Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place
The Morality Quiz
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Dagi on November 30, 2007, 07:35:34 am ---Gary you are cracking me up. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
--- End quote ---
What Gary said about the unsanitary practices. I can't believe they still do the one cup thing in this day and age. Yeah, they wipe the rim of the cup, but yeech. My dad was Catholic, so every so often we went to Mass. I enjoyed the music and the getting up and kneeling down, the incense and all the ritual aspects, but other than that the sermons were no more exciting or interesting than a Protestant Church's.
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: garycottle on November 30, 2007, 04:23:17 am --- It was like Catholicism with a wink and a nod.
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I like this description.
About 1/3 of all inhabitants in Germany belong to the roman-catholic church (another 1/3 is protestant). But I have never met anybody (at least not knowingly) who truly believes in the transubstantiation, meaning who truly believes the wafer will magically be transformed into meat.
Somehow I doubt that anybody believes it.
Back to Gary's Catholicism with a wink and a nod: that's how people live with their religion here, no matter whether we're catholic or protestant. Yes, we believe in God and Jesus Christ, yes we belong to a church - but that doesn't mean we follow every rule and every thought of some old men in Rome. We just don't take the whole religion thingie so seriously.
I have a side question regarding the wine during communion: in German RC churches, only the priest drinks from the cup. He does so representatively for all others. The churchgoers only get a wafer, but no wine. Is this different in the US (and other countries)?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: garycottle on November 30, 2007, 04:23:17 am ---the athletic rigors of an Episcopal service. You have to stand up at certain parts, then kneel, then set, then stand up again. It was just up and down, up and down the whole time. Since I come from a Baptist background where you pretty much sit there and listen, I was a bit in awe.
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:laugh: In one of my favorite books as a kid, two sisters switch from the Baptist church to the Episcopal church (that's not the whole plot -- just a minor episode). Their dad makes this exact same comment!
After reading that book, I got my mom to take me to the Episcopalian church for a few months. It was true, there was a lot of kneeling and getting up. But as I'd never attended much church before (aside from a Presbyterian Sunday school for a few months when I was younger) I had no basis for comparison.
--- Quote ---The sermons were complete snoozefests. The only one that I remember was about a boy walking by a fruit vender every day and steeling apples as he passed. As far as I can tell the priest was saying that it was wrong of the boy to tempt himself, and that he should have avoided the vender if he couldn't stop himself from steeling the apples as he went by. I just sat there and thought, wow!, so this is what passes for a moral dilemma around here.
--- End quote ---
Too easy for you, Gary? What -- did the sermons you were used to posed moral dilemmas like, "Imagine you're with a group of people hiding in a basement during wartime, and suddenly a baby starts crying ..."? :laugh:
I went with a friend to a Catholic service once, and the priest told a story about this kid who had five dollars. He decided to give them to the poor. Then he found another five dollars in the street! So God was rewarding him for his charity! My friend whispered to me, "If he hadn't given away the first five he'd have ten dollars, but I don't think that was the point of the story." That cracked me up, and I couldn't stop giggling for a long time. I didn't get invited back, either.
opinionista:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on November 30, 2007, 08:18:43 am ---I like this description.
About 1/3 of all inhabitants in Germany belong to the roman-catholic church (another 1/3 is protestant). But I have never met anybody (at least not knowingly) who truly believes in the transubstantiation, meaning who truly believes the wafer will magically be transformed into meat.
Somehow I doubt that anybody believes it.
--- End quote ---
I agree. I think most folk, even here in Catholic Spain, know the whole transubstantiation thing is symbolic.
--- Quote --- Back to Gary's Catholicism with a wink and a nod: that's how people live with their religion here, no matter whether we're catholic or protestant. Yes, we believe in God and Jesus Christ, yes we belong to a church - but that doesn't mean we follow every rule and every thought of some old men in Rome. We just don't take the whole religion thingie so seriously.
--- End quote ---
In Spain there's a new trend. A lot of people have signed a document (sometimes it is some kind of book) letting the Church know they formally quit the Church and everything it represents. In Spanish we call it Apostatar. I believe in English is apostatize, but not sure. A priest from a neaby town in Madrid got fed up with it and took the book away. He actually prohibited people to sign said book, causing a major protest in the town. Protesters even called the news, and he had to put it back.
--- Quote --- I have a side question regarding the wine during communion: in German RC churches, only the priest drinks from the cup. He does so representatively for all others. The churchgoers only get a wafer, but no wine. Is this different in the US (and other countries)?
--- End quote ---
I've seen this in Spain too. I think the Health Department prohibits the Church to give wine to everyone from the same cup. They only get a wafer.
PS. It should be the same in US Mainland because in Puerto Rico (according to my aunt) nobody gets to drink from the cup. Only the priest.
moremojo:
--- Quote from: Kerry on November 29, 2007, 07:48:58 pm ---If one has not fulfilled all or any of the requirements leading up to the taking of communion at Mass, it is my personal opinion that it is not appropriate to do so. And it all comes down to those four little words, "The Body of Christ." If you cannot honestly respond, "Amen," in accordance with Catholic doctrine, it is not appropriate for you to be responding, "Amen."
--- End quote ---
I should note that the only communion I have ever received has been at Methodist services. The Methodist church (or at least ones at whose services I have attended) welcomes all to come forward and partake of communion. In all cases in which I have done so, I felt it would have been awkward and embarrassing to have refused. I have rationalized my experiences of communion by telling myself that I am worthy of Jesus's sacrifice, though I do not believe in the necessity (nor necessarily believe in the efficacy) of the sacrifice.
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