Biblical Truths denied by Roman Church!
# ----------------------------------------
# The Times October 05, 2005
#
# Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
# By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
#
#
#
# THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document
# instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true. #
#
# The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five
# million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that
# they should not expect "total accuracy" from the Bible.
#
# "We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete
# historical precision," they say in The Gift of Scripture.
#
# The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right,
# in particular in the US.
#
# Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told
# in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin's theory of evolution in schools, believing
# "intelligent design" to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
#
# But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times
# conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country's
# Catholic bishops insist cannot be "historical". At most, they say, they may
# contain "historical traces".
#
# The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since the 17th century,
# when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for flouting a near-universal belief in
# the divine inspiration of the Bible by advocating the Copernican view of the
# solar system. Only a century ago, Pope Pius X condemned Modernist Catholic
# scholars who adapted historical-critical methods of analysing ancient literature
# to the Bible.
#
# In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They
# say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is "God's word
# expressed in human language" and that proper acknowledgement should be given
# both to the word of God and its human dimensions.
#
# They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways "appropriate to changing
# times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries".
#
# The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but
# continue: "We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular
# matters."
#
# They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its "intransigent intolerance" and to
# warn of "significant dangers" involved in a fundamentalist approach.
#
# "Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group
# see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider
# themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others."
#
# Of the notorious anti-Jewish curse in Matthew 27:25, "His blood be on us and on
# our children", a passage used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism, the bishops
# say these and other words must never be used again as a pretext to treat Jewish
# people with contempt. Describing this passage as an example of dramatic
# exaggeration, the bishops say they have had "tragic consequences" in encouraging
# hatred and persecution. "The attitudes and language of first-century quarrels
# between Jews and Jewish Christians should never again be emulated in relations
# between Jews and Christians."
#
# As examples of passages not to be taken literally, the bishops cite the early
# chapters of Genesis, comparing them with early creation legends from other
# cultures, especially from the ancient East. The bishops say it is clear that the
# primary purpose of these chapters was to provide religious teaching and that
# they could not be described as historical writing.
#
# Similarly, they refute the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation, the last book
# of the Christian Bible, in which the writer describes the work of the risen
# Jesus, the death of the Beast and the wedding feast of Christ the Lamb.
#
# The bishops say: "Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and
# is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in this
# book details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved and about
# when the end will come."
#
# In their foreword to the teaching document, the two most senior Catholics of the
# land, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and Cardinal
# Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrew's and Edinburgh, explain its context.
#
# They say people today are searching for what is worthwhile, what has real value,
# what can be trusted and what is really true.
#
# The new teaching has been issued as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of
# Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council document explaining the place of
# Scripture in revelation. In the past 40 years, Catholics have learnt more than
# ever before to cherish the Bible. "We have rediscovered the Bible as a precious
# treasure, both ancient and ever new."
#
# A Christian charity is sending a film about the Christmas story to every primary
# school in Britain after hearing of a young boy who asked his teacher why Mary
# and Joseph had named their baby after a swear word. The Breakout Trust raised
# £200,000 to make the 30-minute animated film, It's a Boy. Steve Legg, head of
# the charity, said: "There are over 12 million children in the UK and only
# 756,000 of them go to church regularly.
#
# That leaves a staggering number who are probably not receiving basic Christian
# teaching."
#
# BELIEVE IT OR NOT
#
# UNTRUE
#
# Genesis ii, 21-22
#
# So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept he
# took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the
# Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man
#
#
# Genesis iii, 16
#
# God said to the woman [after she was beguiled by the serpent]: "I will greatly
# multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet
# your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
#
#
# Matthew xxvii, 25
#
# The words of the crowd: "His blood be on us and on our children."
#
#
# Revelation xix,20
#
# And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence
# had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the
# beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the
# lake of fire that burns with brimstone."
#
#
# TRUE
#
# Exodus iii, 14
#
# God reveals himself to Moses as: "I am who I am."
#
#
# Leviticus xxvi,12
#
# "I will be your God, and you shall be my people."
#
#
# Exodus xx,1-17
#
# The Ten Commandments
#
# Matthew v,7
#
# The Sermon on the Mount
#
# Mark viii,29
#
# Peter declares Jesus to be the Christ
#
# Luke i
#
# The Virgin Birth
#
# John xx,28
#
# Proof of bodily resurrection
#
#
#
 

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