OpenChristian
(Formerly Lemm.ee)
This is a community for progressive Christians and friends to discuss our faith, support each other, and share inspiration for our spiritual journeys.
We seek God's message of Peace, Love, and Grace through following the Spirit of Christ.
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[Lemmy mirror of FAQ] https://lemmy.world/post/32102984
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OpenChristian is inclusive, open and welcoming of all. We are LGBTQ+ affirming, but we welcome any who have chosen celibacy, as long as you respect Rule 1.
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Please note that as a progressive Christian community, we are explicitly followers of Christ, as well as LGBTQ+ affirming and egalitarian.
Friends are very welcome to participate, no matter what you believe.
But this is not the place for questioning or debating these positions.
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im all for this obviously. but isnt the fact that it wasnt included before just proving its all just made up and political?
like pope is closest to god. did god change its mind?
whats stopping the next pope from switching back?
im not catholic but if i was id have a crisis of faith over this kind of thing.
This is a very complicated question but essentially he didn't change anything, really. He's just saying that the stuff Francis did will stay, and what Francis did was only "progressive" when viewed through the lens of a nearly 2000 year old institution whose views haven't really changed much in that time. The current stance of the Catholic Church on homosexuality that was developed under Francis is pretty much that they're willing to look past some things that they consider to be sins in order to keep the church together. A lot of care and thought goes into crafting official papal decrees (which are written on very precise technical language, essentially Catholic legalese) to ensure that they align with already established doctrine. If a Pope just said "BTW we're totally cool with homosexuality now" he would be deposed somehow and his decrees deemed invalid for breaking with established doctrine
“did god change its mind?” Well said…
The church have altered their policies before.
The Middle Ages saw indulgences being sold, and only a few decades ago were ideas like evolution more widely accepted within the church.
While today the church itself still has the same policy on homosexuality, Pope Francis started reforms on being more accepting and supportive of the LGBTQ community, supporting civil unions, allowing gay preachers to continue to preach, etc.
Pope Leo XIV is seemingly continuing this gradual change in attitude towards the community towards a more positive light.
Only time will tell what happens next, but I hope they continue to move with the times.
its interesting right? i suppose they could argue giving full support for the right things may be too freeing for the people initially or something, so they are in theory easing people into love slowly changing the minds of thr populous over time. but pretty sure Jesus just preached love from the beginning so its a mute point i feel.
Moot* but yeah, I agree. If religion was based purely on fact, or anything resembling reality, it wouldn't need to change. But since it's a construct made out of a desire to understand things, it has to change. Especially with the advent of science. Since science progresses, religion must as well or they'll lose everybody eventually. Personally, I don't see this as anything but a way to shore up their numbers, like when recruitment is down in the military, they start accepting people that they ordinarily wouldn't.
oh yeah moot. thnx.
As much as I hate to say it, personal opinions of the time and politics of the time were big influences in the church in the past, even more than today. We’re a lot more accepting as a society today than we were in the past. I hope the church makes the right choice and keeps on its path of improving its relations with LGBTQ community and keeps to the word of love thy neighbor because its felt like it’s been forgotten at times.
It doesn't sound like he changed the biblical rules, just opened the doors a bit. So LGTBQ+ people might still go to hell (according to Catholics) but they can go to church and do whatever they do.
The church can rewrite any of the rules though. If it is official, they call it dogma. They consider it a revelation and it becomes a new rule.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma_in_the_Catholic_Church