So many bible contradictions that can't be explained away

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gtrguy155

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Hello everyone,

Im worried tonight.

The past months of bible studying has really made me question the bible a lot.
I have some concerns that I will list here. I hope we can have a good discussion on this post about any of these points.

Im worried that the bible might not be from God or has been changed from the original text… I’m also worried because we are supposed to follow traditions handed down in the church but I don’t feel I can trust much of anything that comes from the vatican.

Im sure there are good people there but also a lot of crooked people - also many crooked people in the church’s history as well so you can see why I have trouble trusting these people.

My beliefs at the moment: I believe there is a God, but maybe we’re being tested in some way. Maybe we’re really not supposed to know anything about him or our purpose in life. I’m not going to mass much anymore because of my mental health at the moment which isn’t too great but also my concerns about the church. It’s making it harder for me to want to have anything to do with mass.

But anyways here are my concerns list:
  • there are a lot of contradictions in the bible. Yes, some contradictions people list can be explained away, but A LOT can’t be explained away at all. There’s no way around many of them because they really are just straight contradictions.
  • also things like the “kill homosexuals” thing in the old testament confuses me. I thought God doesn’t want us to murder but in the old testament you’re supposed too? I’ve seen a verse that says God always stays and thinks the same.
Also verses where it says God sometimes decieves worries me.
  • Also anything anyone wants to say about why we should trust the vatican. The catholic church put the bible together - what if they changed, added, or deleted things in it to suit what they wanted the church to be?
I know that’s a lot. I know you may not want to respond to every single point I said, but even just one would be great.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.
 
gtrguy155 said:
Hello everyone,

Im worried tonight.

The past months of bible studying has really made me question the bible a lot.
I have some concerns that I will list here. I hope we can have a good discussion on this post about any of these points.

Im worried that the bible might not be from God or has been changed from the original text… I’m also worried because we are supposed to follow traditions handed down in the church but I don’t feel I can trust much of anything that comes from the vatican.

Im sure there are good people there but also a lot of crooked people - also many crooked people in the church’s history as well so you can see why I have trouble trusting these people.

My beliefs at the moment: I believe there is a God, but maybe we’re being tested in some way. Maybe we’re really not supposed to know anything about him or our purpose in life. I’m not going to mass much anymore because of my mental health at the moment which isn’t too great but also my concerns about the church. It’s making it harder for me to want to have anything to do with mass.

But anyways here are my concerns list:
  • there are a lot of contradictions in the bible. Yes, some contradictions people list can be explained away, but A LOT can’t be explained away at all. There’s no way around many of them because they really are just straight contradictions.
  • also things like the “kill homosexuals” thing in the old testament confuses me. I thought
    God doesn’t want us to murder but in the old testament you’re supposed too? I’ve seen a
    verse that says God always stays and thinks the same.
Also verses where it says God sometimes decieves worries me.
  • Also anything anyone wants to say about why we should trust the vatican. The catholic
    church put the bible together - what if they changed, added, or deleted things in it to suit what they wanted the church to be?
I know that’s a lot. I know you may not want to respond to every single point I said, but
even just one would be great.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.
Click to expand...
Just a couple of things to ponder:

A) if God commands a killing it cannot possibly be murder, murder is unlawful or wrongful killing and God does not command anything wrong or unlawful. Doesn’t mean we are to automatically assume it’s OK to kill anyone without such a specific command as the Israelites had.

B) We can trust the accuracy of our translations. For example, there are texts of chunks of the OT found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The writers of these were unknown to the Church, yet we can compare their texts to those known to and endorsed by the Church
and no significant differences between them.

C) God sometimes deceives? Whaaaa? Where in the Bible does it say this? You may be thinking of the Qu’ran, which does indeed say Allah deceived people into thinking Jesus was crucified.
 
there are a lot of contradictions in the bible. Yes, some contradictions people list can be explained away, but A LOT can’t be explained away at all. There’s no way around many of them because they really are just straight contradictions.
Click to expand...
While I’m not exactly a Bible expert, common sense tells me that you should list down these apparent contradictions that seem valid enough for you to sway your faith. The same applies to the apparent “kill homosexuals” and “God lies sometimes” lines that you’ve apparently found.

From there actual discussion can take place rather than emotional release.
 
I apologize for not being able to list all of the contradictions i’ve found. There are many. And i’m on a mobile device and cannot copy and paste scripture passages.

