Is this guy correct?

[Ghoti]

…The Catholic Church has the fullness of Divine Revelation, through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and Magisterial Teaching. Once the last apostle (John) had died, Sacred Scripture came to end. Nothing written after that is inspired by God as Public Revelation (including the Book of Mormon, the Koran, the local phone book, or anything on the NYT bestseller list).

Surely, though, you aren’t including Oprah’s Club…

 

[benedictus2]

I attend a Catholic university, and it has this place called the Campus Ministry Center. There, every Monday, there is an event called Faith Alive that I like to attend, among other events.

Today, one of the campus ministers said something that bothered me a bit.

We were talking about stories, and why they are so important to us. This was tied into the Bible, and the readings we do at Mass.

He talked about how the Bible can’t be taken literally. He said that, for instance, the Sermon on the Mount probably never happened, because it was on a mountain in Matthew, and on a plain in Luke. Also, he strongly implied the multiplying of the fish and loaves didn’t happened, that we are only supposed to take a lesson from it.

Then someone brought up when the Church developed the Canon, around 300-400, and that they ignored a lot of other gospels. This guy (the campus minister) said that they only used those that were a holistic view of our faith that gave a good overview.

I asked, well they are the only ones that are divinely inspired, right? He said not necessarily; that the others may be divinely inspired but the Church didn’t think they needed to be included.

Then I asked, isn’t the Bible inerrant? He was saying how certain things had to be taken in the context of their time, and that now things are different. He said, something like “inerrant is such an old term,” and that theology changes.

He also said the Church has made a lot of progress in the last 50 years. He said that before that, people couldn’t interpret the Bible for themselves, that now they could get more out of it. I said that Lectio Divina has lasted for quite a while, exactly for the purpose of applying the scriptures to our lives.

Finally, he said that we can’t say other religions’ scriptures and writings aren’t divinely inspired. I asked why not, when the Church has the full truth? How can we say other scriptures are divinely inspired, too?

I’m rather disappointed in this. I don’t know if I’m just missing the point of what he’s trying to say, or if he has a very liberal view of the Bible. This is honestly the first time I’ve heard something questionable from any of these events.

Am I wrong? Am I creating something out of nothing? Is any of what he said correct?

The first thing I would ask is, is the Minister Catholic. If not, then I would not even bother attending.

Secondly, how does his view square with Magisterial teaching.
You have to be very careful. Scrutinize where he is coming from and what is his agenda.

There are a lot of Catholics who have been influenced by New Age. Perhaps he is one of those.

You are right to be disturbed by this.

 

[benedictus2]

It is interesting that as more and more Catholics go out of their way to “not offend” the sensitivities of non-Catholics both God and the Church continue to be assaulted through direct and indirect acts in our society.

Maran atha!

Angel

You are so right there. Political correctness I think is the tool of the devil.

 

[mo3]

Thanks everyone.

It does seem like people want to water down the faith. They don’t want to say other religions aren’t true. They are afraid of accepting the exclusivity of the truth.

In RCIA the other day, they said that yes, the Assumption and Immaculate Conception were defined infallibly, but obviously the Church wouldn’t say it was wrong on an issue. They said it was only a theological issue that some theologians came up with, and that it wouldn’t affect our faith if it wasn’t true, so it doesn’t really matter. I felt like they didn’t want to just come out and just say that it is true, because the Church says so. Basically, they would rather have us accepted a watered down version of the faith, rather than have the chance of rejecting the actual thing, or having to explain it to us.

I am very impressed that you saw through the false logic in your RCIA program. Please don’t let it discourage you. We need discerning converts like yourself. You can help catechize our church from the inside out.
God bless.

 

[jcrichton]

If I knew a someone like this, I would definitely feel uncomfortable with the fact this person is a campus minister. I’m surprised that this happened at a Catholic university.

*Hi, emilliene!

This is exactly my point–I cannot believe that a person who opposes the Teaching of the Catholic Church is not challanged by the administration of a supposedly Catholic University; yet, when so many other things (which are just as bad) are happening in that and other “Catholic” schools it is not surprising why so many “Catholics” are existing on the fringes of our Faith and consequently leave the Church to join the various cult/sects in which they become active anti-Catholic members…

“He also said the Church has made a lot of progress in the last 50 years. He said that before that, people couldn’t interpret the Bible for themselves”

It bothered me quite a bit when I read that. We are not supposed to be interpreting the Bible ourselves because there is the danger of reading into what we want it to say. When we read and study the words of the Bible, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
But the Teaching of the Church has not changed; we are to read the Holy Scriptures in light of the Church’s Doctrine; non-Catholics have been interpreting without the discipline of our Doctrine and the results have been constant division and corruption of the Word of God, the latter is become prevalent even in the Church.

I too have a similar problem. There is a student minister at my university who does not believe in the Church’s authority. And from a few conversations with him, I learned that he supports gay marriages. And I feel uncomfortable with a person like that being a student minister because he is in the position where people might see him as a model of Catholic faith.

I suggest that you find someone on campus to discuss this. Find someone who is in charge. And voice your concerns about this campus minister. How uncomfortable you are with a person who doesn’t seem like a good role model for students like yourself.

This is exactly what we (faithful Catholics) should be doing when liberalists engage in deconstruction of the Faith; Jesus did not Command us to stay asleep but to stay alert and to be His Witnesses–but how can we be true disciples if we accept any theology that comes along, specially when it is completely against Christ’s?

…I know for some people it is quite difficult to give up that bit of individualism that makes us want to reason the world around us and coming up with own conclusions and beliefs. And that it is hard to adopt all

of the Catholic Church teachings when one is stubborn and strong-minded…
I think that the problem is “obedience” not individualism; St. Paul is very adamant about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit ("…are all Prophets… Teachers…"); God does not call us into a village of automatons; yet, we must understand that there is only One Gospel and One Holy Spirit and that He is not going to guide us according to man’s will (thousands of theologies) but according to God’s Will: One God = One Truth = One Faith!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

You are so right there. Political correctness I think is the tool of the devil.

*I suspect so since only anti-Christian values are covered in their philosophy.

Maran atha!

Angel*

 

[Ruthie]

Also, he strongly implied the multiplying of the fish and loaves didn’t happened, that we are only supposed to take a lesson from it.

I wonder if he believes in the Real Presence? The miracle of the loaves and fishes leads directly into the Eucharist, as you can see by reading John 6. No real bread produced by a miracle (Jn 6:13) = no real Bread from Heaven (Jn 6:33) = no Real Presence. (Jn 6:53-58)

Sigh. I wish - and pray - that all who teach Catholicism wrongly have a conversion of the heart and teach rightly. Or, at least, find out that they are wrong, and change…

Including me.

God have mercy on me, a sinner,

Ruthie