With what to me seems like extraordenary haste and "dexterity" (to use a Shakespherian word) the college of 115 cardinals has selected the next Pope. White smoke came out the chimney apparently just after eleven o clock our time, or that's when I heard about it. He is cardinal Jorge Mario Borgoglio of Argentina. He is of Italian extraction. He has chosen the name of Pope Francis, and he is the first pope to be called Francis, hard to believe as that is. He is 76, which makes him almost as old as Pope Benedict XVI was when he was first elected. He is into helping your fellow man and working with the poor and shuns many of the elaborate trappings of other Cardinals. He is however Orthodox on all the hot button issues. These are birth control, no gay marriage, no gay adoptions, and priests must remain celebate. He used the phrase "brothers and sisters" to address the crowd. He is the first Pope to be chosen from the "New World". They say that some forty percent of the world's Catholics live in the Latin American countries, so the choice is well made. I use the word "selected" rather than "Elected" because from a theological stance- I believe it's God who elects, and the cardinals presumably are plugged into God's will so they go through the physical process of Selecting that Pope. President Obama is pleased. It seems this Cardinal Borgoglio - - cane in second place last time in 2005 so in the Anne Romney tradition it was "his turn" and as such perhaps this speeded up the entire papal selection process.
Personally I believe there are seven kinds of prayer and seven sacriments. The seven kinds of prayer are Adoration, Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession, Supplication, Dedication or Consecration, and finally the prayer of Agreement, where you "stand on God's word" and Claim it for yourself. Some suggest this is best done "by groups of two or three". I believe the seven sacriments are Marriage, Baptism, Communion, Confession, Confirmation, Offering Dedication, and lest we forget- Funerals. I believe that Funerals are exclusive for the comfort and edification of the Living, rather than the Dead. I do not believe in either prayers for the Dead, nor do I believe in Baptism for the Dead, and in its own way Baptism for the dead ammounts to a form of "Spiritual rape". I do not believe that any person can "Will himself to be saved" of his own human effort. I believe we serve the Church at God's pleasure and that the date of our death is fixed, and when God is done with us, he lets us know it, but till then no power on Earth can either shorten or lengthen our Lives. I do not believe that marriage survives death. I do not believe you can "have your marriage sealed in heaven". I believe there no prohibitions against either alcohol or tobacco or coffee, but I do believe that any "psycho-active" drug can and will harm us spiritually. I believe that gambling for the purpose of "earning a fast buck" is a sin because it violates the work ethic. I believe that Prostitution is wrong for the woman - but not for the man. Call me sexist but I believe this is what the Bible teaches. However God views Prostitution on the same level of Slavery- - as being undesirable, and one should seek at all cost to be liberated from it. I believe any form of wage exploitation violates the work ethic- - and I also believe the Bible teaches that we are all of "one blood" and that all forms of racism are wrong. OK - - - do I pass the audition?
It dawned on me last night that my worst fears about Police Officers is correct. They believe - and one came out and admitted it - - that they'll shoot you and shoot to kill for "giving them attitude" and that it's better for you to make sure you kill the target because if he lives- and he gets to tell his story to a judge, the officer runs a risk the Judge might choose to believe his story over the Officer's, but if the victim is dead- that won't happen. It dawned on me that- - - the greatest fear officers should have is that they gun someone down that actually HAS family and loved ones and money- and the drive and the where with all to file a Wrongful Death charge. It struck me they should offer- - not shooters insurance but "getting shot by a police officer' insurance. As Fred Mac Murry would say "Dollar for dollar it would be the best thing you've got going- - because at least theoretically- it would be something that almost never happens- - but when it does whoever you designate as beneficiary would suddenly become very rich.
Every day lately- rather than bring in some new story to discuss- - Randy Rhodes has been reviewing topics of general interest that liberals should be warned about. Clearly these people have no moral credentials at all since Paul Ryan's favorite reading material, by his own words is Iyan Rand- and he has his subordenates read her. Ayan Rand's life was about as far from Christian as one could possibly get. Here in right wing land all the biggest war hawks were draft dodgers when they were young. People like Clarence Thomas who benefited from government help themselves, pulled up the rungs of the rope ladder after they were safely aboard themselves. Paul Ryan's family was connected with government contracts- and yet Paul Ryan attacks government. Their first goal to "raid" is always programs for the poor and the disadvantage. They repeat lies over and over again such as "Government spending costs jobs" and "Social Security will be bankrupt any day soon" and "The way to cut the deficet is to prune back or abolish Social Security". They say they despize labor unions, and yet to even Be in the media like Shawn Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are- - you are Required to join a union such as ASCAP or whatever. They claim to be best friends with Isrial- and yet few people in Israel would be able to stomach their right wing policies. They claim they are fighting a "war on drugs" that targets mainly Black people, and yet they themselves- are hooked on drugs such as ozy conten. They claim to be against gay life styles to the core of their being- - and yet they have gay relatives they care deeply about. They say sexual molesting priests are not the fault of the catholic church but rather "The sinful nature of these times- and the ways of the World- - beginning to make its way into the Churches". Many times they aren't personally opposed to a gay life style, but they'll campaign on it, if it gets them elected and puts them in good with "the right people". They say that social media such as Facebook and Twitter have been taken over by the liberals. They say that higher education without religious indoctrination is dangerous. They are in the business of rewriting US History and dumbing down our children so they don't have the intellectual backbone to stand up to their idiotic campaign slogans. Many times they talk about the virtues of a devout life - - yet they themselves haven't set food inside a Church in years. They claim that ecology and energy conservation are some kind of socialist experiment "meant to bring down the capitalist economy". They campaign as if the whole world were like then as the ultra fraction of one percent Richest People. They complain they hate the poor presenting themselves as "victims" yet their whole campaign last year was portraying themselves - the rich as "victims" of the President's socialist economic policies. They thing any hint of greater equity of national income is a communist plot. They don't have a moral leg to stand on- - and yet don't believe Jesus either, when he said "Judge not (others whom you deem as inferior) lest you yourselves be Judged.
There is the persistint roomer or belief that there is "live weight" and then there is "dead weight" and it's believed by many that a dead body weighs more than the same person when he was in a living state, due to the fact that the human Soul actually tends to lighten the mass of the body. Perhaps the Soul lives in this anti gravity world of lighter than graviton particles- - we've been discussing recently. We have said before that another likely occurance of "The other side of the ether void" is the whole Inside - Outside reversal. That is- we look from inside our bodies out at the world. Whereas our souls are somehow posessed of the ability not to be limited by geography- - and therefore as it was being in the place of "The rest of the World" looking back in on ourselves. Some people believe in a little angel on our shoulder. Even Jesus believed we had a guardian angel and the angels of those who have been Born Again "always behold the presence of the Father". It also says that right now - - "Ya hay sitio en las alturas" pardon my bad Spanish. We are even at this moment - - Seated in Heavenly Places. Well, I guess maybe we can look to Pope Francis I for guidance on this and other subjects.
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