Issue with Entire Bible being Inspired and Sacred

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Ron_Conte said:
These are not errors. We simply have to understand the text properly. Some things are explained in figures, such as the seven days of creation. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are highly figurative.
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What are other reasons history, science and geography might be incorrect?
 
Ron_Conte said:
Pope Pius XII taught: “When, subsequently, some Catholic writers, in spite of this solemn definition of Catholic doctrine, by which such divine authority is claimed for the ‘entire books with all their parts’ as to secure freedom from any error whatsoever, ventured to restrict the truth of Sacred Scripture solely to matters of faith and morals, and to regard other matters, whether in the domain of physical science or history, as ‘obiter dicta’ and – as they contended – in no wise connected with faith, Our Predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII in the Encyclical Letter Providentissimus Deus, published on November 18 in the year 1893, justly and rightly condemned these errors and safe-guarded the studies of the Divine Books by most wise precepts and rules.” (Divino Afflante Spiritu, n. 1)."

The teaching of the Magisterium is that every assertion of Scripture on every subject, including physical science and history. To claim that the Bible contains nothing on the subject of physical science is to contradict this papal teaching.

Examples of truths on physical science in the Bible:
  1. Prior to the 1930’s, the common view of scientists is that the physical universe had always existed. But the Bible has always taught that Creation had a beginning. In the 1930’s, scientists proposed that the universe had a discrete beginning (the Big Bang).
  2. The creation of the human race by God, and our distinction from the lower animals.
  3. That all human persons are descended from Adam and Eve
  4. That a worldwide flood event caused great devastation in the history of the world
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I don’t believe in a worldwide flood.
 
Faith1960 said:
History and geography in the Bible aren’t always correct. Is that due to the copyists, editors and translators?
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Faith1960 - Can you pick a particular example? It is very difficult to talk about these things in any more depth without examples. We have laid out the basic principles.

Just as well, the version accepted at Trent (the old Latin Vulgate) is the authoritative version of Scripture. It seems that there are either no copy errors in it, or the “errors” have entered into the realm of inspiration, meaning that God wanted them there and so they are no longer truly errors, but changes to the original text.
 
Faith1960 said:
I don’t believe in a worldwide flood.
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Then you have something to research. Give Scripture (and God by extension) the BOTD until you’re sure they’re both wrong (ouch!) or realize that perhaps you were misunderstanding what you were reading.

Start here: newadvent.org/cathen/04702a.htm

More can be said. I would especially like to discuss a part of this article (anthropological universality) on this forum another time.

Always be willing to admit as true whatever God would have us believe. That is what faith is.👍
 
dangerousdyls said:
I’ll be honest, I’m struggling right now. I’m Catholic, I love the faith, but I’m struggling with the Bible. When I go to mass, some of the readings I really relate to and like. But…there are some Bible quotes I don’t hear at mass, quotes that I take issue with.

If the Bible is sacred and entirely inspired, how does it talk of
• killing infants
• accepting slavery
• women needing to be silent
• pregnant women being ripped open.

(Edited to remove anti-Christian website link)%between%

Some, I understand, are taken out of context, but some I really don’t understand how we can keep them as part of our faith, and recognize as “divine” or “inspired”.

Can someone shed light on this? How do we have an inspired, sacred word that directly contradicts what we believe, which is ultimately love? As a Catholic, am I required to believe the entire Bible is divinely inspired? Men put the books together and men wrote the books. I’m really struggling to wrap my head around divine inspiration, given some of the wrong things in the Bible.

My intention isn’t to mislead others, but to gain a better grounding in my own faith. If a nonbeliever points me to some of these verses and asks me to justify why they’re in our sacred book, I don’t have a response.

Also, can anyone provide a comprehensive resource that covers the history of the Bible – how the books were chosen, ordered, versed, who chose them, why, information on the original authors? I’m sure there’s loads of resources, but looking for something for a beginner like me, but still gives a thorough rundown of the history of the Bible.

Thank you!
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It is not very easy to read the Bible. For someone of these times, it is very difficult to understand and interpret the several dozen books that it consists of. From my own experience, I must tell you that there are a few ways that I have found the Bible easier to understand especially the Old Testemant.
Read it from a historical context. When the Bible speaks of genocide and several of the odd laws found in Leviticus, the Bible is giving us the story of the birth of a nation, Israel. A lot of the laws found in Leviticus such as commingling your crops are said to be an abomination. Well, in the Bible and especially the Old Testemant, an abomination was NOT something that was immorally wrong, it was a break of tradition, and not meant to be taken literally as long as we do not see Jesus speaking of it once again in the Gospels.

Hope I have been of help to you and good luck!
 
