Author Topic: Atheist on the writings of John Paul II (Read 703 times)

Augustinian · « **on:** January 18, 2012, 03:25:34 AM »

It's the most truthful review on the entire site.

Quote

Review of Crossing the Threshold of Hope

by Michael Davis

Although I am an atheist, I do respect this pope. At least I thought I did. Nice man, seemed kind.

And I have not been an athiest my entire life. I've spent much time in Sunday school, was a born again christian briefly. I know a lot of the lingo and theology.

But this book is a pile of abstract gibberish! I can't get a damn thing out of it. It is a rare sentence where I can figure out what he is trying to say.

Can anyone say what *any* of this book actually means? How would I apply any of it in a concrete way to change my behavior for the better? How would I apply it so solve a real-world problem?

Let's say we pick out just one paragraph. Each person that read that paragraph would have (at least) tens of possible interpretations.

Hence, I submit that it means nothing. He might as well have put a thousand churchy words into a bucket (God, ecclesiastical, Christ, ecuмenical, redeemer, salvation, Jesus, saint, etc.) and picked words at random.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/on.com/Cro/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=on.com/Cro&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20

Telesphorus · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2012, 08:35:02 PM »

It stands to reason that a modernist's approach to religion is for the religious person to make whatever they want of his writings.

So of course the atheist (probably never religious and with few pre-conceived ideas of the religion) makes nothing of them.

Augustinian · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2012, 08:51:26 PM »

Have either of you attempted to read this book? It's one long random rambling Q&A session that ultimately teaches absolutely nothing. It isn't overly modernist like his encyclicals are. The book (if you can call it a book) doesn't even have a message. It isn't about hope, or anything at all really. Even the atheist can see that.

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2012, 08:57:43 PM »

I agree with Cupertino...an atheist's opinion on Benedict amounts to nothing, really.

Roman Catholic · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2012, 12:18:16 AM »

Well at least in the past when real popes wrote, athiests had something to grip onto and accept or consider. And then if they considered or wrestled with it and made objections Catholics could employ apologetics in an attempt to bring the athiests to the truth.

It seems like Karol Wojtyla's gibberish did not even allow for that reader to begin any possible process of converting to Wojtyla's religion, let alone to the true Faith.

Furthermore if the book is just full of "abstract gibberish" that could also be a cause for shallow Catholics who think Wojytla is the pope (no lack of that species around!), to conclude that Catholicism is just a bunch of pious "abstract gibberish" that really "means nothing".

nadieimportante · « **Reply #5 on:** January 19, 2012, 09:14:13 AM »

Quote from: Augustinian

Have either of you attempted to read this book? It's one long random rambling Q&A session that ultimately teaches absolutely nothing. It isn't overly modernist like his encyclicals are. The book (if you can call it a book) doesn't even have a message. It isn't about hope, or anything at all really. Even the atheist can see that.

With too many good Catholics books and so little time in life, why would anyone want to read it? I'm sure that you wrote "attempt" for a reason, the reason I think is that you did read some and then just dropped it, for that's what I did.

My mother had the book (I would have never bought it), and when she died I found it in a pile. I read a little bit, and quickly realized that it was just another book to confuse rather than communicate, useless.