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What do you think of the Priesthood?


Caesius

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Anybody' be itmale, female, cat or dog, who can keep biblical text alive and away from trampling geologists, is ok by me. I bow to the faith of the faithful who against allodds are 'proved' to be right.

 

And I don't mean the science faithful' who will slam the door in your face even on a religious forum. They have built their house on Sand and it's about to come tumbling down

 

 

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Did we slam the door,

on Scienceforums dot net,

on Christopher Ball?

 

Most Geologists

Submit work to be tested.

We call that science

 

The Religious

Submit to no man's challenge!

That is called faith

 

What's with the Haiku

suddenly obsessive for

Five, Seven, and Five

 

Foundations of sand

at Scienceforums dot net,

Nice view of the beach!

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What's with the Haiku

suddenly obsessive for

Five, Seven, and Five

 

 

Fellow sufferer

Haiku-stricken fingers move

Counting syllables

 

Worse than Sudoko

At least there one needs pencil

Hand does for Haiku

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I know what my religon thinks of the Priesthood mentioned in the Bible. I am wondering what those of other religon's think of it. What are your believes when it comes to the Priesthood?

 

What strikes me as odd about the Catholic Priesthood, is the celibacy requirement.

 

This seems bound to lead to trouble. The priests can't fulfill their natural sexual urges, by getting married in the normal way. So their urges are in danger of getting channeled into abnormal outlets. As recent revelations, of child abuse by some Catholic priests, show.

 

I wonder then, why the Catholic Church imposes this burden of celibacy on its Priesthood. Is there a Biblical rationale for it? It's true that Jesus never married. (Unless you believe Dan Brown). Is that why Priests can't marry? It seems a weak argument. Jesus didn't do lots of things - such as engaging in scientific research. Yet Catholic Priests aren't formally forbidden from doing Science. At least not since the Galileo debacle.

 

Caesius, I apologise if what I've written, is straying from the point of your question.

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What strikes me as odd about the Catholic Priesthood, is the celibacy requirement.

 

This seems bound to lead to trouble. The priests can't fulfill their natural sexual urges, by getting married in the normal way...

That objection begs the question. It assumes that Christianity is false.

 

Priests are fully aware of the discipline before they take vows, and there's a long period of discerment. The gift of celibacy is just that: a gift, and one who is called to the priestly vocation is given the grace to live out that gift if he accepts it. The priests that I know all say that they don't have the kind of difficulty that many people expect them to have.

 

 

So their urges are in danger of getting channeled into abnormal outlets. As recent revelations, of child abuse by some Catholic priests, show.

In fact, the rates among Catholic priests are lower than the population as a whole.

 

One of the things I find interesting is that no one who blames that scandal on celibacy will admit that they would bugger little boys if they didn't get laid for period of time X. (Setting aside the fact that the scandal for the most part involved pederasty, not pedophilia).

 

 

I wonder then, why the Catholic Church imposes this burden of celibacy on its Priesthood. Is there a Biblical rationale for it?...

Actually, in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church it's common for married men to be ordained to the priesthood. In the Latin rite there are a few married men, converted ministers from other faiths, who are ordained to the Catholic priesthood. This, however, is not common. Finally, in neither the Latin rite nor the Eastern rites do priests (or deacons) marry after they have been ordained, except in extraordinary circumstances.

 

The reasons Latin rite priests can’t marry is both theological and canonical.

 

Theologically, it may be pointed out that priests serve in the place of Christ and therefore, their ministry specially configures them to Christ. As is clear from Scripture, Christ was not married (except in a mystical sense, to the Church). By remaining celibate and devoting themselves to the service of the Church, priests more closely model, configure themselves to, and consecrate themselves to Christ.

 

As Christ himself makes clear, none of us will be married in heaven (Mt 22:23–30). By remaining unmarried in this life, priests are more closely configured to the final, eschatological state that will be all of ours.

 

Paul makes it very clear that remaining single allows one’s attention to be undivided in serving the Lord (1 Cor 7:32–35). He recommends celibacy to all (1 Cor 7:7) but especially to ministers, who as soldiers of Christ he urges to abstain from "civilian affairs" (2 Tm 2:3–4).

 

 

 

Jesus didn't do lots of things - such as engaging in scientific research. Yet Catholic Priests aren't formally forbidden from doing Science. At least not since the Galileo debacle...

There's a huge popular mythology surrounding the Galileo affair.

 

In truth, many Catholic priests were involved in scientific research before, during and after Galileo. The Church has long been a great friend of science, and in fact modern science grew up out of the Christian insistence that a rational God created a rational universe and that we can learn truths about God by studying what he created.

 

But this is off-topic.

Edited by chilehed
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