And yes - there are a few bible quotes that say that God has decieved certain people so they will be damned. You will have to google these I guess then look at them in your own bible because I can’t on the mobile.
 
Well I would suggest when you have the time to compile the list of the biggest contradictions you seem to have found. I say this because I’ve in the past felt the same way believing I had found contradictions no one in 2000 years of theology had caught and then upon putting out the question finding more knowledgeable Catholics were easily able to answer the issue.

Not trying to belittle, but still when you have the time list out at least the most important contradictions and especially the lines where God commands we kill homosexuals and that he lies. You cannot make a thread and then expect others to do the homework for your own point of view.
 
a good apologist can explain away the contradictions.

i think you can trust the Vatican.
 
gtrguy,

All the great contemplative saints know what it is to be filled with the love of God, they also know what it is to be abandoned by God.

Although you are not speaking of yourself in this way, let me explain what the late Catholic theologian, Hans Balthazar (who was esteemed by Pope John Paul II, and by Pope Benedict XVI) had to say, about the abandonment of God.

He said that one can not really understand the sufferings of the prophets of the OT., nor the dark night of the soul of so many of the blessed saints without understanding the abandonment of the Son of God by his Father, when he suffered on the cross for our sins, and the suffering he endured for us when he descended into sheol.

Indeed, I would even say that one can not understand the abandonment of the Jews in the holocaust under Hitler, nor the abandonment of the Christians in the gulag under Stalin, unless one understands the greater suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins.

When you have these doubts, the key is Psalm 131, and Matthew 18:1-4.

May God keep you, and bless you.
 
I find that getting caught up in the words instead of the Word can make Scripture difficult. The Truth of God is not the same as telling the truth. Scripture is the revealed Truth, written by people, translated by people, and read by people. The only one’s capable of error in the process are People, The Word is constant while the words may change.
 
May I ask what bible study group are you joining? Is it catholic? As this can cause you a lot of confusion because all other groups contradict themselves in the intrepretation of scripture.

I am sympathetic with the plight of your mental health. I’ve been there myself and it can be very trying. We need a clear and calm intellect to examine scripture and humbly learn of the position of our 2000 year-old Mother, which we as catholics, believe is infallible in her teachings on faith and morals.

Brother, please go back to Mass and confession first. First things first. You need God to find God. And God is TRUTH…or you might end up like Pontius Pilate who asks the question “What is truth?” with JESUS WHO IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE RIGHT BEFORE HIM.!!!..and yet he couldnt see…

Humbly ask the help of Our Blessed Mother who ALONE WAS IMMACULATE AND NEVER UNDER THE SWAY OF THE EVIL ONE…SHE IS KNOWN AS THE HAMMER OF THE HERETICS BECAUSE SHE IS IN THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH ALL HER LIFE. You are her child by virtue of Jesus’s offering his mother on the cross to St John. SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN. …for in the words of the memorare…"THAT NEVER WAS IT KNOWN THAT anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession WAS LEFT UNAIDED…

There are wonderful apologists here in catholic answers, and if you look in the internet, names like Scott Hahn, Gerry Metatics, Karl Keating, you will find more than adequate answers to all your queries. Look at the many threads in catholic answers, you will find wonderful answers…

Is there an underlying problem to your query to scripture? An issue which you feel the Church is wrong ?..
We are all sinners, brother, yet called to be saints!

Humble yourself, brother and hope in your saviour Our Lord Jesus, to come to your aid. He is there to save you in this your present situation!!

In my prayers
Kentcara2003 (sscc 3rd order)
 
Hello there,

When you say you don’t trust the Vatican do you mean the Pope specifically? I think he’s a really good Pope myself, but like his predecessors he has a very difficult task. Any good earthly father would I think find it extremely difficult to keep all his children in line all of the time. We can’t blame the Vatican, and certainly not the Pope solely for all the evils in the world. We as practicing Catholics are all concerned about recent events within the Church, but we need to focus our attention more on the good things which haven’t changed one iota, i.e. the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and Mass, both of which we should always attend devoutly.

I think you might be misinterpreting the Bible somewhat, but at least you’re interested in reading God’s Word and that’s always a good thing. I will send you an article privately (if it’s too long to post here) which might help you have a somewhat different approach to your reading. I will also send it to all those who have contributed to this thread. And I wish you all well in your studies, and all your endeavours.

