***The Bible is “man’s feeble attempts”??? Well, that explains a lot. I know Kosta’s view is along these lines, but I didn’t know it was the Latin view also. I was confused because of what the Catechism says (all emphasis added):
105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”69
“For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.”70
106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. “To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more.”71
107 The inspired books teach the truth. “Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.”72***
Read the Catechism closely: Scripture teaches that Truth which God wants us to know via Scripture. And remember that this is translation of translation. The Holy Spirit allows the Truth to be known, utilizing man’s attempts to write down what God has made known.
That's OK, I agree with this on its face. I know we disagree on whether there is additional truth that is revealed through men as we move through time, but that's a different matter.
The Holy Spirit allows the Truth to be known, utilizing man’s attempts to write down what God has made known.
I think the Catechism reads stronger than that, but nevertheless, if you'll agree that God's "true truth" is fully revealed in the scriptures, to the extent God desired, then I think we are in agreement. IOW, God fully accomplished His mission to reveal to us in scripture everything He wanted to reveal, without error, and that the Bible is both Holy and God's word.
I see this as a matter of extreme difference with the Orthodox. Or, perhaps only Kosta. :)