The Vatican has warned that omodern technology, such as the internet and mobile phones, could be leading people from salvation. That IPhone may be networking with the Devil by reducing your spiritual advancement regardless of how many time you invoke the almighty in OMG text messages.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said that the threat of modern technology to spiritualism should not be ignored:
“In the age of the cell phone and the internet it is probably more difficult than before to protect silence and to nourish the interior dimension of life. It is difficult but necessary. There is an interior and spiritual dimension of life that must be guarded and nourished. If it is not, it can become barren to the point of drying up and, indeed, dying. Today, this is a very grave threat, and it is the most irreparable misfortune.”
Unless you want to be on the Devil’s Twitter list, you need to step away from the Blackberry and find yourself a church.
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With the exception of John Paul II (he seemed like a genuinely decent man), the only thing important to the Pope is the Importance of the Pope. It’s been that way since the first time Paul told someone to kiss his ring.
I’ll take tool advice from the Pope when they decide to seriously address the pedophilia problem in the RCC instead of sweeping it under the rug. It only took you guys 350 years to admit you were wrong, excuse me, APOLOGIZE (there is a difference) to Galileo. And all he did was say you were wrong, not rape children. Not exactly quick, are you boys? Or good at prioritizing either. And by seriously I mean exposing and excommunicating offending priests. I don’t care if it takes every last dime of RCC money to pay out the damages either – you reap what you sow. If God had wanted the gospel spread by pedophiles we’d have the First Church of NAMBLA. Until then, I view this organization as a quaint reminder of Torquemada and what can go wrong with organized religion.
Carl Jung had a few things to say about the effects of technology on modern man’s soul.
I like my crook.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I like my hat.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My myspace page is really phat!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I’m checking it once,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I’m checking it twice.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My 700 dollar shoes look really nice.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You should help the poor, but don’t ask me.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You think my popemo-bile is free?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I solicit donations and adoration,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hell, I call in favors from 300 nations!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
But that’s for me and not for you.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Put that technology down the loo.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TECHNOLOGY IN THE WRONG HANDS IS DANGEROUS.
If you look at Pope Benedict’s history before his ascension it is apparent that he believes in the need for the Church to return to its more authoritarian roots. This trend has become more and more apparent as the years since Pope John’s and Vatican II have passed.
To me, admittedly a non-Christian, John represented a truly spiritual person, who worked to evoke and embody the spirit of Jesus in the Gospels. Since then the Church has been moving towards the repudiation of Vatican II the promise it held. Catholicism is a religion whose long history has produced great thinkers and ideas, in addition to many shameful periods. Pope Benedict’s autocratic bent has started to move the Church back to a fear based religiosity, that shares more with right wing Christian Fundamentalists, than it does with the teachings of Jesus.
Astro dog lost all the hair on his tail!
They didn’t show that in The Jetsons.
Sci Fi Story Weaving?
Has the Vatican realized that too much negative media about the Vatican has spread around the world via these prevalent communication technologies? And perhaps is feeling the residuals of people’s true voice? Are these powers angry that their top down directives on how to think are being challenged by audiences larger than can gather in a town square? Or maybe their concern is that attention spans are being reduced from television ads 30-second sound bites to a couple words, not even words in the dictionary, of Simple Text Messaging with emoticons and acronyms? And they can’t reduce themselves to the ‘demise’ of the English language that they’ve always ruled with? And now is a world standard language.
Possibly “soul burn” will be a real solution for these ‘powers’ (corporates too). A payback to those admonishing their powers via the iPhone, computers and all other electronic media tools, wherein it is possible to identify the computer, iPhone and other gadget holders. Just amp them up – directed only to these offenders – at higher frequencies making the electromagnetic fields of those asserting their freedom of speech rights on their electronic tools. A way of *hot boxing*. This is less expensive than hiring legal guns to intimidate and lock down communications they don’t like.
Yes, decades ago scientists proved that long exposures to certain electromagnetic fields proved to cause leukemia and cancers. ‘BRAIN BURN’. Yet, the corporates are not sure about the scientific theories in causing any harm because they have products to distribute on every continent.
In the interim, on US terra firma, all electronic communications are easily searched out and found by savvy programs our Department of Justice’s Homeland Security *Central* Authorities deploy, along with many employers and other power holders.
Corporate wars. Economic wars. Religious wars. Star wars.
Maybe not. Maybe so.
Jill,
“soul burn” is a good label for the problem that the Vatican is alleging. However, I will stop with using technology when the Pope, as you put it, “sell(s) all his goods and gives(s)them to the poor”. I am not holding my breath. The Vatican should be spending its time on contolling the wayward priests and the bishops that allowed their transgressions. I also thought that the Protestant denominations did it the right way by the local flock controlling the money and hiring and firing the ministers as they saw fit instead of answering to a central authority like the Vatican.
I was most struck with this info in the article: “Last month, Pope Benedict XVI said that the current global financial crisis was proof that the pursuit of money and success is pointless, and that wealth meant nothing.” So when may we expect the pope to sell all his goods and give them to the poor?
Other than the potential of “soul burn” (I just made that up), I actually agree there’s some risk to being constantly hooked in to technology. There have been studies that suggest it’s actually changing the way our brains work, making us less able to concentrate. It can be a real distraction from face to face communication and the wonderful suprise of life when we’re really paying attention.