Does Dogma Evolve?

Accepting Abundance ^ | May 9, 2012 | Stacy Trasancos

[NYer]

You know the conversations.

“Catholicism is so out-dated and inflexible!” “You don’t really need to follow the Vatican’s teaching to be loyal to the faith.” “Catholic to Catholic Church: It’s Reality-Check Time.”

There are all manner of arguments people make to assert that the Catholic Church should evolve with the times to stay modern, to gain proselytes lest followers depart and the cranky old religion ceases to exist. “Change or perish!” they say.

And they’ve been saying it for 2,000 plus years.

It’s sensible to reply, “Well, Truth does not change.” It’s easy to then launch into an explanation about the objectivity and immutability of Divine Revelation, until the inquisitor asks you about, say, the sacraments.

People both inside and outside the Church argue that dogma has in fact evolved over time and the evolution of the sacraments are often cited as evidence. They’ll say marriage wasn’t originally a sacrament and penance was just developed to control people; they’ll point out that Christ said nothing about there being seven sacraments and, rather, those rituals just evolved as part of a complex rubric to make Christianity relevant to changing cultures. And so forth. It’s the same type of argument made for other issues as well, and the intent is to prove that religion is subjective.

You may counter with the objective dogmatic definitions put forth at the Council of Trent articulating the Seven Sacraments instituted by Christ: “If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, or that there are more or less than seven…let him be [ahem] anathema.” Your opponent, hopefully interested in sincerely understanding this question, will then be quick to remind you that the Council of Trent wasn’t held until 1547 and the Didache from the first or second century only mentions the precepts of Baptism and the Eucharist.

And you might be stumped. Does dogma evolve?

Dogma is Latin and it refers to the tenets or doctrine authoritatively laid down by God. In other words, it is God’s Law. I struggled with this question, yet it seemed so familiar. Then it hit me. Science! This question is relevant to the modern scientific mind, believer or non-believer, because it’s the same as asking whether the laws of physics evolve.

Those are God’s laws too. The honest scientist knows he is not the author of scientific truth; he is the discoverer and communicator of it. God is Author of all Truth. The mysteries of nature are there for us to discover and use to better the conditions in our temporal life. The mysteries of faith were revealed to us by God in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of our salvation, to better our condition in eternal life, so to speak.

St. Thomas Aquinas says at the very beginning of his Summa Theologica that theology is the sacred science that seeks to discover how to articulate those divinely revealed truths more purely, guided by the Holy Spirit, over time. The very word “science” implies a systematic study of something objective. Theology is the highest science.

So, it isn’t dogma that evolves; it’s man’s understanding of it that develops.

There always were seven sacraments, even in the earliest days of Christianity before the Church fully articulated them. Even before mankind understood them, the sacraments announced and prepared the Divine Revelation of Christ to be given to the Church. The mystery of the Incarnation, true man and true God, was the foundation for the sacraments and the “powers that come forth” from the Body of Christ as the “masterworks of God” in the new and everlasting covenant. (CCC 1115-1116)

God wrote that equation.

Anyone who thinks dogma should evolve with changing times and cultures so that it is more acceptable to the masses, needs to be reminded that protons and electrons existed before we learned to draw them on paper; that even when no one understood that a microorganism can convert carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and alcohol, we made bread and wine using live yeast; that before Sir Isaac Newton explained the relationship between objects and their motion, the acceleration (a) of a body was still directly proportional to the force (F) and inversely proportional to the mass (m) of it; and that even before a child knows the mathematical proofs to show why you shouldn’t stand in the crosswalk while a school bus is heading right for you, he knows why you shouldn’t argue with objective truth — because you’ll lose.

Truth is truth. All that evolves is the clarity with which we see it.

[NYer]

Excellent description ping!

[jonrick46]

Zer0 got his gay indoctrination early from Lolo Soetello's transgender nanny, Evie:

[aMorePerfectUnion]

"There always were seven sacraments, even in the earliest days of Christianity before the Church fully articulated them."

I do not remember reading about 7 sacraments in the New Testament. Seems it is an important enough idea that God would be pretty clear about it...

I do not remember seeing a command to practice 7 sacraments. Seems that God would care enough about something He established that He would identify or command something about them in Scripture...

I do not remember reading anything written during the first 100 years of the Church about the practice of 7 sacraments. Seems that if it were passed by Apostolic teaching that someone would have put it into writing somewhere...

Perhaps I overlooked it.
Perhaps it is my memory.
Perhaps there aren't 7.

If you know of a passage that delineates all 7, please post it.
If you know of a command regarding these 7, please note it.
If you can point to any writings that show the Church recognized and practiced these 7 sacraments during the first 100 years of the Church, please do.

Thanks.

[the invisib1e hand]

that icon graphic is excellent.

[allmost]

Present reality affects human perception. A caveman will perceive things differently than a teenage tweeter. As we grow, yes we do evolve. Unless my first sentence is untrue, dogma will change with ourselves.

[massgopguy]

Baptism - Mark 1:9-11
Confirmation Acts 1:4-5
Eucharist your kidding right? Last Supper
Confession/penance Luke 15:11-24
Annointing of the Sick Mark 6:12-13
Holy Orders Last Supper Matt 28:19-20
Marriage Wedding at Cana Matt 19:6,8

[Tax-chick]

As we grow, yes we do evolve.

Into what? Something other than the human beings we were from the first moment of our conception?

When my son Thomas was a small boy, he said he could breathe underwater. His older sister asked, "Mama, doesn't this mean Tom is evolving?!?" "No," I replied. "Tom is an alien. That's totally different."

[allmost]

You are referring me to English translations so that I may understand. I appreciate that. English did not exist at the time these tomes were formulated and codified. I guess the dogma evolved.

[allmost]

We are more than we know imo.

[Tax-chick]

I have this kind of opaque conversation with Tom, too. It can be amusing, especially after several adult beverages.

[allmost]

Taking the edge off is practically a requirement. These thoughts and concepts cannot exist in modern information chaos.

[Tax-chick]

I often feel that I can’t exist in modern information chaos, either.

[allmost]

I never noticed your response. Normally I would have logged off/shut down and be done. Just abnormal today I guess. The greener the better in my experience. Stilling the mind is a lifelong challenge.

[Tax-chick]

Have a good night! I’m going to watch “Miami Vice” reruns with my husband until our baby falls asleep.

[allmost]

Good night to all.

[Salvation]

Does Dogma Evolve?

Dogmas of the Catholic Church [Catholic Caucus]
[CATHOLIC CAUCUS] Our Lady and Dogmas: Pondering the Assumption (Launch of Rosary Crusade)
[CATHOLIC/FRIENDS CAUCUS] This dogmatic denunciation of dogma sponsored by a disorganized...
Preserved Sinless from the Moment of Humanity (Dogma of the Immaculate Conception) [Catholic Caucus]
The Decline of Dogma and the Decline of Church Membership
The Three D's -- Dogma, Doctrine and Discipline [Ecumenical]
Radio Replies First Volume - Dogma and reason
Radio Replies First Volume - Development of dogma
Docility (on Catholic dogma and infallibility)
Ineffabilis Deus: 8 December 1854 (Dogma of the Immaculate Conception)