Posted on 01/09/2015 11:38:48 AM PST by NYer
Freedom of speech is a great thing. Unfortunately, it comes at an unavoidable price: When citizens are free to say what they want, theyll sometimes use that freedom to say some pretty silly things. And thats the case with the 12 claims were about to cover.
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Some of them are made over and over, others are rare. Either way, while the proponents of these errors are free to promote them, we as Catholics have a duty to respond.
3. "The Old and New Testaments contradict one another in numerous places. If an omnipotent God inspired the Bible, He would never have allowed these errors."
This is a common claim, one found all over the internet (especially on atheist and free-thought websites). An article on the American Atheists website notes that "What is incredible about the Bible is not its divine authorship; it's that such a concoction of contradictory nonsense could be believed by anyone to have been written by an omniscient God."
Such a statement is generally followed by a list of Biblical "contradictions." However, claims of contradictions make a few simple errors. For example, critics fail to read the various books of the Bible in line with the genre in which they were written. The Bible is, after all, a collection of several kinds of writing...history, theology, poetry, apocalyptic material, etc. If we try to read these books in the same wooden way in which we approach a modern newspaper, we're going to be awfully confused.
And the list of Bible "contradictions" bears this out. Take, for example, the first item on the American Atheist's list:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Exodus 20:8
Versus...
"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Romans 14:5
There! the atheist cries, A clear contradiction. But what the critic neglects to mention is something every Christian knows: When Christ instituted the New Covenant, the ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant were fulfilled (and passed away). And so it makes perfect sense that Old Testament ceremonial rules would no longer stand for the people of the New Covenant.
If the critic had understood this simple tenet of Christianity, he wouldn't have fallen into so basic an error.
The next item on the American Atheist list is similarly flawed:
"...the earth abideth for ever." Ecclesiastes 1:4
Versus...
"...the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
So, the Old Testament claims that the earth will last forever, while the New says it will eventually be destroyed. How do we harmonize these? Actually, it's pretty easy, and it again comes from understanding the genre in which these two books were written.
Ecclesiastes, for example, contrasts secular and religious worldviews and most of it is written from a secular viewpoint. That's why we find lines like, "Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything." (Ecclesiastes 10:19)
However, at the end of the book, the writer throws us a twist, dispensing with all the "wisdom" he'd offered and telling us to "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." (12:13)
If a reader stops before the end, he'll be as confused as the critic at American Atheists. However, since the viewpoint that gave birth to the notion of an eternal earth is rejected in the last lines of the book, there's obviously no contradiction with what was later revealed in the New Testament. (And this is just one way to answer this alleged discrepancy.)
The other "contradictions" between the Old and New Testaments can be answered similarly. Almost to an item, the critics who use them confuse context, ignore genre, and refuse to allow room for reasonable interpretation.
No thinking Christian should be disturbed by these lists.
Thanks, I love You Tube. I find lot of good things on there.
Ahh, "Zia Emilia" (Auntie Em),
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE ROME!
There is no place like Rome! AMEN!
You're right: at the end of the day; the end of our lives; the end of the world, all that matters is what God thinks!
Thanks but I could be better.
“Even easier, just grab the Bible and read it end-to-end. Some of the confusion is probably being caused by the text being broken up into small, disjointed readings.”
Along that line, God has blessed me through listening to whole books on MP3. Afterwards I’ve done studies along with a teacher online. Something about listening to a good reading of Scripture short circuits the Proof Texting chip and one gets a real sense of what the Lord is saying without denominational manipulation. Yeah, they all do it, unwittingly.
Isn't it amazing what some non-Catholics THINK they know about Catholicism? How sad for us poor, short-attention-span people who actually belong and know what it is REALLY like.
Alex, why don't you take humility for a hundred? Remember to answer in the form of a question! :)
Faith in one's faith?
I am certain that God knows what I have forgotten. He does have ways of reminding a person...
The Holy Spirit is called Helper, and Comforter, yet Christ also said of that Helper, the Spirit of truth
So we have that going for us?
It is how I am reminded -- and shown, and comforted, and helped...and I think that's enough help, for now...
Faith in the omniscience of God: One God in Three Divine Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If you must Jeopardize the proceedings here, let me remind you that;
"Alex" provides the correct answers.
Well according to you guys all I have to do is ask Jesus to come into my heart then all is ok, because that all one needs.
It doesn’t matter. Have you been born again? Have you found Jesus, have you asked him into your heart? They have the nerve to tell us anything when their entire faith fits on a bumper sticker.
It happens all the time.
Only one contestant advances to the next round.
Thanks.
~I'll be here all week~
And I thanked you for it.
And Trebek does it all without offending anybody!
Art Fleming, his predecessor, was a gentleman as well.
It’s like I’ve said before.
Catholics come down on both sides of every issue and no matter what a non-Catholic says, some Catholic can come along and tell him he’s wrong.
You are wrong. You left out the part about non-Catholics coming down on both sides of every issue.
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"We are compelled to concede to the Papists
that they have the Word of God,
that we received it from them,
and that without them
we should have no knowledge of it at all."
~ Martin Luther
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Luther is nothing more than a drunken heretic to Catholics except when he is alleged to say anything that might even slightly be taken as supporting Catholicism.
That doesn’t speak well for Catholics to be so willing to accept from someone they so despise the least little suggestion of them being correct.
Course, it’s interesting how many *heretics* Catholics are willing to cherry pick from in order to support their doctrine.
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