Posted on 08/04/2021 2:19:35 PM PDT by MurphsLaw
The promotion of Biblical interpretations serving secular, liberal political agendas of sex and race is only the latest manifestation of a centuries-old trend.
The Bible makes no explicit condemnations of transgenderism. It makes no claims as to the morality of abortion. It encourages racial reparations. Such claims can be found virtually everywhere in corporate media like the Washington Post, New York Times, or CNN, which seek to promote the various political objectives of the Democratic Party.
During his campaign for president, Episcopalian Pete Buttigieg argued that Jesus never mentioned abortion and that Bible verses censuring homosexuality were culturally conditioned, not eternal truths. The Washington Post, in turn, cites secular academics, who offer Biblical exegesis of a progressivist, feminist, and racial identitarian variety.
Of course, the Bible has always been a political document. The Old Testament was not only a religious and liturgical text but one that had much to say about the governance of the ancient kingdom of Israel. Jesus told his followers to respect and pay taxes to the Roman Empire. St. Paul described the temporal ruler as “God’s servant for your good.” (Romans 13:3-4)
For most of ecclesial history, the primary interpreters of Holy Scripture were not journalists, politicians, or secular academics, but the Catholic Church herself. Most early Church Fathers were priests or bishops. Ecumenical councils like Nicea, Chalcedon, or Lyon made determinations on theology, morality, and the meaning of the Bible.
But beginning in the fourteenth century, scholars like Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham began questioning the hierarchy’s hold on biblical interpretation. Instead, they proposed, the Bible should be under the authority of scholarly experts supported by secular political authorities. Though it would take several centuries for their ideas to proliferate, this thinking came to fruition in the Reformation and Enlightenment, and inspire trends in scriptural exegesis to this day.
This story is the focus of Scott Hahn’s and Benjamin Wiker’s book, The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture: How the Bible Became a Secular Book. Less than three-hundred pages, the book summarizes the central arguments of the authors’ 2012 Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700, which is more than twice the size. This is a welcome development; it makes their important contributions accessible to a larger audience.
While the story begins with Marsilius and Ockham and their Erastian belief in the supremacy of the state over the Church, the reader will encounter many familiar faces. John Wycliffe, esteemed by Protestants as the “Morning Star” of the Reformation, argued that “the pope ought, as he formerly was, to be subject to Caesar.” The monarch would then employ “doctors and worshipers of the divine law” to interpret the Bible. Martin Luther also called for the German princes to wrest ecclesial power away from corrupt bishops and the Roman pontiff, and grant him unequaled interpretive authority. Indeed, Luther asked the prince of Saxony to expel fellow reformer Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt because of the latter’s radical teachings. Around the same time, Machiavelli viewed the biblical text as material for furthering secular political ends.
All of these men influenced the court of English King Henry VIII, who recognized that the Reformation offered an opportunity to consolidate his political power. Thus, he pursued the Act of Supremacy in 1534 to grant him “supreme” headship over the Church of England, followed by the dissolution of monasteries, closure of shrines, and seizure of Church wealth. His King’s Book then declared that individuals must be subject to the “particular church” of the region in which they live, and obey the “Christian kings and princes” to whom they are subject.
Other Englishmen would further endorse this thinking. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes asserts that there is only “one chief Pastor” who is “according to the law of Nature. . .the civil sovereign.” Hobbes also rejected many of the supernatural elements of Scripture, as well as Heaven and Hell. John Locke, dismayed by the violence and distemper caused by the English Civil War, endorsed a state-controlled church whose most important feature would be “toleration,” since religious sentiments were private matters “of the mind.” For Locke, Jesus was ultimately a political messiah whose teachings focused on the perpetuation of a “civil morality.”
There are many other actors in this torrid tale – Baruch Spinoza, J. Richard Simon, John Toland – but enough is clear from the above to appreciate the consequences of these religio-political trends. Proto-Reformers called for dethroning the Catholic hierarchy’s supremacy over biblical interpretation. The Reformers, relying on princes and kings, put that wish into practice. And political philosophers and state-sanctioned scholars normalized it. Wherever the Catholic Church ceased to exert ecclesial authority, the state took up the reins.