2 Cor 13:13
Eddy Barry
 
gtrguy155 said:
Hello everyone, (…)

Im worried tonight.

The past months of bible studying has really made me question the bible a lot.
I have some concerns that I will list here. I hope we can have a good discussion on this post about any of these points.

Im worried that the bible might not be from God or has been changed from the original text… I’m also worried because we are supposed to follow traditions handed down in the church but I don’t feel I can trust much of anything that comes from the vatican.

Im sure there are good people there but also a lot of crooked people - also many crooked people in the church’s history as well so you can see why I have trouble trusting these people.

My beliefs at the moment: I believe there is a God, but maybe we’re being tested in some way. Maybe we’re really not supposed to know anything about him or our purpose in life. I’m not going to mass much anymore because of my mental health at the moment which isn’t too great but also my concerns about the church. It’s making it harder for me to want to have anything to do with mass.

But anyways here are my concerns list:
  • there are a lot of contradictions in the bible. Yes, some contradictions people list can be explained away, but A LOT can’t be explained away at all. There’s no way around many of them because they really are just straight contradictions.
  • also things like the “kill homosexuals” thing in the old testament confuses me. I thought God doesn’t want us to murder but in the old testament you’re supposed too? I’ve seen a verse that says God always stays and thinks the same.
Also verses where it says God sometimes decieves worries me.
  • Also anything anyone wants to say about why we should trust the vatican. The catholic church put the bible together - what if they changed, added, or deleted things in it to suit what they wanted the church to be?
I know that’s a lot. I know you may not want to respond to every single point I said, but even just one would be great.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.
Click to expand...
There is a lot of theological diversity in the Bible because it was written by different authors holding to different viewpoints, and sometimes differing sources are united into books etc… Ecclesisastes is a polemic against the book of Proverbs, for instance. No wonder there are “contradictions”. The Bible is not a cathecism or a perfect depository of divine knowledge. It is a record of the religious evolution of the jewish people containing some history, myth, poetry etc… Whether or not one sees a divine hand in that evolution is a matter of faith.

The view of God in the Bible slowly develops from a tribal god among many gods in the pantheon of the ancient near east, to the monotheistic God almighty who rules over all nations and all of creation. According to John’s gospel, Jesus is the perfect revelation of who God is, and one of the purposes of the incarnation is to reveal God’s character to us. And then we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church in order to understand what that revelation means.

So, when we look back at some of the ancient texts that are quite early in our tradition we find that some of them are quite immoral. Of course God would never command genocide! Of course God would never punish innocent babies and families in Egypt because of what a pharaoh did! But the reason we see this is because we are raised in a culture which has evolved out of the judeo-christian worldview. Many cultures (and quite a few Christians) are still blind to this even today.

The text of scripture ain’t the word of God in and of itself, but the message of scripture can be divine if we use the texts properly, in accordance with the living tradition of God’s people. The horrible texts of the old testament where God demands the wholesale slaughter of men, women, children and animals can serve as a warning to us of the dangers of religious fanaticism, and if God wants to give us any message by means of such texts, it is this.

If you listen carefully to the debate between Cardinal Pell and Richard Dawkins (it can be found on youtube), you’ll see that the cardinal says the same thing. This is in fact the view of the vast majority of the priests and bishops in the Church, and I dare say our pope himself.

The position that the Bible was originally free from error, but has been corrupted is found in the Bible.

““‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the LORD,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?” (Jeremiah 8:8)

This was how Jeremiah tried to explain away the horrors of the Old Testament.

Ezekiel had another explanation:

“because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their parents’ idols. So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live; I defiled them through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD.’” (Ezekiel 20:24-26)

Ezekiel says that God gave them bad laws (sacrifice of firstborn children, see Exod 22:29) to punish them.

The last 100 years of biblical scholarship has reached another conclusion. The jewish view of God evolved over time. There are no ancient perfect texts. Neither the “lying scribes” or the vatican has falsified them. They are our past, and that should make us humble before we use religious texts to discriminate against people today.
 
gtrguy155 said:
Hello everyone,

Im worried tonight.

The past months of bible studying has really made me question the bible a lot.
I have some concerns that I will list here. I hope we can have a good discussion on this post about any of these points.

Im worried that the bible might not be from God or has been changed from the original text… I’m also worried because we are supposed to follow traditions handed down in the church but I don’t feel I can trust much of anything that comes from the vatican.

