Errors in the Writings of Mystics

  • Thread starter Thread starter sealabeag
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sealabeag

Guest
Hi,
My question is this: how are we supposed to deal with errors in the writings of mystic saints? I’m sure there are many examples, but here is one for the purpose of illustration: I was reading a bit from Blessed Anne Catherine Emerich where she says: “I beheld Jesus teaching at Aruma. Jesus, speaking before the Pharisees of the call of Abraham and his sojourn in Egypt, exposed the errors of the Egyptian calendar. He told them that the world had now existed 4028 years. When I heard Jesus say this, he was Himself 31 years old.”

The bit in bold is the issue. A canonised mystic of the church heard Jesus say that the world is, as of today, around 6000 years old. What are we to do with this, and other errors in the supposedly inspired writings of mystics? On this issue, I know there are young earth creationists who might agree with this dating, but I think it’s generally considered false.

I know people will say “The canonisation of a saint doesn’t give approval to their writings” and “Everyone can make a mistake” and things like that, but I do find it difficult to reconcile.

Any thoughts appreciated,
Thanks.
 
Can you please provide a link to this? Or any form of documentation where I can read this proclamation?
 
Interesting I didn’t know that! However what Blessed Anne said and the Church’s date of 5,199 years are different by about 1000 years. So that’s still an issue.
I definitely have no problem believing scripture and church teaching over the science of the day, as it changes from one day to the next, but it does seem unlikely that the earth is 7,000 years old, no?
Maybe I’ll read some of the creationists arguments, just to see the logic.
But I don’t want this to become a debate over the age of the earth! 🙂
 
Maybe the fact that geology and paleontology prove that the earth is much older.
 
Blessed (or still Venerable?) Anne Catherine Emerich is not a Saint (yet). The titles Venerable, Blessed, and Saint must be clearly differentiated. One may attain to the first and not the second, or to the second and never pass on to the third (Canonization, or being enrolled in the Canon — official list — of Saints). Those deemed Venerable can be venerated in public and their life is considered worthy of emulation, or imitation and requires no proof of a miracle through the Venerable’s intercession. With the Blessed, one miracle has been suffificiently investigated and deemed authentic. For the Canonized, a second verified miracle is required, and their status in the Canon can only be declared by a pope.

A more pertinent discussion would revolve around not when the earth was created, but in light of the defection to apostasy in the highest echelons of the Church’s episcopacy — when the world will end! Or of more vital impotance still, when will we die? In light of this inevitability, our focus should be on living a life pleasing to God — apart from Whom every issue pales in significance. Respice in finem!
 
Anne Catherine Emmerich’s writings have not been approved by the Church and thus are against rules for discussion on CAF.
 
The mystics are still human and subject to err. And we are not bound by private revelation.
 
@sealabeag

Jesus was a 1st century Jew. Perhaps he believed that’s how old the Earth was.

It is said that through His omnipotence, God restrained the omniscience of The Son in Jesus. Meaning, that Jesus literally learned things from his mother and father the way that anybody else did. He wasn’t just a baby/child going through the motions.
 
Last edited:
You mean the hypostatic union?

Jesus was 100% human. He learned things from his father & mother and was educated about things. He had a human brain and processed information.
 
Last edited:
sigh

Well, maybe if I’m in the mood I’ll dig something up. I don’t keep a library of reference material sitting on my desk and something tells me you won’t be convinced by any quote I give anyway, because what I’m saying is pretty non-controversial; that Jesus literally learned things like other people do. He was literally instructed by Mary & Joseph. He shared in all things except sin.

The Father revealed things to him, but not necessarily all things. There are saints who shared in the gift of being able to know other people’s thoughts and intentions.
 
Last edited:
I’m not so sure. The Church has even taken a nonchalant stance on the age of the earth /universe and has left the matter to scientists. It is not something necessary for salvation. The apostles were likewise ignorant about all sorts of things, but… so what? They had what they needed in order to perform their ministry. They didn’t need to know that the rings of Saturn were made of ice or about the existence of the American continents, etc.

And the evidence that the universe is billions of years old is overwhelming, to the point that the only way the universe isn’t actually billions of years old is because God purposely tricked us into making it look like it is billions of years old when it actually isn’t, and that doesn’t seem like something that God would do.
 
Last edited:
Sin is transmitted from our original parents, but the historical Adam & Even may go back exceedingly further than the ones in Genesis. People like Adam and Noah were probably pious monotheists living in ancient Mesopotamia.
 
Jesus was (is) a divine being who came down from Heaven and took upon Himself human flesh. He is the God-man.

The world was made through Him. He was n not lacking in knowledge. He was in the beginning with the Father.

Yes, he had to be potty-trained, learn language, etc. from his parents.

Maybe you didn’t mean to intimate otherwise, but simply saying He was “100% human” without clarifying the He was 100% divine would be in error.
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
The world was made through Him. He was n not lacking in knowledge. He was in the beginning with the Father.

Yes, he had to be potty-trained, learn language, etc. from his parents.
Click to expand...
So if he had to be potty-trained, learn language, etc. from his parents, then why would he not also need to learn about biology or geology, etc.? As the 2nd person of the Trinity he was omniscient but at the Incarnation he took on all of the foibles of humanity (minus sin). This includes physical emotions, going to the bathroom, being educated, sleeping, being tired, etc. So when he was helping out Joseph, for example, he was learning the trade as any human would.
 
Last edited:
Christ had all heavenly and eternal knowledge. He did not have the physical experience of being a human till he was human. I know what a dog’s life is like, but I don’t what it is like to experience being a dog in the flesh.
 
Scripture - which says that Jesus grew in wisdom, which means he could not have been omniscient (or how did he grow). And the Catechism, which says the same.

Edit: Here is the quote from the Catechism, paragraph 472:
This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top