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Protecting God’s Word From “Bible Christians”
Crisis Magazine ^
| October 3, 2014
| RICHARD BECKER
Posted on 10/03/2014 2:33:43 PM PDT by NYer
“Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,
either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
~ St. Paul to the Thessalonians
A former student of mine is thinking of becoming a Catholic, and she had a question for me. I dont understand the deuterocanonical books, she ventured. If the Catholic faith is supposed to be a fulfillment of the Jewish faith, why do Catholics accept those books and the Jews dont? Shed done her homework, and was troubled that the seven books and other writings of the deuterocanon had been preserved only in Greek instead of Hebrew like the rest of the Jewish scriptureswhich is part of the reason why they were classified, even by Catholics, as a second (deutero) canon.
My student went on. Im just struggling because there are a lot of references to those books in Church doctrine, but they arent considered inspired Scripture. Why did Luther feel those books needed to be taken out? she asked. And why are Protestants so against them?
The short answer sounds petty and mean, but its true nonetheless: Luther jettisoned those extra Old Testament booksTobit, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the likebecause they were inconvenient. The Apocrypha (or, false writings), as they came to be known, supported pesky Catholic doctrines that Luther and other reformers wanted to suppresspraying for the dead, for instance, and the intercession of the saints. Heres John Calvin on the subject:
Add to this, that they provide themselves with new supports when they give full authority to the Apocryphal books. Out of the second of the Maccabees they will prove Purgatory and the worship of saints; out of Tobit satisfactions, exorcisms, and what not. From Ecclesiasticus they will borrow not a little. For from whence could they better draw their dregs?
However, the deuterocanonical literature was (and is) prominent in the liturgy and very familiar to that first generation of Protestant converts, so Luther and company couldnt very well ignore it altogether. Consequently, those seven apocryphal books, along with the Greek portions of Esther and Daniel, were relegated to an appendix in early Protestant translations of the Bible.
Eventually, in the nineteenth century sometime, many Protestant Bible publishers starting dropping the appendix altogether, and the modern translations used by most evangelicals today dont even reference the Apocrypha at all. Thus, the myth is perpetuated that nefarious popes and bishops have gotten away with brazenly foisting a bunch of bogus scripture on the ignorant Catholic masses.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
To begin with, it was Luther and Calvin and the other reformers who did all the foisting. The Old Testament that Christians had been using for 1,500 years had always included the so-called Apocrypha, and there was never a question as to its canonicity. Thus, by selectively editing and streamlining their own versions of the Bible according to their sectarian biases (including, in Luthers case, both Testaments, Old and New), the reformers engaged in a theological con game. To make matters worse, they covered their tracks by pointing fingers at the Catholic Church for adding phony texts to the closed canon of Hebrew Sacred Writ.
In this sense, the reformers were anticipating what I call the Twain-Jefferson approach to canonical revisionism. It involves two simple steps.
- Step one: Identify the parts of Scripture that you find especially onerous or troublesome. Generally, these will be straightforward biblical references that dont quite square with the doctrine one is championing or the practices one has already embraced. Mark Twain is the modern herald of this half of creative textual reconstruction: It aint those parts of the Bible that I cant understand that bother me, Twain wrote, it is the parts that I do understand.
- Step two: Yank the vexing parts out. Its what Thomas Jefferson literally did when he took his own Bible and cut out the passages he found offensivea kind of scripture by subtraction in the words of religion professor Stephen Prothero.
The reformers justified their Twain-Jefferson humbug by pointing to the canon of scriptures in use by European Jews during that time, and it did not include those extra Catholic bookscase closed! Still unconvinced? Todays defenders of the reformers biblical reshaping will then proceed to throw around historical precedent and references to the first-century Council of Jamnia, but its all really smoke and mirrors.
The fact is that the first-century Jewish canon was pretty mutable and there was no universal definitive list of sacred texts. On the other hand, it is indisputable that the version being used by Jesus and the Apostles during that time was the Septuagintthe Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures that included Luthers rejected apocryphal books. SCORE: Deuterocanon 1; Twain-Jefferson Revisionism 0.
But this is all beside the point. Its like an argument about creationism vs. evolution that gets funneled in the direction of whether dinosaurs couldve been on board Noahs Ark. Once youre arguing about that, youre no longer arguing about the bigger issue of the historicity of those early chapters in Genesis. The parallel red herring here is arguing over the content of the Christian Old Testament canon instead of considering the nature of authority itself and how its supposed to work in the Church, especially with regards to the Bible.
