Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus:Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
« on: 2005-10-06 18:00:34 » |
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[Blunderov] (This via disinfo.com.) I seem to recall that a previous Pope
declared 'hell' to be a metaphorical construct. By inference, so must heaven
be. And now the scope of true faith has been even further qualified.
Apparently the wisdom has dawned that unquestioning faith may not be quite
the virtue it was once thought be.
This article mentions that the "The Virgin Birth" and "Proof of bodily
resurrection" are still held to be kosher, (if that's the word I want) but
this seems inconsistent and a little bit desperate. We're whittling them
down. Keep up the good work.
Best Regards.
The Times October 05, 2005
"Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document
instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five
million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture,
that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.
“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or
complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious
Right, in particular in the US.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as
told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools,
believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the
world began.
But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times
conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this
country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say,
they may contain “historical traces”.
The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since the 17th
century, when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for flouting a
near-universal belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible by advocating
the Copernican view of the solar system. Only a century ago, Pope Pius X
condemned Modernist Catholic scholars who adapted historical-critical
methods of analysing ancient literature to the Bible.
In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars.
They say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is “God’s
word expressed in human language” and that proper acknowledgement should be
given both to the word of God and its human dimensions.
They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways “appropriate to changing
times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries”.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but
continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other,
secular matters.”
They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its “intransigent intolerance” and
to warn of “significant dangers” involved in a fundamentalist approach.
“Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or
group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even
consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others.”
Of the notorious anti-Jewish curse in Matthew 27:25, “His blood be on us and
on our children”, a passage used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism, the
bishops say these and other words must never be used again as a pretext to
treat Jewish people with contempt. Describing this passage as an example of
dramatic exaggeration, the bishops say they have had “tragic consequences”
in encouraging hatred and persecution. “The attitudes and language of
first-century quarrels between Jews and Jewish Christians should never again
be emulated in relations between Jews and Christians.”
As examples of passages not to be taken literally, the bishops cite the
early chapters of Genesis, comparing them with early creation legends from
other cultures, especially from the ancient East. The bishops say it is
clear that the primary purpose of these chapters was to provide religious
teaching and that they could not be described as historical writing.
Similarly, they refute the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation, the last
book of the Christian Bible, in which the writer describes the work of the
risen Jesus, the death of the Beast and the wedding feast of Christ the
Lamb.
The bishops say: “Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is,
and is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in
this book details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved
and about when the end will come.”
In their foreword to the teaching document, the two most senior Catholics of
the land, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh, explain its
context.
They say people today are searching for what is worthwhile, what has real
value, what can be trusted and what is really true.
The new teaching has been issued as part of the 40th anniversary
celebrations of Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council document explaining
the place of Scripture in revelation. In the past 40 years, Catholics have
learnt more than ever before to cherish the Bible. “We have rediscovered the
Bible as a precious treasure, both ancient and ever new.”
A Christian charity is sending a film about the Christmas story to every
primary school in Britain after hearing of a young boy who asked his teacher
why Mary and Joseph had named their baby after a swear word. The Breakout
Trust raised £200,000 to make the 30-minute animated film, It’s a Boy. Steve
Legg, head of the charity, said: “There are over 12 million children in the
UK and only 756,000 of them go to church regularly.
That leaves a staggering number who are probably not receiving basic
Christian teaching.”
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
UNTRUE
Genesis ii, 21-22
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept
he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib
which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought
her to the man
Genesis iii, 16
God said to the woman [after she was beguiled by the serpent]: “I will
greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth
children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you.”
Matthew xxvii, 25
The words of the crowd: “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Revelation xix,20
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its
presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received
the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were
thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.”
TRUE
Exodus iii, 14
God reveals himself to Moses as: “I am who I am.”
Leviticus xxvi,12
“I will be your God, and you shall be my people.”
Exodus xx,1-17
The Ten Commandments
Matthew v,7
The Sermon on the Mount
Mark viii,29
Peter declares Jesus to be the Christ
Luke i
The Virgin Birth
John xx,28
Proof of bodily resurrection"
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