There has always been this tension between Church and state. St. Ambrose excommunicated the emperor Theodosius because of his execution of 7,000 citizens of Thessalonica. Pope Gregory VII excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV because of a dispute over investiture. And Thomas Becket’s resistance to English King Henry II’s attempts to control the Church resulted in his murder at Canterbury Cathedral.
There is actually something healthy about this tension: when the state and the Church both operate strong spheres of power and influence, they serve as checks upon one another. Kings and governments cannot pursue any policy without risking moral condemnation from ecclesial leadership that will undermine their popular support. And Church corruption and nepotism can be used by secular authorities eager to usurp power.
Hahn’s and Wiker’s history tracks the growing imbalance in favor of the state, a disparity whose roots can be traced back to the late Medieval period. The ubiquitous promotion of Biblical interpretations that serve secular, liberal political agendas related to sex and race is only the latest manifestation of this centuries-old trend. To reverse it requires a return to a more ancient understanding that the Bible is, before all else, the book of the Church, rather than the state or its acolytes in the media or the academy. Catholics need to support and celebrate churchmen who appreciate and seek to realize that essential mission.
From the Internet: A baby's heartbeat can be detected by transvaginal ultrasound as early as 3 to 4 weeks after conception.
Amen
AMEN!!
2Corinthians 5:14-21 are among the most beautiful of all the Scriptures, to me.
It’s all about His finished work for us, reconciliation to God through His finished work for us and our greatest commission of all; being bassadors for Him; sharing His love and finished work for us.
5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteous of God in him”
Beautiful matchless grace!
If “no mischief follow” the guy pays a find as the judges determine.
Then it’s eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It puts a high value on the life of a fetus.
Elsewhere in the old testament, damage to slaves is paid out a little bit cheaper.
There is a gradation in the old testament towards the value of life.
Our good Lord sorted things out at Calvary. It’s up to you to accept or deny His solution for our sins. He gave us one solution. His life for our life. There are no other options available
Look for the highest bidder.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. [Jesus speaking]
That term “everyone” is very specific and does not leave much wiggle room.
Romans 8:8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Those in Christ are PROMISED by God to be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, to be like CHrist, and this is AT LEAST a thousand years before the Great White Throne of Judgment. We not appointed to be judged since we have been judged in Christ and have been accounted to have His Righteousness.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.One must live according to the Spirit, i.e. be in a state of grace. Faith alone is not enough.
Lacks context, while Rome requires RC rulers to exterminate all she deemed to be heretics or loose their authority. Apologizing centuries later because some RC rulers did so is disingenuous. Early Prots actually had to unlearn this abuse themselves.
"There are many other actors in this torrid tale – Baruch Spinoza, J. Richard Simon, John Toland – but enough is clear from the above to appreciate the consequences of these religio-political trends. Proto-Reformers called for dethroning the Catholic hierarchy’s supremacy over biblical interpretation."
How dare you reprove all the TradCaths who essentially presume to know what historical Catholic teaching means, versus V2 and following!
I dare we presume that you affirm what the required notes in your official American Bible (NAB, now NABRE) has now taught for decades (and those with slight despite revisions), including the approved study helps from 1960?
During his campaign for president, Episcopalian Pete Buttigieg argued that Jesus never mentioned abortion and that Bible verses censuring homosexuality were culturally conditioned, not eternal truths.
