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Knights Templar Sue the Pope
pdragon04 writes "According to The Register, "the Knights Templar are demanding that the Vatican give them back their good name and, possibly, billions in assets into the bargain, 700 years after the order was brutally suppressed by a joint venture between the Pope and the King of France..."." I wonder what a holy grail goes for with 700 years of compound interest.
They may have a case regarding their good name. I don't know how much the Vatican has said about the "new" Templars, but that might just hold up in court.
If that succeeds, maybe the Freemasons have a case to fight too.
Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
As long as we're quoting from the Bible, why not disband the whole church system using Matthew 6?
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
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The funny thing is, the whole debate has been going on for centuries, and causing fractures in the church between those factions who believed that Jesus was poor, and so the church should be, and those who believed that having lots of money is really great.
Umberto Eco's Novel "The Name of the Rose" has this as a major subplot (I think it's less significant in the movie).
In France it does. It is 30 years.
Not so fast; Georgia (USA) was a British penal colony. The Australians didn't get all of the criminals.
Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. --Mark Twain
In fact, they only started using Australia when they lost Georgia. Australian settlement did not begin in earnest until @1800 if I recall correctly.
The opposite of progress is congress
Well if you want to snip a few words here or there you can make something clear as you want, but the Bible clearly not only says there should be churches but gives some loose guidelines as to how they should function. In context Jesus is admonishing those who would go out into the streets and puff out their chest at how holy and good they were which was a common practice at the time. He was not telling people to hide their faith. If you want scriptural evidence that churches are indeed a critical component of Christianity:
In Mt 16:18:
"on this rock I will build my church"
Luke 8:16-17
"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container"
Protestants and Catholics differ on what 'rock' he was talking about with Catholics believing its Peter and Protestants believing its the truth that Christ is the Messiah. but its pretty clear Christ is saying he will build a church
We can also look at the letters of the apostles (and the book of acts) to see that clearly church formation was a very important component of Christianity and is a very important support mechanism for Christians who, themselves, are as flawed and sinful as anyone else.
One might disagree in such a large central and controlling a church as the catholic church but to try and scripture twist your way into Christ saying their should not be common places of worship for Christians and that those places are not to be a beacon to the world is agenda driven drivel of the highest caliber..
"Ahh! Arrogance and stupidity in the same package, how efficient of you!" --Londo Molari