Sorry but the Pope is making a valid point. Those who insist on a literal interpretation of the Bible are actually leading people away from spirituality and into an intellectual dead end. Example: Consider the Exodus story. The Bible states that since the Pharoh refused to end the slavery of the Hebrews, the first born of all Egyptians were killed by angels. Pretty harsh if you take this literally. Imagine that there was an older apolitical poor Egyptian shoemaker and his wife who was thought to be barren after twenty years of marriage. Now suppose this poor honest family experienced a minor miracle and his wife at age forty gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Is it rational to believe that a just and loving God would send an angel to rip the infant from the breast of its bewildered mother and mercilessly kill it? Or is the story allegorical as are many of the parables that Jesus used as a teaching tool. In ancient times the future and well being of a nation depended on the vitality of its first born males. Slavery corrodes a culture. It leads to cruelty, sloth , and a lack of purpose in those who hold the slaves. A culture would die, since the first born would be corrupted never realize their potential, and suffer a slow death.
That is just one example why Catholics do not take the Bible literally.
...and one more reason to see the cultic aspects of such a false religion. It relies on man's intellect to provide the answers.
God is not a liar. That Scripture is inspired by God makes it true, not just some allegorical fairy tale!
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Matthew 5: 45 ... He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
ping to post 28
RE: Pretty harsh if you take this literally. Imagine that there was an older apolitical poor Egyptian shoemaker and his wife who was thought to be barren after twenty years of marriage. Now suppose this poor honest family experienced a minor miracle and his wife at age forty gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Is it rational to believe that a just and loving God would send an angel to rip the infant from the breast of its bewildered mother and mercilessly kill it?
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I don’t think it is hard at all if one will accede to the following :
GOD IS OMNISCIENT
GOD IS THE GIVER AND TAKER OF LIFE
GOD ALWAYS WORK THINGS OUT FOR THE GOOD.
GOD KNOWS THE BEGINNING FROM THE END
PHYSICAL DEATH IS NOT THE MOST TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENS TO ANYONE, SPIRITUAL DEATH IS.
GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING
In other words if you view things from God’s eternal perspective, then the problem of innocent children dying becomes less insoluble.
So, regarding the death of infants:
Why would God order the death of innocent children?
Some possible answers...
* God knows that these children would have likely grown up as adherents to the evil religions and practices of their parents.
* By ending their lives as children, God enabled them to have entrance into Heaven.
There is Biblical evidence that tells us that children who die are accepted into Heaven by the grace and mercy of God (2 Samuel 12:22-23; Mark 10:14-15; Matthew 18:2-4).
Again, this answer does not completely deal with all the issues. Our focus should be on trusting God even when we do not understand His ways. We also have to remember that God looks at things from an eternal perspective, and that His ways are higher than our ways. God is just, righteous, holy, loving, merciful, and gracious. How His attributes work together can be a mystery to us – but that does not mean that He is not who the Bible proclaims Him to be.
“That is just one example why Catholics do not take the Bible literally.”
Speak for yourself. I’m Catholic, and I wouldn’t dream of concocting a hypothetical story about “apolitical Egyptian parents” and their “miracle baby” in order to dismiss Exodus as allegory. God’s ways are not our ways, even what might seem to us to be terribly unjust from the limited view of our temporal perspective probably isn’t from the perspective of an all-knowing and all-powerful God.
“That is just one example why Catholics do not take the Bible literally.”
First of all, I doubt that you speak for “Catholics.”
Second, what a pathetic argument. You have your own hypothetical case that you set against the Holy Scriptures and their plain and clear meaning. Sorry, but I’m going to go with the Scriptures, however intelligent and all knowing you fancy yourself to be or, even more unlikely, are.
Third, why are you resorting to an emotionally charged hypothetical when you claim to be the friend of the “intellectual?” What’s with that?
Three strikes. You’re out.
You don’t really like the bible as it is written do you?