Pope asks where God was in Auschwitz horror

Now, forgive me, cause I'm not up to date on my Catholic mythology, but isn't the Pope supposed to be the conduit? so shouldn't he know these things?

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well, we know its not Dubya

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G-d was there and he saved many people. We only dwell on the ones that died. G-d inspired many people to survive the concentration camps so they could teach us to never let this happen again. G-d was there when the Righteous Gentiles hid many Jews so they could live. I think G-d is everywhere all the time...we just need to look very hard at times.

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Updated On: 5/28/06 at 11:21 PM

God has given us free will. Situations occur when we have to use our free will to make the right decisions. Remember Adam, Eve and the fruit tree in Eden?

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Zoneace, that doesn't follow at all.

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The Catholic view of omnipotence is that God gives us free will and tests us.

We believe that Eve brought sin into the world due to her misuse of her free will. The Virgin Mary brought redemption to the world because when the Angel appeared to her with news that she was to be the Mother of Our Redeemer, she COULD have turned down the request. Instead, she accepted God's Will and brought redemption to us all. We believe that Mary was chosen for this task before she was even conceived in her mother's womb (hence she is the Immaculate Conception) but she still had free will and COULD have turned down God's offer. Many statues of the Virgin Mary will show her crushing the head of the serpant with her feet and the serpant frequently had the Forbidden Fruit in his mouth. Why? Because Mary took Eve's sin out of the world.

Now, do you want to talk about a loving and omnipotent God who requires that his Son undergo incredible pain, torture and death for the Redemption of the world? That boggles the mind!

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Updated On: 5/28/06 at 11:56 PM

Dollupop, do you take the Bible literally, word for word? I find it hard to believe that there was a Garden of Eden or that Adam and Eve were the first people on earth, or even that a Jesus Christ existed. I'm open to the possibility that a historical figure who is universally known as Jesus once existed. In other words, there once was a Jewish man (name unknown) who shocked people with his radical teachings and furthermore rankled the Romans who felt threatened enough by his growing popularity to execute him. As the years went by, his story inspired writers and storytellers, who wrote their own versions. Thus, Jesus became a myth. I need to emphasize that this is only my interpretation.

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jimnyst, I believe the Bible says that they also had daughters, but they're unnamed and unimportant because they were, you know, female. Even so, rebel Cain killed goody-two-shoes Abel so in the end it was up to him to populate the earth, with one of his sisters no less. Or maybe all of them, since the others no doubt would have felt left out. What I find difficult to grasp is how could a handful of people endure such a monumental task. Endangered species of a mere 500 have trouble enough (no thanks to us). But there were no modern conveniences back then and childbirth was a death sentence. As you said Jimnyst, it's only a fable, trying to explain the origins of human existence, which is no different than the Greek/Roman myths if you think about it.

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By the way, the "I Know Things Now" lines I posted were directed at me. It's what I tell myself all the time. Most of all, I want to have faith in myself and not in something that may not exist and may not be beneficial to my security and overall well-being. But I'm certainly not going to tell you how to live your life. If your religious beliefs help you get through the day, then so be it.

I hope you're happy
Now that you're choosing this
I hope it brings you bliss

Okay, now I'm bursting into song, so I'll just shut up... for now.

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(Or maybe there is not "God")

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Elphaba, it certainly was a stupid thing to say, but if you've been to Auschwitz, you'll realize how overwhelmingly emotional you become. When you see rooms full of hair shaved from the prisoners' heads, more rooms full of their artificial limbs, other rooms full of their luggage--with destination stickers marked "Paris", "Rome" and other locations they thought they were going to, you become terrible upset. Then there are the gas chambers and the ovens. Rare is the person who cannot become emotionally involved here. I, myself, broke down in tears.

I would like to suggest that Pope Benedict was so stricken by what he saw that he made this comment without giving it much thought. Please know, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here.

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As I said earlier in this thread, I have serious reservations about this Pope. John Paul II may have held beliefs that I didn't agree with (and were even hurtful to me) but he was genuine in them. I met him several times and felt that the man radiated Christ. I can't say the same thing about Benedict XVI. I have serious reservations about a Pope who wears Gucci shoes and Rolex watches. Something's terribly wrong here. If his wardrobe contradicts the teachings of Christ, how is this reflected in his theology?

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