I mean, even if we can settle what the canon should include, we dont have the autographs (original documents) from any biblical books anyway. While we affirm the Churchs teaching that all Scripture is inspired and teaches solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (DV 11), there are no absolutes when it comes to the precise content of the Bible.
Can there be any doubt that this is by Gods design? Without the autographs, we are much less tempted to worship a static book instead of the One it reveals to us. Even so, its true that we are still encouraged to venerate the Scriptures, but we worship the incarnate Wordand we ought not confuse the two. John the Baptist said as much when he painstakingly distinguished between himself, the announcer, and the actual Christ he was announcing. The Catechism, quoting St. Bernard, offers a further helpful distinction:
The Christian faith is not a religion of the book. Christianity is the religion of the Word of God, a word which is not a written and mute word, but the Word is incarnate and living.
Anyway, with regards to authority and the canon of Scripture, Mark Shea couldnt have put it more succinctly than his recent response to a request for a summary of why the deuterocanon should be included in the Bible:
Because the Church in union with Peter, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15) granted authority by Christ to loose and bind (Matthew 16:19), says they should be.
Right. The Church says so, and thats good enough.
For its the Church who gives us the Scriptures. Its the Church who preserves the Scriptures and tells us to turn to them. Its the Church who bathes us in the Scriptures with the liturgy, day in and day out, constantly watering our souls with Gods Word. Isnt it a bit bizarre to be challenging the Church with regards to which Scriptures shes feeding us with? No, mother, the infant cries, not breast milk! I want Ovaltine! Better yet, how about some Sprite!
Think of it this way. My daughter Margaret and I share an intense devotion to Betty Smiths remarkable novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Its a bittersweet family tale of impoverishment, tragedy, and perseverance, and we often remark how curious it is that Smiths epic story receives so little attention.
I was rooting around the sale shelf at the public library one day, and I happened upon a paperback with the name Betty Smith on the spine. I took a closer look: Joy in the Morning, a 1963 novel of romance and the struggles of newlyweds, and it was indeed by the same Smith of Tree fame. I snatched it up for Meg.
The other day, Meg thanked me for the book, and asked me to be on the lookout for others by Smith. It wasnt nearly as good as Tree, she said, and I dont expect any of her others to be as good. But I want to read everything she wrote because Tree was so wonderful.
See, she wants to get to know Betty Smith because of what she encountered in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And all we have are her books and other writings; Betty Smith herself is gone.
But Jesus isnt like that. We have the book, yes, but we have more. We still have the Word himself.
TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Evangelical Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: apocrypha; bible; calvin; christians; herewegoagain; luther
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse
We have a good outline of HTML right here on Free Republic. Here's the link:
HTML Sandbox 2012
541
posted on
10/05/2014 7:34:40 PM PDT
by
boatbums
(God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
Comment #542 Removed by Moderator
To: dsc
The post 506 issue has already been addressed.
The others are not childish insults and allusions.
For instance, the claim, true or false, that "Scientologists are dishonest is not a childish insult or allusion. However, the claim that "Scientologists are just like Nazis" and that "Scientologists are slack-jawed, knuckle draggers" are childish insults and allusions.
To: ronnietherocket3
Jesus turns wine into his blood and then commands his Apostles to drink it. Not what the text says. The verb of being is used, estin, simply stating a direct metaphor in standard form. "A is B" is not at all the linguistic equivalent of "Subject turned A into B." The meal is stated to be a memorial. No other purpose is given. If the ritual was designed to mystically transmit eternal life to the participants, it would seem a great oversight not to at least mention that.
Peace,
SR
To: Springfield Reformer
545
posted on
10/05/2014 7:41:37 PM PDT
by
narses
( For the Son of man shall come ... and then will he render to every man according to his works.)
To: metmom
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
546
posted on
10/05/2014 7:42:48 PM PDT
by
narses
( For the Son of man shall come ... and then will he render to every man according to his works.)
To: narses
Very pretty picture. Too bad it contributes exactly nothing to the substance of the conversation. Your choice. But please keep dong the fractals. I like ‘em. :)
Peace,
SR
To: narses
Sad to see so many attacks coming from ‘our separated brethren’.
