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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.

Read the rest here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...811332,00.html

__________________
Agitate until we create a stable society that benefits all our people.
Instigate the nation until we remedy the injustices of society.
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Chairman of Free Montserrat United Movement

This eh nothing new. Since when the catholic followed the Bible. They've always claim that they take president over the Bible. This is nothing new!!

Souljah , yu on fire today ent? ... someone kidnapped yu and took yu tu church dont it?

its surprising how Bishops are sending the "warning" and not the Pope himself...

ah think I getting the theme tho....Catholicism is trash, other forms of Christianity is the best , especially SDA, and non Christians are really heathen Pagans waiting for their date of departure to hell...


**everyday I give thanks that I am not of a weak mind or come to these forums seeking answers**

*Opens SS mouth. Drops 2 in. Closes SS mouth*
Now what in yuh mouth match what yuh typing on d screen.

Thanks Kiz!

Leave de SDAs out of dis chread please and thanks...dis is de Catholics time in de light...

Dead...figures Kiz woulda come up with dis...

I know... .... oddly enough that thing in my mouth is the same thing thats in the head of most of you Christians...yu are the worse hypocrites on the planet...

why? my fire isnt exclusive to Catholics...
I have enough fire for all a yu..

Is a good ting God judging we...and not man...

What de hell going on in here?

Put yuh fire in a separate chread...dis one talking bout de Catholics and dem...

doh mind me eh...I feeling miserable tuhday...

there I fixed it

why u never said that to ST when he said what he said? - but since youre Christian I wouldnt expect anything else but hypocrisy..

btw - I said this in december , I'll say it again ..anytime anyone of you Christians want to debate relgious matters just call me out ..

me neither - ...

and I did start the JACK....so back to it....


THAT ARTICLE IS ANOTHER LOAD OF CRAP.....
someone post one issued by Benedict from the Vatican and I'll shut up!....

this is the best sentence in the entire article...."Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and is not to be interpreted literally".

RIDICULOUS, but expected from that church.

Same here.

__________________
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"If you keep believing in yourself and seek enthusiasm inside your soul, things will get simpler, more spontaneous." ~Paulo Coelho

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the floor each morning the devil says:
"Oh Crap, She's up!"