In the End....
"Some of you are thinking that you won't fight. Others, that you can't fight. They all say that." [holding up a sword] "Thrust this into another man's flesh, and they will applaud and love you for that. You may even begin to love them. Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how but, what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered, as men. Gladiators, I salute you."
- Proximo in the movie Gladiator
One of my favorite movies of all time is Gladiator. In one scene the character of Maximus and his fellow gladiator-slaves are taken to a large arena, and their handler/owner Proximo give the aforementioned speech. It's true, we are all going to die. With Easter upon me, I have been thinking about the topic of Death. Specifically, I have been thinking that what remains after an individual dies as one of the measures of the quality of their life. Regardless of what you think about Jesus Christ, he left much after his death.
And with this topic of Jesus' death, I thought to myself, "What would Jesus think of the Catholic Church today if he were to return?" One on hand, I think that he would be overjoyed about the ministry to the poor in developing nations. I think he would be proud of how many individuals have dedicated their lives to educate young people and to each them about the underlying dignity of the human person.
On the other hand, I think he would be sickened to see some of the atrocities that the Catholic Church has either caused or done nothing to stop. The sexual abuse scandals which the Catholic Church covered up, the concordance that the Vatican signed with Nazi Germany, and the Holy Wars all come to mind. Were Christ to return today, I think there would be Hell to pay for these actions. The Catholic Church in many ways is no better than the Pharisees that Jesus railed against during his day and time.
People like say "God is love." It's true, and it's trite. But when you get right down to it, ultimately what we do unto others is what we do to ourselves. It's a strange paradox for an even stranger world. A Buddhist would call it karma; a Catholic would say that it's proof for God's sense of humour.
Randomly I had a conversation about the Catholic Church with a very beautiful woman. She highlighted all the good things about the Church, while I was focusing on all the nasty things that have gone on. All my comments were valid, and had teeth, but after our conversation I had a very chrysaline thought: "It's a lot easier to comment on what is wrong than it is to comment on what's right."
Namaste
- Proximo in the movie Gladiator
One of my favorite movies of all time is Gladiator. In one scene the character of Maximus and his fellow gladiator-slaves are taken to a large arena, and their handler/owner Proximo give the aforementioned speech. It's true, we are all going to die. With Easter upon me, I have been thinking about the topic of Death. Specifically, I have been thinking that what remains after an individual dies as one of the measures of the quality of their life. Regardless of what you think about Jesus Christ, he left much after his death.
And with this topic of Jesus' death, I thought to myself, "What would Jesus think of the Catholic Church today if he were to return?" One on hand, I think that he would be overjoyed about the ministry to the poor in developing nations. I think he would be proud of how many individuals have dedicated their lives to educate young people and to each them about the underlying dignity of the human person.
On the other hand, I think he would be sickened to see some of the atrocities that the Catholic Church has either caused or done nothing to stop. The sexual abuse scandals which the Catholic Church covered up, the concordance that the Vatican signed with Nazi Germany, and the Holy Wars all come to mind. Were Christ to return today, I think there would be Hell to pay for these actions. The Catholic Church in many ways is no better than the Pharisees that Jesus railed against during his day and time.
People like say "God is love." It's true, and it's trite. But when you get right down to it, ultimately what we do unto others is what we do to ourselves. It's a strange paradox for an even stranger world. A Buddhist would call it karma; a Catholic would say that it's proof for God's sense of humour.
Randomly I had a conversation about the Catholic Church with a very beautiful woman. She highlighted all the good things about the Church, while I was focusing on all the nasty things that have gone on. All my comments were valid, and had teeth, but after our conversation I had a very chrysaline thought: "It's a lot easier to comment on what is wrong than it is to comment on what's right."
Namaste
posted by Zen_Accountant at 7:29 PM
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