Bible way to Heaven

[Randys brother]

Why does atheism exist?

• Atheism exist's because of people's pride.
  
• So that have obey God's rules.
  
• So that they don't have obey there Father and Mother.
  
• So that they can watch Porn.
  
• So that can show that there cool.
  

No, because people don't believe in deities.  My experience is that believe are FAR more arrogant and prideful than any atheist.
You mean the rules of men who claimed they were speaking on behalf of a deity.  But, in a way, you're right.  I don't want to obey biblical rules like stoning disobedient children, killing people who work on the Sabbath, keeping slaves, treating women as inferior, etc., etc.
I obey my parents for the most part.  But, I'm a grown, adult, independent woman (something against the rules of your little book of myths), and I make my own way in the world, obeying the rules of society.
Statistics show that the highest rates of watching porn online are in the more conservative religious areas of the world: the Middle East and the Bible belt.  Hmmmm, I guess it's the religious who watch the most porn.  The Vatican also has one of the largest collections of pornography in the world
I was cool when I was religious, too.  I guess it's just something I was born with.

You mean the Vatican's art gallery?or other

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As a Catholic.. 


Media trying REALLY hard to create controversy and misreport things. 
The headline is misleading. Several Dioceses having 50% shares does not mean that "The Catholic Church" is selling porn. 

Many don't realize that for a few years in the 70s.. the I.R.S. seized possession of the Mustang Ranch whore house in NV and owned it for a short time. 
That doesn't mean that the U.S. government was into prostitution. 

Secondly, just because it is worth billions or has billions in revenue, does not mean that those dioceses are getting ALL of that or even 50%. The article makes it seem like the Dioceses gets billions from this 1 single investment. 
I don't know of ANY dioceses that has an operating budget that high. I think one of the highest operating budgets is around 300million and that's the Dioceses of Chicago.. if I'm not mistaken. 


So be careful how the media 'spins' things to sell papers. 

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But having said that... 


However, the Church SHOULD sell its shares if the company will not change. 
Even if that means less money to charities.. they have to separate themselves from the porn industry. 

It does look bad that things were reported 10 years ago.. however, outside people have to realize something.... 

1) The Church may have allocated those funds to certain charities.. so it at the very least complicates things to simply shares their stock and not be able to fund those charities. 

2) The Catholic church is notorious for moving VERY slowly. The sexual abuse controversy was created in part by the church taking decades to decide things. This is no different. Sometimes the church has pondered a philosophical or moral issue for centuries. So a decade.. though it looks bad.. is not uncommon. 
Still, I think they should react faster. But non-Catholics seem to expect the church to react like a nibble corporation, which it isn't. Due-process takes its due time. 

3) The article says that the Dioceses holds stock...but it is unclear HOW those stock options were bought. Perhaps there is a legal reason why it can not. Perhaps it takes a certain vote. Perhaps the dioceses wants to.. and a key person within the dioceses is preventing them because of his or her vote. The article doesn't provide us NEARLY enough detail. It stops short of actually getting the Dioceses answer or reasons. - So we simply don't have all the details 

4) We don't know if the initial allegation was reported to the right person or if it is moving through some sorta process. The article seems to assume that the allegation was reported correctly and that absolutely NOTHING is currently being done, simply because the church still owns the shares. 

5) Even if the Vatican received money from this dioceses.. it isn't enough to prove that the Church as a whole knew about this. We have to be careful to jump to unsupported conclusions based on our own opinions of the Catholic church. Doing so would be both biased and unjust. 


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Finally.. YES there is a chance that this constitutes a legit controversy and greed on the behalf of those dioceses. 
So yes, as more details come out.. it could be very bad. But we don't know at this point, so we should withhold speculation. 


I'm actually GLAD that the article illuminated this for us fellow Catholics. And I certainly hope this embarrasses that dioceses enough to get them to step things up and take the correct action which would be to sell their shares.

