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We have discussed before some concerns about the New American Bible (NAB) and how it vaguely translates the Greek word πορνείᾳ (porneia) which specifically refers to sexual immorality, but which the NAB translates only as “immorality.” Of course immorality could mean just about anything. You can read more of this rather serious problem here: NAB and PorneiaIn this post I’d like to explore another problem with the NAB that was also called to my attention by one of you. There are problematic footnotes which do not always reflect Catholic teaching. One I’d like to look at is a flawed footnote...

Principle of Private Interpretation 466. Have not Catholics to read even their own Douay Version subject to the direction of their Church? They read the Bible with the conviction that any sense which would be opposed to the express teaching of the Catholic Church would undoubtedly be an erroneous interpretation. And they know that their Church alone is the only ultimate and infallible interpreter of its pages. Individual readers are ever liable to be mistaken; but the Catholic Church cannot fall into error in any express definitions concerning the contents of Sacred Scripture. Our conviction is that God confided the...

Catholic Douay Version 464. How did the Catholic Douay Version come about? It is simply the English translation of the Latin Vulgate translation from the Hebrew and Greek made by St. Jerome in the fourth century. This English translation was made in France between the years 1582 and 1610 by five Oxford scholars who were in charge of the English Ecclesiastical College for the training of Catholic priests at Douay and Rheims. Their names were Allen, Bristoe, Martin, Worthington, and Reynolds. 465. Do Catholics regard the Douay Version as a true translation of the original manuscripts? Not in every respect....

Protestant Bibles 457. Is there any difference between a Roman Catholic Bible, and a Protestant Bible? Yes. The Protestant Bible omits several Books of the Old Testament which are contained in the Catholic Bible. It omits the Books of Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, the two Books of Machabees, and various sections of other Books. Moreover, in those sections of the Bible which the Protestant Version has retained, there are many mistranslations. 458. Has the Protestant Bible undergone any alterations since the Reformation period? Yes. As soon as Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church in 1534 and established the...

Is Bible Reading Forbidden to Catholics? 454. Despite the tributes you pay to the Bible, Rome is hostile to it, and does not want her people to read it. That is not true. In fact the Catholic Church grants special spiritual favors to those who will read Holy Scripture daily. 455. Pope Pius VII. in 1816 denounced Bible Societies as a crafty device by which the very foundations of religion are undermined. He condemned the circulation of inaccurate translations by Protestant Societies; and the Protestant principle that all should read Scripture for themselves, interpreting it according to their own private...

Catholic Attitude Towards the Bible 452. Are not all the Christian Churches based on the Bible? The Protestant Churches originally insisted that the Bible was the Word of God; but they were based on the various senses their founders read into the Bible and declared to be the meaning intended by God. But the Catholic Church, although she insists that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, does not base her position upon the Bible. She is not so foolish as to say, "Believe the Bible to be inspired because I tell you it is; and believe in me...

Archbishop Charles Chaput. Denver, Colo., Jul 16, 2010 / 07:21 pm (CNA).- Scripture is “the one story that really matters” because it is the story of God’s “new creation,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has said in a lecture on Friday morning. Calling on Christians to live their lives “in Christ,” he said Catholics should allow God’s “new creation” to take root in themselves.Speaking on Friday at the Catholic Bible Conference at St. Thomas More Parish in the Denver suburb of Littleton, the Archbishop of Denver said the story of Scripture is “the greatest story ever told – a story...

WASHINGTON — Religious leaders and lawmakers traded Scripture passages Wednesday at a congressional hearing on whether there's an ethical imperative to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Arguing for a comprehensive immigration package with a guest-worker program, Richard Land , the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission , quoted from Matthew, Leviticus and Micah in pressing for action on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S.

So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 According to most Evangelicals, a Christian needs only to believe those teachings found in Scripture (a.k.a. the Bible). For these Christians, there is no need for Apostolic Tradition or an authoritative teaching Church. For them the Bible is sufficient for learning about the faith and living a Christian life. In order to be consistent, they claim that this "By Scripture Alone" (sola Scriptura) teaching is found in Scripture, especially St. Paul's Letters.The passage...