Im sure there are good people there but also a lot of crooked people - also many crooked people in the church’s history as well so you can see why I have trouble trusting these people.

My beliefs at the moment: I believe there is a God, but maybe we’re being tested in some way. Maybe we’re really not supposed to know anything about him or our purpose in life. I’m not going to mass much anymore because of my mental health at the moment which isn’t too great but also my concerns about the church. It’s making it harder for me to want to have anything to do with mass.

But anyways here are my concerns list:
  • there are a lot of contradictions in the bible. Yes, some contradictions people list can be explained away, but A LOT can’t be explained away at all. There’s no way around many of them because they really are just straight contradictions.
  • also things like the “kill homosexuals” thing in the old testament confuses me. I thought God doesn’t want us to murder but in the old testament you’re supposed too? I’ve seen a verse that says God always stays and thinks the same.
Also verses where it says God sometimes decieves worries me.
  • Also anything anyone wants to say about why we should trust the vatican. The catholic church put the bible together - what if they changed, added, or deleted things in it to suit what they wanted the church to be?
I know that’s a lot. I know you may not want to respond to every single point I said, but even just one would be great.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.
Click to expand...
I can understand your delimas, Gtrguy. I had many of the same considerations despite being at the top of my class in catechism and religious studies from grammar school through high school. I continue to thei day, many decades later, to be interested in comparative religion and philosophy, particularly the functional and practical aspects of those. I’m not much for untested hypotheses, and no matter what you “know” from a book, it doesn’t mean much other than intellectual information until it is usable andyou can get repeatable results. Yes, religon can be in a way scientific as well!

That said, what I have noticed about myself, early on, and about others, is that we tend to accept as real what we grow up with. We don’t have much choice, do we? We absorb our family and social culture because that’s how we survive, yes? But everything we learn locally may not be applicable universally. Someetimes we find this out at great expense: two men were shot to death once because they crossed a border while swimming. In that country what we use for “go away” as a hand signal means “come here!” The gurad thought they were trying to escape and shot them.

So there is always how other people speak and what they mean in their won context, and not everyone uses the same rules. Not by any means, and that can’t be emphasized enough! We are really clueless, as one translation clearly points out, what many words in the Bible mean in the context of Aramaic.

But all that is to let you know that for the most part we are miserablyt lacking in toos to use in thinking about religion, well that and other things. Genereally we don;t, as a race, think very well at all, if you look into it. Or read the papers. So, this is to l;et you know that ther is a book used in some Catholic comparative religion classes that si of great use in this matter. I has a literally godawful title, and many pious people won’t read it just because fo that title. But you can’t, as they say, judge a book by its cover, and this is a classic case. I assure you it is a well annoteated, referenced, and thoroughly scholarly work, whatever its overly zealous pious detractors might say.

It is Gina Cerminara’s Insights for the Age of Aquarious: a handbook for religious sanity. Isn’t that awful? 🙂 Yes, and now we will likely hear from those who havent read it, lol! Anyway, go get that online, it can be had for as cheap as a couple of dollars and shipping, or you can get an autographed copy, still, I think, for a few hundred. So good luck, happy reading, (it’s very funny in parts) and let me know what you find!
 
The Bible is filled with contradictions, at the literal level and in the spiritual department.

Literal level example: Who killed Goliath? 1 Samuel 17:49: David son of Jesse. 2 Samuel 21:19: Elhanan son of Jair.

Bible literalists “freaked-out” by this resort to 1 Chronicles 20:5, where a commentator [said by some to have been Jeremiah’s secretary Baruch] uses ancient Hebrew word play to “eliminate” the contradiction; there the commentator infers that when 2 Samuel 21:19 says that Elhanan son of Jair was “from Beth-lehem,” it meant to say “Lehem-'ach” – that Elhanan son of Jair slew Lahmi “Lehem’] brother of ''ach”] Goliath.

If you think about it, you will realize that when the literalists maintain that 1 Chronicles 20:5 is a serious inspired contention by the Holy Spirit, instead of Hebrew word play, they implicitly maintain that the God-inspired words of 1 Chonicles are correcting the God-inspired error of 2 Samuel to bring it into line with God-inspired 1 Samuel. In other words, the literalist analysis doesn’t quite hang together. Is 2 Samuel, or isn’t 2 Samuel, reliable?

