Get blessed by a robot priest

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As it says in the Book of Romans, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Pious inventors in Germany are playing around with this bit of scripture: They’ve invented a robotic priest, currently dishing out sacred texts and wisdom in Wittenberg.

As The Guardian reports, the robo-priest, named BlessU-2, was created in honor of the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

atlasobscura.com/articles/germany-robot-priest-blessu2-religion
 
A bit odd indeed, but people are talking about faith as a result. Is this the future of the church, by no means, but let’s not forget the role of the printing press in Luther’s day. Technology can do interesting things.
 
And just like his Protestant creators, Bless U2 does not have valid holy orders so no need to worry. 😃
 
Could use a few over here , please, and you do not need ordination to give out texts etc. Validity or nor is a moot point anyways. and irrelevant here so why get that dig in?
 
If it’s just an art installation, then I find it interesting, thought provoking, and clever.

If I were to walk into church and find it saying Mass or hearing confessions, then I would be very alarmed.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
If it’s just an art installation, then I find it interesting, thought provoking, and clever.

If I were to walk into church and find it saying Mass or hearing confessions, then I would be very alarmed.
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Fortunately, it is not Catholic.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
If it’s just an art installation, then I find it interesting, thought provoking, and clever.

If I were to walk into church and find it saying Mass or hearing confessions, then I would be very alarmed.
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I heard an interview with one of the people involved with this project and it was pretty clear this was an attempt to have people think about what prayer and faith mean. Many people out there are “unchurched” and have little experience with faith and church in general. This I think is a pretty cleaver way gently evangelize without people putting up their defenses.
 
michaelArc said:
As it says in the Book of Romans, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Pious inventors in Germany are playing around with this bit of scripture: They’ve invented a robotic priest, currently dishing out sacred texts and wisdom in Wittenberg.

As The Guardian reports, the robo-priest, named BlessU-2, was created in honor of the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

atlasobscura.com/articles/germany-robot-priest-blessu2-religion
Click to expand...
“Pious inventors”? I think not.
 
Anyone can give blessings. Parents are encouraged to bless their children.

Only during Mass can a priest or deacon give blessings.

Since a robot is not among the group of anyone, they are not valid blessings.
 
In a time when people are now mostly communicating by twitter, texting, facebook and other social media, do we really need join in with robot priests giving formulaic ‘blessings’? That is OUR job. Jesus sent out the disciples saying, “Go forth and preach to all nations”, not to have a robot minion do it for us. :rolleyes:
Face to face communicating and interacting with people in love and empathy should be what distinguishes us. It’s not our words that change hearts, but people seeing Christ present through us that does.
 
To be fair, the creator is quoted as saying:
[A robot] could never substitute for pastoral care
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Outside of pastoral duties and blessings though, I think it could be a rather interesting way of getting in touch with people.

I wouldn’t mind a little robot (perhaps an alarm clock) that reads a psalm or short passage appropriate to the liturgical season. That would probably brighten my day a little.
 
Ray_the_pastor said:
Anyone can give blessings. Parents are encouraged to bless their children.

Only during Mass can a priest or deacon give blessings.

Since a robot is not among the group of anyone, they are not valid blessings.
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Wait what?

Anyone can give blessings when outside of mass?

Source please. 🙂
 
Ray_the_pastor said:
Anyone can give blessings. Parents are encouraged to bless their children.

Only during Mass can a priest or deacon give blessings.

Since a robot is not among the group of anyone, they are not valid blessings.
Click to expand...
LVCIVS_DEI said:
Wait what?

Anyone can give blessings when outside of mass?

Source please. 🙂
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No, not exactly.

Blessings can only be conferred by a person who has some spiritual authority over another person, or by a person who has been conferred with the power to do so directly by God.

As such, all people with Holy Orders can confer blessings on anyone else, by nature of the supernatural sacrament.

Husbands can bless their wives and parents can bless their children, by virtue of the spiritual authority they have over them. Not quite the same thing as a priestly blessing, but still more efficacious than some random person who has no authority pretending to give a blessing, which is only a natural gesture, not a supernatural one.

Also contrary to what the poster said: no, priests and deacons are not limited to giving blessings only inside Mass.
 
LVCIVS_DEI said:
Wait what?

Anyone can give blessings when outside of mass?

Source please. 🙂
Click to expand...
“Bless us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, Our Lord.” - said by anyone before meals.

“Gesundheit!” - said to someone who has sneezed.

“God bless the United States of America” - said by numerous Presidents.
 
dshix said:
No, not exactly.

Blessings can only be conferred by a person who has some spiritual authority over another person, or by a person who has been conferred with the power to do so directly by God.

As such, all people with Holy Orders can confer blessings on anyone else, by nature of the supernatural sacrament.

Husbands can bless their wives and parents can bless their children, by virtue of the spiritual authority they have over them. Not quite the same thing as a priestly blessing, but still more efficacious than some random person who has no authority pretending to give a blessing, which is only a natural gesture, not a supernatural one.

Also contrary to what the poster said: no, priests and deacons are not limited to giving blessings only inside Mass.
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Ah, right.

Makes sense thank you. 🙂
 
michaelArc said:
As it says in the Book of Romans, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Pious inventors in Germany are playing around with this bit of scripture: They’ve invented a robotic priest, currently dishing out sacred texts and wisdom in Wittenberg.

As The Guardian reports, the robo-priest, named BlessU-2, was created in honor of the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

atlasobscura.com/articles/germany-robot-priest-blessu2-religion
Click to expand...
I was not aware Protestant preachers could Bless anything, whether human or not
 
The use of the word ‘robot’ to describe this and other similar things, is kind of misleading, this robot priest is really just a self serve computer kiosk at best, but using the word robot is good for attracting readers I guess.

When people hear the word ‘robot’ they think of a humanoid, self aware bipedal machine, that has some form of artificial intelligence…We have not reached this level of technology yet, anything close to a real robot today requires teams of programmers and other people for it to do the most basic of tasks. The types of robots we see in movies like terminator or star wars, are still 15-20 yrs away.
 
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