Christian faith. The R.C is corrupted for different reasons.

In my opinion, the R.C.C should just be abolished and be replaced with like a charitable humanist organisation, and we'd make great strives as a collective human race.

[editline]30th October 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;46366912]He's referring to how the Crusades were a result of the Byzantine emperor Alexios calling for aid from the Pope against the Seljuks, who had conquered almost all of Asia Minor back in 1071 and established the Sultanate of Rum.

It's also ironic how he's using the Crusades as some terrible, unforgivable act of unwarranted aggression to violently take the Levant from a foreign Empire when the Caliphate [I]did the exact same thing against the Byzantines (same land as well) 300-400 years before.[/I][/QUOTE]

They did do some stupid things like the ransacking of Constantinople, but they did contribute to wading off the growing influence of the Islamic religions.

[EpicRandomnes]

Alright, seriously, I hate to sound like an Admin but this is getting off-topic. It's probably going to be a good idea to change the subject before Garry decides the big red ban button needs pressing again.