To: Springfield Reformer; narses; Rides_A_Red_Horse; memom
But my relatives, AFAIK, never heard of Theotokos, or Chalcedon, or Nestorius, etc. Without that intensive background, when you say "Mother of God," you trigger biological models of understanding based on practical human experience. "Mother" is the First Cause of the child. If the child has the essence of absolute deity, "Mother" becomes First Cause even to that. Yes, I know the councils and the teaching don't say that. The focus at Chalcedon was preserving the seamless, hypostatic union of both human and divine natures in Christ, despite having acquired His human nature by birth to Mary. And yes, I am aware there are debates even about the exact timing and origin of His human nature (preexistence of souls question etc.).
A problem with saying Mother of God in the modern world is the modern understanding of how someone is born.
Specifically a man and woman have sex. A sperm cell then enters an egg cell and a human being is formed (sidestepping pre-existence of souls). Nine months later a baby pops out. The human egg cell was only discovered in the 19th century. This raises a question of how was motherhood understood in the 4th century. AFAIK, back then it was understood that a man and woman have sex, nine months later a baby pops out.
I would disagree with your statement that Mother is the first cause and say that the Father of the child is the first cause. It is by his action (usually, I am sure you can find some exceptions) that the child is conceived; the question concerning the mother is did she willingly cooperate or was she raped?
But having a pope actually call her Queen of Heaven? Is not the queen coequal regent with the king? And if equal in rank, under monotheistic principles, how do we see her as not some way entangled with the Trinity as a peer?
Queen is the female title equivalent to King; however, it is (usually, Elizabeth II is an exception) the King that rules by right. The Queen is determined by hr relationship to the King. In some monarchies, it is the wife of the King that is Queen. In Czarist Russia, the Czarina was the Mother of the King. However, if he dies/abdicates, she ceases to be Queen. If she dies/abdicates, he does not. The Queen does not have her own power.
549
posted on
10/05/2014 7:55:48 PM PDT
by
ronnietherocket3
(Mary is understood by the heart, not study of scripture.)
To: Religion Moderator
515: Papist fantasy and misrepresentation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Papist is a (usually disparaging) term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. A childish insult.
561: They’ve educated themselves into spiritual imbecility and blindness.
Needlessly insulting; serves only to provoke.
519: The tactic that I see at work here is that the FRoman Catholics are taking a beating and are now pushing the RF guidelines, hoping to get the thread locked
Mind-reading.
521: I havent encountered a Catholic with enough honesty and integrity to ever TRY to understand
A childish insult, and probably mind-reading, in that the writer assumes that Catholics disagree because they lack honesty and integrity.
All-in-all, troublemaking.
550
posted on
10/05/2014 8:03:25 PM PDT
by
dsc
(Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
To: verga; boatbums; editor-surveyor
Congratulations on getting something right and engaging in fraternal correction.
I would not call boatbums' response to ES's "fraternal correction". ES is not a protestant. I am unsure what to classify him as, perhaps a Judaizer (some might call him a Messianic Jew). However, neither of those groups are Protestant. He goes around and preaches that observance of the Written Mosaic Law is necessary. Unlike protestants, he believes there are errors in the NT that we have. I find his position to be utterly devoid of reasonableness.
While I disagree with Protestants on the question of whether or not Tradition and the Magisterium can be considered equal to Scripture, their position does appear reasonable. Concerning Tradition, this requires that a chain of men (not God) can remember something well. E.g., how do we know that the essential rite of ordaining priests actually dates back to Christ and was not bungled somewhere along the route. The children's game of telephone is a good example of this problem. Concerning the Magisterium, how do we know that the Holy Spirit actually guided the councils and it was not the mistake of fallible men? The simple answer to both these questions is faith in the promise of Christ that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church. However, we are presented with a problem. How do we identify which Church this is?
I think this is how we arrive at the delusion expressed by ES. The final question in challenging Tradition and the Magisterium is: "How do we know that the Bible at the time of the Reformation was the same Bible that the Apostles had? Could the Church have introduced errors?" (Note: I am avoiding the question of the Deuteros). As boatbums pointed out, we have a significant number of Manuscripts from the second century, which is before the foundation of the Catholic Church according to ES.
551
posted on
10/05/2014 8:11:46 PM PDT
by
ronnietherocket3
(Mary is understood by the heart, not study of scripture.)
To: dsc; narses; verga; metmom
Christ did not die on the Cross so 21st cent. Christians could whine about how they are treated on the internet.
552
posted on
10/05/2014 8:14:14 PM PDT
by
ronnietherocket3
(Mary is understood by the heart, not study of scripture.)
To: dsc
The debate on "open" Religion Forum threads is often contentious because it is the only place Freepers can argue against beliefs.