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The church is against porn

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The Catechism defines pornography as “removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties” (#2337).  Sadly, pornography is a pervasive, multi-billion dollar business in our country alone, with revenues generated from movies, cable and dish network television, magazines, books, and other materials.  U.S. News & World Reportclaimed that the pornography industry grossed roughly $8 billion in 1997.  Just one example of the extent of this industry is that in 2001, 630 million “adult” videos were rented in the United States.
Moreover, the internet is the cheapest, fastest, and most anonymous pornography source.  Internet pornographers made over $1 billion in revenues dealing their merchandise on-line.  The threat of pornography over the internet cannot be discounted:  70% of children viewing pornography on the internet do so in public schools and libraries (The Internet Online Summit, 1997).  All of us realize that we are surrounded by various forms pornography, whether noticing the “adult” section of videos at Blockbuster, surfing the internet, seeing advertising which is clearly sexually suggestive, or innocently going to a movie that just happens to have some kind of sex scene.
The Catechism gives three reasons why pornography is wrong and sinful:  First, pornography offends against the virtue of chastity.  Called to lead a chaste life, each Christian must respect the sanctity of his own human sexuality, which involves the integration of his physical and spiritual being.  He must also respect the holy state of marriage:  Our Lord taught in reply to the Pharisees’ question about divorce: “Have you not read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and declared, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become as one’?  Thus they are no longer two but one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-6).   Therefore,  the conjugal love which reflects the sacramental union of husband and wife, and the enactment of their vows is also sacred: the conjugal act ought to express that faithful, permanent, exclusive, self-giving, and life-giving love between husband and wife.
However, the respect for marriage and its conjugal love is not simply limited to any physical expression.  The respect also includes the spiritual dimension: Jesus taught, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.  But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).  Therefore, chastity “involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift”(#2337).  On the other hand, pornography is an act of spiritual adultery, which leads to the spiritual disintegration of the person and may lead to physical adultery or other illicit sexual acts.
Second, pornography offends the dignity of the participants (actors, vendors, the public).  Each one is exploited himself or exploits others in some way for personal pleasure or gain.  In all, the dignity of the human being–  whether the person posing, the person producing, the person distributing, or the person enjoying– is debased.
Finally, those who engage in pornography immerse themselves in a fantasy world, withdrawing from reality.  While genuine love always involves a self-giving of oneself for the good of others, pornography entices a person to withdraw into a selfish world of perverted fantasy which may later be acted out to the detriment of oneself and others.  This problem has increased dramatically, since the internet offers “virtual reality” sexual interaction.
The sinfulness of pornography, however, is not simply linked to a “one time, one action” phenomenon, but may become like a spiritual cancer that corrupts the person.  Dr. Victor Cline (1996) posited four progressive effects of pornography:  (1) addiction, where the need to view pornographic materials leads to a loss of free control over behavior; (2) escalation, where the person delves into progressively harder pornography, usually to attain the same level of sensation and arousal; (3) desensitization, whereby the user is no longer morally sensitive to the shocking, illegal, repulsive, perverted, or immoral quality of the material, but instead views it as acceptable and begins to look upon others as objects; and (4) acting out, where the fantasizing becomes overt behavior.
Without question, pornography has a devastating impact upon all of society, especially women and young children.  Pornography teaches that women enjoy “forced” or perverse sexual activity; advocates prostitution, exhibitionism, and voyeurism as normal behavior; and regards women as sex objects to be used for one’s self-gratification.  For some men, the regular use of pornography normalizes aggression towards women in sexual and other interpersonal encounters, and increases the tolerance for such aggression against women in the larger culture (Surrette, 1992).  Sadly, the greatest impact may be on the young, especially males 12 through 17 years of age, because pornography portrays sexual activity outside of marriage as acceptable without the dire consequences of AIDS or other venereal diseases, and without the responsibility towards conceiving a human life.
These assertions are supported by criminal evidence:  A proven direct correlation exists between crimes of rape, child abuse, and the physical abuse of a spouse, and the proliferation of pornographic materials and the presence of live porn and sexually oriented businesses in a community (Uniform Crime Report, 1990).  Several examples support the correlation:  In 1991, the Los Angeles Police Department found in a period of ten years that pornography was involved in two-thirds of all child molestation cases.  One out of every six persons in our federal and state prisons is a sex offender, and sex crimes are second only to drug crimes.  Finally, in 1988, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that 81% of violent sexual offenders regularly read or viewed violent pornography.
As Christians we must be on guard against pornography, not only avoiding any use, but also rejecting any image or thought which may arise accidently, such as when we innocently go to a movie.  We must be very prudent in selecting what we view and even to what we listen.   Moreover, in our prayers, we must pray for the virtue of chastity, begging the Lord for the grace to be chaste and to respect the dignity of all individuals, especially those members of the opposite sex.  If we should fail, and we purposely participate in some form of pornography or accept some form of pornographic imagery or thoughts which may not have been deliberately sought after but nevertheless accepted, we need to repent, go to confession, and receive absolution.  The Catechism teaches that pornography “is a grave offense,” meaning objectively in the area of mortal sin.  Never do we want to make light of this sin and allow it to take root in our lives.
Just as a side note:  For those who have severe problems in breaking a habit of engaging in pornography or for those who are addicted, Sexaholics Anonymous is a solid organization which helps individuals break their addiction and lead a chaste life.  Members battle an obsession about sex– sex with self, promiscuity, pornography, adultery, unhealthy relationships, and erotic fantasy.  Like most self-help programs, Sexaholics Anonymous involves a twelve-step program.Source:http://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-does-the-church-regarding-pornography/

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