Not for history.

Spiritual department contradiction: How should we pray, in secret, or with others? In secret: Matthew 6:6. With others: Matthew 18:20.

Scripture is full of such real contradictions.

The problem really is the literalist perspective. Fundamentalistically-inclined believers frequently come to the Bible demanding in their heads that God talk the way they insist He talk. But, the Bible is not a math text. It’s not the “world’s most accurate book,” vis-a-vis history or logic. It sometimes contorts history, because God was teaching religion inside of a contorted history; it sometimes contorts the logic of spiritual lessons, to emphasize different things to different people who need different things emphasized.

So, relax. The Bible, inspired when composed, was intended to be read by a Paraclete-inspired mind, with the guidance of a Paraclete-inspired Church.
 
HOW SHOULD I READ THE BIBLE

Part Two
  1. Read devotionally. You are not asking for information. You are trying to meet a person who wants to meet you. There are all sorts of ways in which Jesus can come through to us, but I think this is one of the most wonderful. If you read for instance, in St. Luke’s Gospel, the story of Zacchaeus, you will find that at the end, if you have read uncritically, imaginatively, and devotionally, that you have not been reading so much a story about Jesus and Zacchaeus; you have been reading a story about Jesus and you. And having read it, you put down your New Testament and you begin to meditate. Here is a person whom the rest of the world, in as far as it new him, hated and despised, but Jesus loved him and believed in him, and won him. It may occur to you that there is no one in the world that Jesus would scorn, or for whom He would show contempt, He would have dinner with Hitler. Jesus must hate the atrocities of the Nazis more than we hate them, but has it ever occurred to us that Jesus loves the Nazis as much as He loves us, because He loves all sinners even while He hates their sins. If we are nursing resentment against anyone, however despicable, we have really never seen Jesus. If I may put it this way, we have never seen Jesus with Zacchaeus. This is not merely an historic story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. This is the word of God to all men and women for all time.
Further, my friend, if you hate yourself and despise yourself and think that you are no good to anybody, and that nobody loves you, read the story of Zacchaeus again, and you will hear Jesus say to you ‘I want to come and live with you,’ and you will perhaps be wise enough to open your heart to Him, for he loves you when you hate yourself. He forgives you when you can’t forgive yourself. He believes in you when you no longer believe in yourself, and don’t know anybody that does believe in you. You will catch hold of self-respect again. You will hold your head up, as indeed you well might, because Jesus loves you and cares for you, and His touch upon your life can heal you, and bring you back to healthy ways of living, new ways of loving, definite ways of serving. You can become the kind of person He means you to be, because, however despised or despicable, Jesus’s hand is on your shoulder, and He is saying to you, ‘I am coming to live in your house,’

If we read the Gospels from now till the end of summer, we might be changed men and women, if we will only read uncritically, imaginatively, and devotionally.

Leslie D Weatherhead
 
HOW SHOULD I READ THE BIBLE?

Part One

Concerning most books, quite a good place to begin is at the beginning! But in the case of the Bible it is the worst place to begin. I think you will agree with me that we must begin with Jesus. All that was written before Him was preparation. All that was written after Him is comment. Therefore begin with the earliest book in the Bible about Jesus, and that is the Gospel according to St. Mark. I regard St. Mark’s Gospel as the loveliest and most precious document in the world. The real Gospel of course, is from the first verse of the first chapter to the eight verse of the sixteenth chapter. You may draw a line after the eight verse of the last chapter, for the rest has been added by another hand. Probably St. Mark’s Gospel was in the form of a roll which was passed round from church to church, and from reader to reader. It was very popular and the end of it became tattered and worn and finally lost. No one knows how St. Mark’s Gospel originally ended. I should like to suggest three ways of reading in answer to our question, ‘How should I read the Bible?’