And the NAB as well as the slghtly revised version, the NABRE, will not use render “porneia” as “sexual immorality” or anything sexual in places such as simply rendering the words for fornication/fornicator as "immorality" or "immoral persons" among the many occurrences of the words for sexual immorality. (Matthew 5:32 Matthew 15:19 Matthew 19:9 Mark 7:21 John 8:41 Acts 15:20 Acts 15:29 Acts 21:25 Romans 1:29 1 Corinthians 5:1 1 Corinthians 5:9 1 Corinthians 5:10 1 Corinthians 5:11 1 Corinthians 6:9 1 Corinthians 6:13 1 Corinthians 6:18 1 Corinthians 5:9 ,10,11; 7:2; 6:9; 1 Corinthians 10:8 2 Corinthians 12:21 Galatians 5:19 Ephesians 5:3 Colossians 3:5 1 Thessalonians 4:3 Hebrews 12:16 Jude 7 Revelation 2:14,20,21; 9:21; 14:8;17:2,4; 18:3,9; 19:2) even though in most cases it is in a sexual context.
And in addition to not calling fornication just that, is the preference for gender-neutral language being the norm. A RC reviewer says of the NABRE: ...with the NABRE, the U.S. Bishops have used inclusive language more extensively than ever before. Masculine references are obscured or neutered. But of course all feminine references are retained. The use of the Biblical phrase ‘sons of Israel’, indicating the Israelites as a group led by men, which is thoroughly attested to in manuscripts, is utterly rejected. References using the term ‘man’ and to mankind using the term ‘man’ or ‘mankind’ are also rephrased. The only exception seems to be in the Psalms, which allows some traditional phrasings, such as ‘Blessed is the man’ and ‘the son of man’. However, even the Psalms have substantial use of inclusive language in many places. "This story is the focus of Scott Hahn’" An exposed propagandist, by the grace of God. "While the story begins with Marsilius and Ockham and their Erastian belief in the supremacy of the state over the Church," Actually it is evangelicals (whom you attack) who are shown to be least likely to simply follow anti-Christian civil leaders, while you and your so-called "hippie pope" would conceivably pave the way for the mark of the Beast.
Faitghing is the ONLY enough for GOD to justify someone. everything after that is the cooperation sanctification phase, which cannot add or erase what God did in the justification phase by faith alone on Christ alone. There is no salvation in any of your works, and you cannot maintain the eternal life only GOD could account to you.
Just following what Paul taught, as is shown in the very passage that you quoted.
Philippians 1:6
“Being CONFIDENT of this very thing, that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
It is the Holy Spirit working in us and will continue to work in us until the day of Christ.
He guides us, teaches us and perfects us unto a perfect man. He is there in us the moment we are saved. This is His job for the members of the Body of Christ. Sealing us and spiritually baptizing believers into the Body of Christ, the One New Man
And we can have every confident this is being performed on every believer.
Where did you get the idea that FR is a Catholic-owned website?
As part of his argument that the lack of clarity in Scripture means a sure and authoritative discerner and interpreter is needed, which Rome interprets herself to be. For Rome has presumed to infallibly declare she is and will be perpetually infallible whenever she speaks in accordance with her infallibly defined (scope and subject-based) formula, which renders her declaration that she is infallible, to be infallible, as well as all else she accordingly declares.
Agreed, but we must cooperate with that Spirit. That God sends us his Spirit does not give us license to return to a life of sin. This is clear in Paul in the passage just quoted and elsewhere, e.g.:
For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want. But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another. (Galatians 5:13-14)
When someone is born again God separates the soul and spirit so that He in His Hooly Righteousness abides in the born again spirit. The soul / behavior mechanism is THEREAFTER remade by the renewing of the mind of the soul via holy spirit directing in the sanctification phase.
Thank you for the opportunity to explain that further.
Are you saying that a person who is born again in Christ is incapable of sinning?
I think it’s also to determine the temperature of the fire they will have to endure. 😀🤗😫😂
God gave all of Adam's descendants a spirit. That spirit until born again is dead in tresppasses and sins. God puts His life in the psirit, not the soul. The soul has grown up sinning and continues to want to do what comes so naturally to it. Paul showed us that even his soul sinned which grieved not just the Holy Spirit within his spirit but grieved Paul too! But he was never not born again once God birthed him from above. Sin is like a viper's poison. But once God cleanses the spirit and comes to abide therein, the born again spirit remains sinless because God is in there. The soul/behavior mechanism is separate from the bornb again spirit (12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 1599 Geneva Bible)
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