Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible

[Ioo]

Sorry if this is a dupe...

By definition, an evangelical believes everything the bible says (well the parts they read) and refuses to question anything in it.

So now, the Catholics not so sure…

-------------------

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”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1811332,00.html

[Seen the light]

1. Again, this is just those people in those places, it's not the Vatican

[Pirate Smile]

2. Catholics have NEVER believed the bible was all literally true

historically.

You should get a lot of posts from Catholics, people who grew up Catholic and non-Catholics who attended Catholic schools - we were told many of the stories in the Old Testament were parables to teach, not factually accurate.

I remember a nun saying that during a religion class when I was just a kid.

This is nothing new. It is one reason the fundies don't like Catholics and think we are going to hell.

[soothsayer]

4. It's why us Catholics are semi-encouraged NOT to read the bible

Cuz it's confusing unless you know how to interpret it. You need a priest for that.

[I Have A Dream]

17. Back when I was an Evangelical Christian, I was told that Catholics...

were encouraged not to read the Bible so that the Catholic Church could control its people rather than having them see for themselves the power that God has given to them directly. This is how Evangelicals view Catholicism's view of the Bible.

I am no longer religious but am very spiritual. I hate it when religions put each other down.

[dalaigh lllama]

3. This isn't new with Catholic church

They were teaching the Old Testament wasn't to be taken literally 30 years ago when I was taking Catholic theology classes.

[suziedemocrat]

11. Exactly - my CCD priest told us the bible was not to be taken literally.

The message was the key. One of the reasons I'm glad I was raised Catholic and not some fundie religion like my neighbors in the small Indiana town where I grew up. We were encouraged to think a little more.

[moc]

5. Please take the "no longer" out of your title

It implies that something has changed, and this is incorrect. We Catholics have never been literal interpreters of the Bible.

[I Have A Dream]

13. He/she put the title of the article in the subject line.

However, because this was not posted in Latest Breaking News, this is not required. My guess is that the person was following the LBN format, although not required in the General Discussion forum.

[chat_noir]

6. which version?

"The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven…The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book." - The Da Vinci Code

“The winners in history are usually the ones who write the history we read.” - Napoleon

These quotes pretty much summarize my feeling about the Bible.

[enlightenment]

7. "Historical traces"!!

Postmodernism has met the Catholic Church.

Don't know much about RC, but I never thought they took the position of biblical in-errancy to begin with -- still, I love the reference to "historical traces."

[MarianJack]

8. Since I Was In Catholic School...

...we were taught that.

My 8th grade Nun, the BEST teacher I've ever had, always said that much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, was metaphorical. She, unlike your basic fundie preacher, taught us to actually THINK. And this was during the 1969-70 school year!

ChicaAzul is in her 14th year of teaching Catholic School, and this is what she teaches in her Religion classes. She used to be a Nun, also.

May I say that I'm proud of these Bishops. They certainly are pissing in the creationist's soup. Get ready for the smear campaign! This is a challenge to those of our community who don't practice a religion to recognise the importance of the message and defend people you may not necessarily want todefend!

[pox americana]

9. I think this is what got Luther in a lather

back in 1517.

[skooooo]

10. Why don't the Protestants believe like this? Even Jesus...

...spoke in parables. He wasn't concerned with "factual" stuff, that was for the established dogma taught by the priests and pharosis (spelling?).

[I Have A Dream]

15. I think that many Protestants do believe this also. It's really just...

the Evangelical Christians that don't, in my opinion.

[I Have A Dream]

12. Self-deleted. n/t

[acmavm]

14. Went to a private Catholic girls boarding school. A nun once said "Do you

really believe that Noah spent 40 days in the stomach of a whale? Or that we speak different languages because a bunch of guys tried to erect a building to heaven?"

That was in the mid 60s.

edit: spelling

[I Have A Dream]

16. Just to be really precise, wasn't it Jonah rather than Noah?

(I'm not trying to be smart.)

:hi:

[acmavm]

18. YES you're right. Trying to talk on the phone and post at the same time

doesn't lend to much intelligence.

[NNN0LHI]

19. Well gosh maybe it was all BS then? Have they thought of that? n/t

[skooooo]

20. Just because it's not to be taken literally...

...doesn't mean it's BS, imo.

[Pirate Smile]

22. edit - self delete.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. Catholics have NEVER read the bible literally

This is nothing new.