Atheists Can Join Club.

[chrisgel]

It seems the pope has decided that even atheists can go to heaven as long as they do "good"
It seems like a radical departure from their usual dogma to me.
Do you think they're trying to claim all the atheists for themselves perhaps?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330135/Pope-Francis-says-atheists-good-SAVED.html

[mrs_overall]

khandro, I am all for anyone expressing their opinions.
Unfortunately Goodlife simply cuts and pastes great chunks from the Watchtower and usually has no opinion of his/her own

[jomifl]

Khandro,your question implied that people of belief have difficulty working together. Atheists are not included in that group. I didn't realise that you so valued my opinion.

[naomi24]

Khandro, it would appear, takes every word that Goodlife cuts and pastes seriously. He doesn't seem to have noticed all the contradictions - or Goodlife's reluctance to explain them.

[Khandro]

Ratter; Do you believe, when you say the bible is mostly nonsense, that you speak for all atheists?
jomifl; //your question implied that people of belief have difficulty working together.// Err, Has this escaped your notice?
naomi; Yes I do take everything that anyone quotes seriously, I consider it and try to find meaning in it before commenting, (as invariably does jim - whom God preserve :-) Dismissing something simply because it has been 'cut and pasted' shows intellectual laziness.

[jomifl]

Khandro, the implication of your question has no connection with what may or may not have escaped my notice, what is your point?

[jim360]

The source or the cut and pasting shouldn't matter. What should matter is that he used the Bible to justify comparing me to animal crap. I don't believe that this is the message the Bible is trying to spread, but if it were, then how divisive to encourage people to look down on others -- and how despicable that it should spread such hate!

[naomi24]

Khandro, //Yes I do take everything that anyone quotes seriously, I consider it and try to find meaning in it before commenting//

Me too - but I don't see you commenting on the plethora of contradictions that Goodlife cuts and pastes, so it's understandable that you come across as a bit of a religious apologist.

[RATTER15]

"Ratter; Do you believe, when you say the bible is mostly nonsense, that you speak for all atheists?"

Khandro, No, I was generalising.

[mrs_overall]

Khandro, trust me, I have ploughed through the reams of text Goodlife has cut and pasted.
Unfortunately it is often contradictory and Goodlife is incapable of expressing an opinion or replying to direct questions.
To me THAT smacks of intellectual laziness

[jomifl]

Khandro, why do you ask questions that are irrelevant to the thread. Asking ratter, me and others what we think serves no purpose. What do you think about the pope's revised view on atheists, do you think the pope's opinion on anything is of any value, why do you think popes are obsessed with saints....I could go on, but it wouldn't be relevant.

[naomi24]

Mrs.O, //Goodlife is incapable of expressing an opinion or replying to direct questions. To me THAT smacks of intellectual laziness//

Quite right!!

[mrs_overall]

:-)

[Khandro]

jim; //he used the Bible to justify comparing me to animal crap.// I think both you and goodlife are misinterpreting (and in his case misquoting) the bible. It is not aimed at atheists, but at all people serving other gods (Jeremiah 24:6). and there is no mention of animal crap. It says that the bodies will not be lamented, gathered nor buried, but scattered from one end of the earth to the other. I think the word 'dung' (KJ), is an unfortunate translation from the Greek, the bodies will be left to fertilize the earth, ie. rather than going to heaven. That is my take on it.

[jim360]

I was only interpreting what he said.

[Supernick]

I don't really mind it coming across as patronising. I'm an atheist, and resolutely live my life according to principles of decency and tolerance to others. Sure, I don't believe in heaven, and do I care what the Pope says will happen to me when I die? Not a jot. But if he's ultimately being nice to me, then who am I to throw that back at him.
He's like the old lady next door who baked me a completely inedible 'casserole' and left it in a tupperware container outside my door. Honestly, it was an odd thing, but it was done with nothing other than good intentions, so I was enormously thankful to her. So cheers to the Pope, I won't be taking advantage of your fantasy land, but thanks for thinking of me anyway.

[Khandro]

PS. I have just looked up the transliterated word 'dung' which in th KJV bible is 'always of corpses', and comes from 'Domen'. I then put 'Domen' into Google and all I got was 'Domino's Pizza' !

[mrs_overall]

khandro, I think dung and Domino Pizzas DO have a lot in common ;-)

[vetuste_ennemi]

One of the consolations of life is that it doesn't last for ever (not, you understand, that I am at the moment in a hurry to leave it). The descriptions of heaven in the NT suggest an eternity of stultifying sycophancy. The Christians are welcome to it. Thankyou, Pope, but don't wish it on me.

[sandyRoe]

if people are bored when they get there there's nothing to stop them making their own amusement

[jomifl]

A thought may seem like an abstract thing that has some kind of ethereal existence and in a way it does, but it vanishes when the power is turned off.