Catholic church says not to take Bible as truth

Acebot44 · 10-06-2005, 05:32 PM

Great, now that this issue is settled I won't have to hear any more crap on Intelligent Design.

BlueFire · 10-06-2005, 07:03 PM

Hmm..

I'm not one to speak for the Church, but..
I don't think they ever meant the Bible to be taken as complete and factual truth (especially Genesis, which is really Jewish folklore and was never meant to be taken word for word).

I'm not even Catholic and I knew that.

Bond · 10-06-2005, 07:05 PM

How is this news? Any dumbass should know the Bible is not taken as scientific fact by the vast majority of Catholics.

Typhoid · 10-06-2005, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bond

How is this news? Any dumbass should know the Bible is not taken as scientific fact by the vast majority of Catholics.

I.

I love you.

Professor S · 10-06-2005, 07:20 PM

The idea of taking the Bible literally is actually a recent idea in relative terms. The oldest versions of Christianity, represented most closely today by Russian Orthodox, always took the Bible a book of parables in most cases. They are lessons to learn to live by, and not to take every word literally.

To take Neo's example, creation or Intelligent Design as a parable would follow in this type of argument.

The world was created in 7 days. Yes, we know that is not accurate measured in today's terms. But how long is a day to God? Or an hour or a minute? The measurement of time is a human creation, and not necessarily the only measurement. A single day to God might be a billion of our years. The point to take from it is that God created the universe, not that Cristians are trying to say that it took 7 days. Do some Christians take the Bible literally? Yes, but thats their weakness, not their religions. I find that when any religious people take their books literally, they tend to miss the intended lesson and use the text the legitimize their pre-determined beliefs and/or biases.

FYI - I do not believe in Creationism or intelligent design. I am a believer that the universe is infinite in space and time, as is God. I am a Deist (sp?), not a Christian.

The idea that the Catholic church, or any other church for that matter, accepts the idea of the Bible as a parable does not invalidate Christianity or religion.

Vampyr · 10-06-2005, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor S

Yes, we know that is not accurate measured in today's terms.

We don't really know that.

And even when taking the Bible in the most unliteral and figurative of terms it is still highly unbelievable.

DISCLAIMER: I did read you're post and I am not calling you a Christian. That second part isn't directed at you.

GiMpY-wAnNaBe · 10-07-2005, 12:41 AM

i find it funny that the church had to clarify this to it's people. It does not take the thought process of a genius to realize that word of mouth and hand written copies tend to change over the course of hundreds of years.

Professor S · 10-07-2005, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vampyr

We don't really know that.

And even when taking the Bible in the most unliteral and figurative of terms it is still highly unbelievable.

Believability is relative, and dependent on your level of faith. What you find unbelievable, many feel is completely accurate and obvious. Just because you disblieve doesn't make you right, as well as their belief doesn't make them correct. Its about personal truth.

And Gimpy, the Bible has actually been purposefully changed multiple times over the years, with sections being added and removed over the centuries. The Catholic church has removed and changed a lot of the New and Old Testament, calling those section heretical, which is a contradiction in termsif you think about it.

Example, the Book of Enoch (yes, I've brought it up before) was once a part of the Bible. Check it out, its a fascinating and in depth read describing the events that caused The Biblical Flood. Very "wrathful" depictiuon of God, and it in fact QUOTES God of several occasions.

http://reluctant-messenger.com/1enoch01-60.htm