So today I heard that the Pope recentely declared pollution to be a sin. Ok well thats all fine and well with me.
But after this comment Travis Keller my good friend, asked this question:
Who is he to say what is and isnt a sin? hmmm..... interesting question my friend.
If I may I would like to probe a little deeper than the surface of this question to the assumption behind it. This, I think is a question of authority in terms of truth. Who or what do has the authority to give us truth or tell us what truth is?
Well to answer this I guess that I would have to say: Well it depends on what metacultural period you are thinking out of. If you were thinking from the medival time period then of course the pope has the authority to declare what is and isnt a sin, because human authorities are also God's authority on truth. If you come from the Modern time then each individual person can decide with his own rational mind what truth is because, each person is his or her own final authority on truth. And of course if you are of posty persuasion then no body can know anything anyways and its all hopeless so who are you to presume to have any kind of answer to the question or to even ask it lol :) . I'm sorry thats not fair, its just really hard to know.
So the pope being part of the church that has fossilized part of the medival past I would like to think would have all the authority in the world to make this declaration. At least as much as anyone else from other way of thinking. I wonder if (them or us(I like the posty thinking)) of the posty persuasion are adopting the arrogance of the modern age in assuming to have the higher knowledge or better perspective than those ages past. I dont know just a thought.
Friends what do you think about this or Travis's comment, or the pope declaration???? I would like to know..
9 comments:
Maybe a better question is, Who gets to decide what "pollution" is?
actually i asked: "the pope declared that pollution (or polluting) is a sin. what is the fundamental problem with that that?"
it is definitely not defining what pollution is. that is quite shallow thinking.
Well, travis, I think there is a lot more depth to that question than you are seeing, but thank you for the backhanded insult.
And so you know, it was also meant to be partially humerous.
is the bible not the authority on truth?
j clark:
Yes that is a very good point. However the issue is who decides who gets to interpret or how to interpret the truth contained within scripture.???????
Heath:
I also agree that that is a good question also to ask, considering the ambiguous nature of defining what pollution is. Could it be that declaring it to be a sin on a broad conceptual level is permissable, as long as he doesnt prescibe every applicaiton of it????
as far as pollution goes, i hope that not all methane emissions are considered pollution because if so, then TK and myself are both guilty of sin by method of blue flame.
Do you really think that the pope stating that was him using his authority or just stating the obvious? The Bible does command us to take care of the world, and pollution is not following through on that command. . . so maybe the pope was putting something in a new light that was already a truth.
If the pope was a pastor who had said that pollution is a sin, would it still be an issue?
j Clark and steb,
Not to start any kind of biblical/theological debate or anything, but technically the Bible itself answers your question.
In 1 Timothy 3:15 the Bible explains that the CHURCH is the pillar and foundation of truth.
If sacred scripture claims that the foundation of truth is found in the church, then maybe the pope, as leader of the biggest christian religion in the world, does have at least some authority to speak on truth.
That being said, I completely agree with laura.
All the pope is doing here, is bringing attention to something that we all already know to be true.
The pope isn't magically claiming that pollution is now a sin because he has the authority to make it a sin.
He's just stating the obvious... To pollute is to harm nature, which is a creation of God. To harm anything of God would be considered a sin.
Besides... the man is 83 years old... I'm pretty sure he has way more of a right to speak his mind about things than the majority of us... just sayin ^_^
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