Faith1960 said:
I have.
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We believe in the Resurrection and the Real Presence. How hard is it to believe in a flood? That’s your own issue to work out I guess. God said it, God does not deceive (though can be hard to understand, even through a book!), therefore it is true.
 
e_c said:
We believe in the Resurrection and the Real Presence. How hard is it to believe in a flood? That’s your own issue to work out I guess. God said it, God does not deceive (though can be hard to understand, even through a book!), therefore it is true.
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Maybe the vastness of the Flood is a metaphor, or mistake by copyists or something.
 
Faith1960 said:
So how are we to know what the text is supposed to mean?
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It’s very simple. The bible was written by inspired people of God… That said, we have to relate to the writers day and what they knew of science, history, math, terminology and such, but the truths of God remain the same and so we read the bible for it’s inerrant spiritual moral truths first and foremost, not for it’s scientific or historical value although it is the best historical document which exists which tells of our ancient civilizations. The New Testament since it is more recent can be taken moreso for it’s historical value evenso because it is more recent than the beginnings of time…

This speaks to what I wrote before

…
Karen107 said:
It means **the bible in its entirety is inspired by God **and therefore it contains spiritual inerrant 'truths. That said it has to be read in that light. The bible is not a history book it is a spiritual book so it should not be read as a history book although it tells us a lot about our history. Moreover it teaches us about Gods interaction with humanity.
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Now refer to this scripture…Highlighting the word “ALL” and the purpose of the Written Word of God… See the bible isn’t a book written so we can use it for scientific or historical purposes (though it gives us great insight into these) but it is meant to equip us for good works… So it is inherently ‘true’ to that purpose and God speaks to us through it…

2 Timothy 3:16 **All **Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Gpd doesnt’ lie, and so the written word of God doesn’t lie either about His truths, they remain unchanging truths, that is what it means by infalliable…Numbers 23:19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
 
Faith1960 said:
About the Flood, Peggy Frye answered this, but at the end, she says the height and amount of water is left to science but she also recommends this site. Um, there has never been fewer than 10,000 people on the earth, so the Flood couldn’t have left only eight.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=4356&highlight=noah

oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Deluge
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Faith consider this…🙂 The number 8 in Hebrew symbolizes a new beginning… Chet means 8, a new beginning…I believe the 8 people were not literally 8 people but a representation of a new beginning after a devastating flood… Read what it says under number 4. about the number 8 on this website…

hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Chet/chet.html

I personally believe there was a great flood which killed many people, leaving only a remnant to carry on civilization…That’s why people have similar genetic structures as opposed to other animal species which have more varied genes. because we were all from one small group…Just look at this chart on this website…

koshland-science-museum.org/sites/all/exhibits/exhibitdna/intro03.jsp

On animal genetics…

navs.org/science/failure-of-the-animal-model

10,000 or 8, its small in number in relationship to how many people existed when these scriptures were written, all protected by God from the Great flood…It may have been an ice age occurrence, whatever, it is evident that flooding happened from a scientific viewpoint.

.earthage.org/EarthOldorYoung/scientific_evidence_for_a_worldwide_flood.htm

I am fascinated about this…🙂 Back to what’s going on here… Merry Christmas All!!
 
My position on the flood of Noah is that some elements of the story are literal:
literal ark, animals on the ark, great flood event, etc.

and other story elements are figurative:
the extent of flood, the destruction of all people and animals outside the ark, size of the ark, etc.

But it was a worldwide highly devastating flood-event that killed many persons and was very destructive to animals and nature.

in 2807 BC
 
dangerousdyls said:
I want to know what others are thinkng and saying so I’m not completely blindsided when I’m conversing with a non-Catholic. If I know their objections (which sometimes I have the same question), I can come up with a smarter response and strengthen my faith.
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I have found an excellent way to accomplish this is to listen to converts on The Journey Home. Many struggled with what their denominations taught versus what the Catholic Church teaches… and they tell how they overcame their objections.
 
Eileen_T said:
I have found an excellent way to accomplish this is to listen to converts on The Journey Home. Many struggled with what their denominations taught versus what the Catholic Church teaches… and they tell how they overcame their objections.
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Thanks Eileen – yes, I love that show!
 
Ontheway said:
I am no expert on the OT, but these stories were written by men a few thousand years ago. It is not possible to apply today’s standards to their realities and their way of thinking.
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Like pen and paper, the people who wrote the Bible, are just the tools of God. If God is going to inspire people of every culture and language, for thousands of years to come, then God has the power of final edit. I believe the Bible I read today, is the Bible that God wants me to read, and it is written as God intended.
 
Ironic that an anti-Christian website would list the killing of infants as a bad thing. Killing infants, abortion, the same thing.
 
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