Some offensive terms occur not only in the present day debate but in the official and historical documents, e.g. anathema, heretic, cult, apostasy, snake handler, Papist.
If contentious debate and terms like that offend you, then you should IGNORE "open" Religion Forum threads altogether and instead read and post the RF threads labeled "caucus" "ecumenical" "prayer" or "devotional."
To: ronnietherocket3; verga; boatbums
>> “The simple answer to both these questions is faith in the promise of Christ that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church. However, we are presented with a problem. How do we identify which Church this is?” <<
.
Humanist balderdash!
Yeshua is not depending on any fallible human corporation to deliver his bride.
He didn’t found a ‘church,’ he announced his Kehillah, congregation, assembly, not an organization.
Yeshua’s assembly has no human officers to guide its affairs; he denounced that model in his letters to the seven churches in Asia. He called their officers Nicolaitanes, and didn’t disguise his hatred for them.
Satan cannot prevail against Yeshua’s assembly because they are not gathered together for him to defeat. On the contrary, Satan will gather his assembly in his assault on Jerusalem, and Yeshua will crush them conpletely.
Sorry to present you with nothing to classify and put in a box. You wouldn’t be in a box yourself, had you not placed yourself there voluntarily. You can leave it anytime you wish to join Yeshua. He’ll write his Torah on your heart!
.
554
posted on
10/05/2014 8:31:12 PM PDT
by
editor-surveyor
(Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
To: ronnietherocket3
I doubt Second Temple Jews were adopting Pagan practices, particularly after the Maccabean revolt But Goldhammer said prayer for the dead was not practiced around that time, but 100 years later and only by some Jews. A lot can happen in two generations, and did.
Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. (Titus 1:14)
And it remains that praying to the departed in Heaven is utterly absent in Scripture, except by pagans, while prayer to God abounds,
and is specifically instructed to be addressed by the Lord in teaching the how to pray,
and with only God being the only one shown having the ability to hear and respond to infinite amounts of prayer,
and with Christ being manifest as the only and all sufficient Heavenly intercessor,
and with believers having direct access by Him into the holy of holies to worship commune and petition God.
Your quote establishes that it was in Jewish thought a century before the Apostles and not an innovation of the Catholic Church.
The point is that it was an innovation, utterly absent in Scripture despite over 150 prayers, and contrary to the power and position saints are shown to have, in contrast to God/Christ.
Given Jesus' repeated interactions with the Pharisees and Paul's' statement that he had been a disciple of Gamaliel, I would expect to be able to find them giving an unqualified put down of all Pharisaic notions.
That is another case in which the conclusion is unwarranted. At is takes is one major rejection of Truth and they are invalidated, while that the Pharisees supported prayer for the dead, let alone to the departed, is never shown or inferred.
The best anyone has been able to show to date is a put down of a specific tradition or two.
Really? You have the notion that "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet," plus that the common people could not be right versus them, and that itinerant preachers could not be valid if they rebuked the historical magisterium, both of which are quite like Rome when claiming assured veracity.
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. (John 7:47-49)
Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. (John 7:51-52)
555
posted on
10/05/2014 8:37:11 PM PDT
by
daniel1212
(Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
To: Religion Moderator
“If contentious debate and terms like that offend you, then you should IGNORE “open” Religion Forum threads altogether and instead read and post the RF threads labeled “caucus” “ecumenical” “prayer” or “devotional.”
I can handle far more than those lackwits can hand out. I just keep hoping, irrationally, for some *real* consistency in moderating.
556
posted on
10/05/2014 8:53:34 PM PDT
by
dsc
(Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
To: metmom
How would Genesis 1:27 not apply to Mary?
557
posted on
10/05/2014 9:12:19 PM PDT
by
rwilson99
(Please tell me how the words "shall not perish and have everlasting life" would NOT apply to Mary.)
To: ronnietherocket3
“Christ did not die on the Cross so 21st cent. Christians could whine about how they are treated on the internet.”
Right. So when the Golden Rule is violated, it is despicable to take note of it in any way.
558
posted on
10/05/2014 9:36:25 PM PDT
by
dsc
(Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
To: Religion Moderator
Oh, and you forgot to deal with the mind-reading.
559
posted on
10/05/2014 9:37:55 PM PDT
by
dsc
(Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
To: dsc
For a statement to be "mind reading" by the Religion Forum guidelines, it must be speaking of another Freeper, personally.
For instance, if you said "Mormons think they are better than anyone else" that would not be mind reading, but if you said "You think you're better than anyone else" it would be mind reading.
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