Scenario: You're discussing religion with an Evangelical friend. For 20 minutes you've responded as best you can to her pointed arguments against Catholic doctrines like Mary's perpetual virginity, praying to saints, venerating statues, and purgatory. She's unconvinced. You're frustrated. It doesn't look like there's much of a chance you'll agree on anything. Then comes the jackpot question. "Look," she says earnestly, "we can disagree about many things, but what's most important is that we know we can be saved by Jesus Christ. Tell me, if you were to die tonight, do you know for sure if you'd go to heaven?"...

This story should alarm Christians all over America. It all started a few years ago with pro-life free bubble zones where pro-lifers weren’t allowed to discuss abortion with people going into an abortion clinic. But that was only the start. Now heavily Muslim Dearborn Michigan apparently has “Jesus free” zones. Powerline reports: Police in the heavily Arab Detroit suburb of Dearborn say they arrested four Christian missionaries for disorderly conduct at an Arab cultural festival… The “disorderly conduct” consisted of handing out copies of the Gospel of John outside the festival. The problem with the disorderly conduct charge is that...

Remember the Jesus Seminar? They were those scholars who voted away all of Jesus’ miracles and much of what He said because it didn’t seem plausible to them. You know, things like the resurrection and that kind of weird stuff. They voted on whether they thought Jesus REALLY said that or did that. Pretty much, miracles and all that oogedy-boogedy stuff were scorned. One of the more well known books coming out of the seminar was the infamously color-coded “The Five Gospels,” which had its own translations of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John from the New Testament but they also...

Everyone knows the world is in an economic crisis. What everyone doesn’t know, however, is the real reason for the crisis. There are many theories that the crisis is caused by too much spending, trade deficits, fiat currency, national debt, natural disasters, and many other suggested causes. Certainly all these play their part in fomenting the crisis, but they don’t tell us the ultimate reason they are all coming together. The real reason why economies fail is that they are ordained by God for the sins of man. God knows we need a stable economy to provide for our basic...

Liana Lupas, curator of the Rare Bible Collection at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York, with one of the first Bibles translated into the language used by American Indians. (CNS/Bob Roller) By Beth GriffinCatholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- Liana Lupas stands out in New York, even by the standards of a city that defines itself with superlatives and seems to have world-class specialists in every conceivable discipline. She calls herself "the only librarian in the world who takes care of one book." Of course, that book is "the" Book, the Bible. And in two decades...

Tim talks a little about his experience with a Catholic apologist in the Marines whom he tried to convert; in this short and humorous video.

Have you noticed that "capitalism" has become a 4-letter word to Democrats who espouse philosophies like socialism and communism? Some of these people not only bad mouth capitalists, they also denigrate Jesus, the Bible, Conservative Christians, Christianity ... basically everything and everyone Godly. There are others who are simply confused. They do not understand the concepts they embrace or oppose, and they do not understand Jesus or the Bible. (example: Michael Moore: 'Capitalism is anti-Jesus') Some have tried to paint a picture of Jesus as a socialist. Others claim that he was a capitalist. Everyone wants a Jesus in their...

Holy Scripture, despite all appearances, will not always be easy to interpret. We can be lulled into thinking our “common sense” and “by the letter” interpretation of a text is what God intends us to get out of it. However, if this is the case, there would be little to no debates about its meaning; there would be little confusion as to its purpose and how it applies to us today. St. Peter would not have needed to tell us that no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted privately, because all interpretations of Scripture would end up the...

Benedict XVI Promotes Rosary in Fatima Notes Mary's Participation in Our Lives FATIMA, Portugal, MAY 12, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging the faithful to imitate Mary in her surrender to the will of God, recommending the rosary as a method to contemplate her participation in our lives today. The Pope reflected on Our Lady's role and the rosary today during a pilgrimage at the Fatima Shrine. The Holy Father is in Portugal for the second day of a four-day trip. Thousands of faithful lined the esplanade of the shrine, carrying candles that illumined the night already fallen. Their pilgrimage...

Featured Term (selected at random):MOTIVES OF CREDIBILITY The rational grounds for accepting divine revelation in general, or of the divine establishment of the Catholic Church in particular. These grounds are also called the preambles of faith. They include the evidence from reason that God exists; that what he reveals is believable because he is all-wise and true; and that he did actually make a revelation because he performed and continues to perform verifiable miracles testifying to his having spoken. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Romans 1:21-27 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature...