Who's Right?

[fishweewee]

The Pope Says Don't Do THIS on Sundays

...and what does this bode for fishing on Sundays?...

No more watching movies or football games on Sundays. Pope John Paul II has decreed that Roman Catholics should reserve Sunday as a day for God only and not for secular diversions, such as entertainment and sports, reports Reuters.

"When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of 'weekend' dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens," the pontiff said in a speech to 35 Australian bishops, who recently made a pilgrimage to the Vatican. The pope blasted what he called "the pernicious ideology of secularism."

Condemning the "culture of the here and now," the Holy Father encouraged the leaders of the church to "lead men and women from the shadows of moral confusion and ambiguous thinking." Noting the secular culture is undermining family life, the pope encouraged Catholics to remain faithful to the Sunday Mass.

Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, admitted to The Boston Herald that he was "kind of flabbergasted by the pope's suggestion, because it seems like it's coming out of left field. We've been playing sports on Sunday his entire papacy." Of course, most professional teams, including those in Europe, play their games on Sundays. Who can imagine a Sunday afternoon between August and January without a National Football League game?

To which the pope says this: "Sunday is the supreme day of faith, an indispensable day, the day of Christian hope. Any weakening in the Sunday observance of Holy Mass weakens Christian discipleship."

Lapchick had harsh words in reply. If the Catholic church did place a ban on Sunday sports, he thinks the church would lose congregants. "Sports is a religion in this country and a lot of the world," he said.

[Scotch Bonnet]

Thats what I dislike about the Catholic Church. Always trying to tell you what to do or don't do. There are bigger problems inside the church that they need to be addressing - nevermind sports on sundays. I doubt that God cares whether we eat meat on friday or participate in sports on sunday. Kind of comical actually.

[beachwalker]

kind of reminds one of the contradicitions and backwards thoughts of other religions. The Catholics tell us to be acceptant and forgiving and then press this doctrine of purity and respect for the "Lord". The "Lord" may be there but if he loves ALL people then he must then accept the differences in respect for what days of the week certain schedules operate.

I was born an Irish Catholic. Now I am American.

No, I never was molested as a child

but certainly as an adult !

[28inches]

I was raised Catholic and quit practicing long ago.

The popes' inaction on kid-touching priests over the past forty years has proven that not only are popes not infallible, they are irrelevant. Time for the pope to clean his own house and keep quiet.

[Notaro]

I am a catholic, but I don't go to a church anymore. And I always get bored at the church because of the constant hymns and I don't understand or couldn't follow the chorus. And they never provide an itnerprepter for me. Catholic preaches hard like Christians. People twist any religious faiths in their own version. And I don't follow them.

If the pope wants to ban those things we love to do on Sundays as athesists or whatever, we could ban one of their "Sunday activity"...you know what I mean?

[Mike P]

Yeah--Sunday is so sacred to the Church that observant Catholics have been able to fulfill their weekly obligation by attending Mass on Saturday afternoon/evening for almost 40 years

Your Holiness---you're a good man, and you've done a lot of good over the years. But, you're in your late 80s, you require all of your bishops to retire at age 75, and Parkinson's disease affects all earthly men and their minds. I know it's traditional that Popes serve until they die, but maybe it's time to take a look in the mirror and hand the reins over to a younger man

[Jenn]

you mean fishing isnt a religion??!!!

Momma raised me catholic but I guess I couldnt convince myself.

[KLMulder]

Wait guy's and gal's you got this all wrong, he was talking to Australian bishops we live in the US so it does not aply to you or me unless we move to there.

[bloocrab]

A QUICK SURVEY....

Thank you -


Survey

["uffah!!"]

Dat do't men-nuttin!

[MakoMike]

WW,
Well than we should be biblical on Sundays and attempt to "go forth and mulitply" Headaches will be banned on Sunday!

[nor-easter]

I have served as a Deacon since I was 24. One of our Pastors took me aside one time and wanted to know why I wasn't in Church from May to October. He did this at a meeting of the Board of Deacons.
I told the Reverend that on Sundays during the Bass Season I was out Bass Fishing.
I then told him and the rest of the Board that "When one of your sermons can match a Sunrise, Sunset, or Moon out on the Ocean, then I will consider giving up fishing and come to services every Sunday.
He had no answer, and never raised the subject again.

Surely God Loves US and we need to Thank Him and Praise Him and Worship Him. All these things can be done out of doors as well as inside a building.
The CHURCH is the People, not some building!

[Raider Ronnie]

"The church is the People, not a building"

Only one problem with that,
Kind of tough to pass the collection box all the way to you're house!!!

[nor-easter]

That is a Biblical Quotation, not mine!

Church we attended in Vermont had a basket at the alter.
Never passed it around. Folks just walked up and put what they wanted into the basket!

That seems to be one of the problems with some church folks these days.
We have forgotten the "Tithes and Offerings" teachings of the Bible. Remember the lessons of "First Fruits Giving" where God desires Ten Percent off the Top of our earnings? Not whatever I might have left over.
First Fruits Giving brings one into line better with the wishes of our GOD!

[Goose]

thats some popular excuses for drifting away.


Time has changed and the church too is slowly changing...it has to. I know the Pope means well and his intentions are good but those guide lines are far fetched. Sure there is some negitives that goes with sports on sundays but there are some postive ones too.

[marky1]

Every Christmas..Easter... same story every year..nothing changes. If you listen to it ... after awhile it sounds fake. I could not figure it out . Never went back,and all they wanted was more and more money...For what?

[Raider Ronnie]

Since this topic is religion, I've got some catholic humor for ya!

This guy gets up early Sun. morning and is going to go skiing.
He gets to the mountain and starts his first run of the day, when he sees 2 teenage boys off the side of the trail all bye themselves, both of them with their pants down to their ankles and both have their private parts stuck in a snow bank!
The guy says to them, what the heck are you guys doing?
They tell the guy that they are both alter boys, and after after a long sunday morning of saying masses, Father likes to kick back and have a few cold ones!!!!!

[BigFish]

I plan on fishing my ass off in spite of what the Pope wants.!!!!

[Raven]

censored.......

[Notaro]

Originally posted by BigFish
I plan on fishing my ass off in spite of what the Pope wants.!!!!

I'm with you on that one

[Raven]

um....

[RI Popper]

WOW, I'm taken aback by some of what I read.

Firstly, Nor-Easter --- Thank you. your are exactly right.

Secondly, I'm not catholic but the Pope is just passing on something that is well established in the Bible. God made the requirement for a day of worship long before John Paul mentioned it.

Thirdly: "Lapchick had harsh words in reply. If the Catholic church did place a ban on Sunday sports, he thinks the church would lose congregants. "Sports is a religion in this country and a lot of the world," he said." That is the most perverse statement of all. Sports is equal in this sick mand's mind to a relationship with God????? If this man is right than we need to wonder why the resolve of the towel heads may be greater than ours. Sadly he may be right.

[striprman]

I believe fishing on Sunday is a "day of rest" . Being outdoors, fishin' , watching the world, what better way to say thank you and praise be for living?

[Raven]

the smartest thing you've said yet ....on this site.... BRAVO

[striprman]

God grant me the grace to catch a fish so large that even I, when telling of it afterwards, may not need to lie.

God grant that I may live to fish until my dying day. And when it comes to my last cast, then I most humbly pray
when in the Lord's safe landing net, I'm peacefully asleep, that in his mercy I be judged as good enough to keep.

God grant that I catch something besides crabs.

Fishing is not a matter of life or death, It's more important than that.

The sea is God's pool.

He that would learn to pray, let him go to sea.

Once on shore, we pray no more.

Fishermen in peril are devout.

There is a time to fish and a time to pray.

When Gods wills, the sea brings fish.

When you go fishing with God, the soul you save may be your own.

And on the 8th day, God went fishing.

If you are not fishing, you are not following.

[Bliz]

Only Nine of the 10 Commandments of the Old Testament are re-itterated in the New Testament with the exception of one.

And that is the specific command in regard to the Sabbath.

The Bible says that Man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but rather, the Sabbath was made for man.

To illustrate and prove this point, there are several instances in the New Testament Scriptures where Christ was confronted by the Pharisees and considered to be in violation of the Law of Moses because of things he was doing on the Sabbath day.

Every day should be a Sabbath day in the sense that God is foremost in our thoughts and on our hearts... and the Lord of our actions.

That doesn't neccesitate the need of a Sunday ban on all activities but should keep us ever mindful of the One who sent His Son to save us!...

God can be glorified in all of our activities... and should be!

I often stand in absolute awe at the awesome Power of God whenever I listen to the whisping sounds of an evening tide, or hear the roar of a raging sea during a storm.

As immence as the power of the sea is,

God created that!!! It blows me away to think of it!

As His son, I know that my Lord delights in those moments of reflection that draw me closer to Him!

God is much more concerned with the attitude of my heart toward Him than any external regulations that I would try to follow...

As if I would ever be able to justify myself before Him...

I'm not justified before God because of anything that I have done, or could possibly do... but instead, I am justified through what Christ has done for me!

True religion enslaves an individual, whereas Christ has come to set us free!

Free to Worship Him in all things!

Even while fishing on a Sunday afternoon or evening!

Even Christ Himself had a problem with the "religious" crowd of His day!

The religious Pharisees hated His wisdom!

And Christ wasn't gentle with those priests of His day when He told them that they were "hypocrites", and that they "were like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones"...

Jesus held back nothing when slamming those who were "religious".

He definitely wasn't the "gentle Jesus" everyone thinks He is!

I do believe however, that Sunday fellowship is very important for the spiritual growth and sustinence of every professed believer!

It's too bad that so many things take precedence over faithful worship of the One Who gave His all for us!...

[Bliz]

FWW, I hope this offers some insight on this topic...

(I added some info in support of the point of topic to the original post...)

[RI Popper]

Hi Donald, I enjoyed reading your post. And where I agree with the awe of God is shown in nature and it's grandure. I have to say that the "Bride of Christ" = the church this is not the physical building but the members who are in a relationship with Him. The strength that draws all those in the family closer to Him does in part come from the time spent together learning of Christ.

The Saviour didn't disavow the sabbeth with the Pharisees, he however did tell them that it was more important to be compassionate on the sabbeth by not leaving the animal in a ditch to die. or to pick food for eating on that day. I'm not aware of him saying: we can ignore it now.

[Bliz]

Christ doesn't say to ignore the Sabbath, but at the same juncture, He doesn't use the Sabbath as a protocol by which He measures man...

As I had mentioned in my post, one should not forsake the assembly of believers on Sunday, but at the same time, there is no Biblical protocol that calls out for the believer in this day to prohibit himself from getting involved in other activities on the Sabbath day...

[Bliz]

Sports are fine, as long as one doesn't prioritize Sports over the place of assembly around the Word of God.

The areas that I find objectionable are when activities such as football, baseball, and other sports supercede those activities in regard to assembling together to worship the Lord on Sunday.

Unfortunately, people put the frivolous things in life before that which is more important... Which is God.

That is pure Idolatry!

I agree with what you said on that earlier

However, I have no problem going fishing on the same day that I attend a Church service...

And I don't think that God minds either...