Posted on 01/03/2010 10:30:30 PM PST by Gamecock
ONLY God’s holy scriptures are inspired by Him, given to us without error.Which ones? The ones that were assembled by the Holy Catholic Church or the cut-n-paste revision of the soi-disant "reformers"?
"In addition to" rather than "greater than". Got it, cool.
Then we are not sure, clear, right about what's good. This explains some Democrats. ;-) The unquestionable good of giving to the needy is not always better than the good of letting the needy deal with their challenges. ......
Ah, I see now. Thanks for the clarification. "Good" can be a very mangleable (I've got to send this to O'Reilly) word in our hands. Good enough. :)
On Jan. 1 I started my "Read the Bible in however long it takes me" program and just finished Genesis. Joseph noted the evil intent of his brothers in selling him into slavery, but that God used it for good. So, what do we call the selling? We can use the word "good" but we have to explain it.
Let’s, for the sake of argument, just assume the scriptures-however either one of us wants to define them; you with your Catholic version or mine with my Protestant version. Are the scriptures the ONLY thing inspired by God.
Why? Many versions exist, some openly mutilated by MEN who stated that the prior centuries version were themselves in great error (like the LDS claims) and therefore NOT inspired. That Luther guy and his antipathy to James as well as parts of the OT for example.
Are you uncomfortable in answering that question? One should ask themselves, "Why?"
...If the early Church Fathers had buried their Bibles in the ground and the Church had disappeared around the time of Constantine, not to pop up again until the time of Martin Luther—where would it have come from? Who would have told them where to dig up their Bibles?
How could Martin Luther (or ANYONE that matter) have known exactly what constituted the Bible since the Trent decree on the Holy Scriptures was not published until April 8, 1546?
Cordially,
The decree at Trent doesn't matter. Without going into the history of HOW scripture was defined as infallible or WHICH scriptures were defined as infallible, I'm trying to determine if Catholics really believe the scriptures are uniquely infallible-defined as written by God, without error and different than other writings?
I've yet to receive an answer.
Sure you did. Try reading and then answering.
Sure. The Scriptures are divinely inspired.
Written by God? Not in the sense that Allah dictated every word of the Koran to Mohammed, and he just wrote it down. But the Prophets and the writers of Scripture were divinely inspired. There are no errors and no teachings that conflict with God’s will.
But the Bible can be a difficult work that needs interpretation, in some places more than others. St. Augustine wrote several works on interpreting the Bible. In his latest version, he said that it should be read literally where that is possible. Otherwise it should be read allegorically or typologically or in other ways, as indicated.
That’s why it’s very difficult for an individual to sit down with a Bible for the first time and figure it all out. Generally, Protestants are taught the Bible as children and learn from their Pastor and others, and Catholics are taught by catechists, sermons, Catholic commentators, and various other sources in the Church.
Could God inspire someone to understand the Bible without any help from others? Sure, but that’s not normally the way He works. You can be inspired upon reading a particular psssage, but that is usually within the norms that have developed in your understanding over the years.
Catholics and Protestants largely get the same messages from the Bible, except that Protestants tend to exclude the meanings of certain passages. Most notably, when Jesus says to take and eat, this is My Body, and this is My Blood, they deny that the words are to be taken literally, much like those who turned away when Jesus said earlier, “unless you eat My Body and drink My Blood . . . .”
Well, of course Protestants believe they are reading it correctly. But that just shows that there can be different ways to read the same passage, and you need help with the interpretation. Protestant Pastors interpret it one way, the Catholic Church interprets it another.
“I’ve yet to receive an answer”
Simply not true. You have failed to understand the answers, you have misrepresented the answers, what you clearly have NOT done is been honest in your claims - either about the answers given or even the simple fact that you HAVE been answered.
Speaking of NOT answering, post 401 awaits your answer rather than another evasion. Care to honestly answer it?
Finally!!!
Now given that we've established that, do you think there is any other work that man has written that is equally inspired and without error as the scriptures?
Perhaps you should answer why Protestants selectively reject parts of the Scriptures, if they are divinely inspired.
And what parts are those?
“Finally!!!”
Answered before.
Speaking of NOT answering, post 401 awaits your answer rather than another evasion. Care to honestly answer it?
Now if you wish to figure out WHICH scripture is inspired and error free, then I would say it was those that the Jewish and early church fathers recognized as error free. The problem Catholics have is that Trent completely disregarded Jerome's list and created their own. That raises the question of how they could determine which scriptures were God devined, inspired and error free? The early church fathers knew by having a strict criteria. How could they create a different list 1500 year later?
It also raises the difficult question for Catholics that if the scriptures are the only God inspired and error free writing, what does that say for all the Church canons put out by councils and Popes? This is a problem.
Answered before.
Speaking of NOT answering, post 401 awaits your answer rather than another evasion. Care to honestly answer it?
Catholics should think hard and long about what is posted here. It is obvious the Church no longer looks upon the scriptures as unique and inspired by God. The evidence of this is simply the unanswered questions as well as the Catholic dictionary that you posted. This is not only a departure from the early church fathers but it is also a departure from the Council of Trent.
The problem my thinly veiled questions about inspired writing poses for the Catholic Church is:
This implies that all Catholic Canons and councils may be in error to varying degrees. But there is that problem with the doctrine of infallibility. That is why most Catholics cannot or will not admit the scriptures holds no more authority than any other Church writings, just as the Catholic definition states. The Catholic Church has negated centuries of beliefs to secure their position.
Pretending this does not exist is like pretending Democrats won't raise your taxes.
Nope. No answer. This is the heart of it. What VERSION of the Bible do you consider INSPIRED? Why are you afraid to answer the question?
What VERSION of the Bible do you consider INSPIRED? Why are you afraid to answer the question?
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