Pope Needs to Reread the Bible

In his address delivered on September 12, 2006 to scientists at the University of Regensburg Pope Benedict XVI expressed his views on the nature of God, which he claims to be in the light of the Bible. In his address the Pope also commented and criticised the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Islam. In my opinion, before criticising Islam, the Pope should have reread the Bible, as the concept of the nature of God, which the Pope is propagating in the name of the Bible, is in clear contradiction with the Bible (which is in our hands today). It should be kept in mind that the Bible that exists today is God’s Word according to Pope’s belief.

The Pope said, “Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.” Further elaborating his point he quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus. The emperor said and the Pope quoted, “God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature.”

It is against what the Bible says. The Bible relating the flood of Noah (PBUH) says:

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents me that I have made them. (Genesis vi:5-7). And all flesh died that moved on the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was on the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. (Genesis vii:21-23)

The Bible relating the punishment given to those who rejected Lot (PBUH) says:

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, see, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. (Genesis xix:24-28)

The Bible also says:

When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you; And when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you; you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them: Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son. For they will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy you suddenly. But thus shall you deal with them; you shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. (Deuteronomy vii:1-5)

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, which is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; You shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him: But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. (Deuteronomy xiii:6-9)

The Pope said:

"Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God," said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.

The Bible says:

If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give to the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he has humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. (Deuteronomy xxii:28-29)

The Pope should explain that how it is reasonable to force a woman to marry the person who raped her? What if the woman is not willing to marry such an impious man?

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. (Deuteronomy xxiii:2)

The Pope should explain that how it is reasonable to prohibit a bastard from entering into the congregation of the LORD? Is a bastard sinful, or his parents?

These are a few quotes. Much more quotes from the Bible can be produced to show that Pope’s concept of the nature of God is in contradiction to the teachings of the Bible.

In the end I would like to add that if a Christian wants to criticise the teachings of Islam, he should first criticise the Bible, if he is an honest, responsible and reasonable person.

In the above comments, word ‘reasonable’ means reasonable according to the Pope’s understanding of the word.

Saturday September 23, 2006 - 10:56am
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-7RwkHRY8fqN59oD2VY9B?p=77