1.** Read uncritically.** I know very little about art, but I am quite sure that at the first sight of a picture one should not go very close to it and concentrate on some detail; one should stand away from it and let the picture as a whole make its impression upon one’s mind. So I suggest we should read St. Mark’s Gospel right through, if possible at a sitting, glossing over the difficulties. Say to yourself concerning them, ‘I will come back and examine them later’, but first of all read uncritically, so that you see not details, but a Person at work in a human setting and dealing with men and woman like ourselves. Just try to let the whole picture of Jesus which Mark gives us make its own impression upon your mind. That is of tremendous importance, because afterwards you will judge all your Bible reading by your picture of Jesus. And so it is all-important to have your central picture of Jesus clear in your mind. If we are perfectly sure of Jesus we can be content to be uncertain about a lot of other matters.
  1. Read imaginatively. It was John Ruskin that said “Let us when we read the Bible try to be present, as if in the body, at each recorded event in the life of the Redeemer.” So imagine that you are there watching. Read the story as if you too had crept up behind the crowd, and were peering over someone’s shoulder and listening to His voice. Don’t be afraid of the humour of the Gospel story. Again and again Jesus made the people laugh, as when He told the story of the Pharisee drinking soup and straining out a gnat, and then swallowing a camel. Or a man lighting his lamp and putting it under the bed, and so on. Try, if you will, to pretend that you have never read the story before, and let it make its own impression upon your imagination. Then you will not find that Jesus presents you with arguments, but with pictures. Jesus almost always spoke in pictures which demand the use of the imagination.
 
**HOW SHOULD I READ THE BIBLE
**
Part Two

3.** Read devotionally.** You are not asking for information. You are trying to meet a person who wants to meet you. There are all sorts of ways in which Jesus can come through to us, but I think this is one of the most wonderful. If you read for instance, in St. Luke’s Gospel, the story of Zacchaeus, you will find that at the end, if you have read uncritically, imaginatively, and devotionally, that you have not been reading so much a story about Jesus and Zacchaeus; you have been reading a story about Jesus and you. And having read it, you put down your New Testament and you begin to meditate. Here is a person whom the rest of the world, in as far as it new him, hated and despised, but Jesus loved him and believed in him, and won him. It may occur to you that there is no one in the world that Jesus would scorn, or for whom He would show contempt, He would have dinner with Hitler. Jesus must hate the atrocities of the Nazis more than we hate them, but has it ever occurred to us that Jesus loves the Nazis as much as He loves us, because He loves all sinners even while He hates their sins. If we are nursing resentment against anyone, however despicable, we have really never seen Jesus. If I may put it this way, we have never seen Jesus with Zacchaeus. This is not merely an historic story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. This is the word of God to all men and women for all time.

Further, my friend, if you hate yourself and despise yourself and think that you are no good to anybody, and that nobody loves you, read the story of Zacchaeus again, and you will hear Jesus say to you ‘I want to come and live with you,’ and you will perhaps be wise enough to open your heart to Him, for he loves you when you hate yourself. He forgives you when you can’t forgive yourself. He believes in you when you no longer believe in yourself, and don’t know anybody that does believe in you. You will catch hold of self-respect again. You will hold your head up, as indeed you well might, because Jesus loves you and cares for you, and His touch upon your life can heal you, and bring you back to healthy ways of living, new ways of loving, definite ways of serving. You can become the kind of person He means you to be, because, however despised or despicable, Jesus’s hand is on your shoulder, and He is saying to you, ‘I am coming to live in your house,’

If we read the Gospels from now till the end of summer, we might be changed men and women, if we will only read uncritically, imaginatively, and devotionally.

Leslie D Weatherhead
 
Steady_Eddy said:
Hello there,

When you say you don’t trust the Vatican do you mean the Pope specifically? I think he’s a really good Pope myself, but like his predecessors he has a very difficult task. Any good earthly father would I think find it extremely difficult to keep all his children in line all of the time. We can’t blame the Vatican, and certainly not the Pope solely for all the evils in the world. We as practicing Catholics are all concerned about recent events within the Church, but we need to focus our attention more on the good things which haven’t changed one iota, i.e. the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and Mass, both of which we should always attend devoutly.

I think you might be misinterpreting the Bible somewhat, but at least you’re interested in reading God’s Word and that’s always a good thing. I will send you an article privately (if it’s too long to post here) which might help you have a somewhat different approach to your reading. I will also send it to all those who have contributed to this thread. And I wish you all well in your studies, and all your endeavours.

2 Cor 13:13
Eddy Barry
Click to expand...
I’ve just posted that article (in two parts) I hope it helps.
 
Uzziah1 said:
The Bible is filled with contradictions, at the literal level and in the spiritual department…So, relax. The Bible, inspired when composed, was intended to be read by a Paraclete-inspired mind, with the guidance of a Paraclete-inspired Church.
Click to expand...
Wow. Good luck to all of us!
 
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