The Beginnings of Faith

[LilyAmongThorns]

If you do not believe that the earth was created in seven days, that a flood wiped out civilzation and that certain men lived for hundreds of years then you have NO faith in Israel.

If you open up the gospel and believe these thing to not be true then your faith unravels from the very beginning of Sacred Text.

If Adam and Eve did not happen then what is your account for Righteous Abel? What is his existence, false?

And how could Noah, Abraham and Jacob have completed their works if they did not live for their life-span?

You of little faith. Jesus came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.

 

[biblicalAdam]

Who exactly are you ranting against

 

[4everjustjesus]

So confused

 

[Monica4316]

Do you mean that people should interpret the Bible literally?

I interpret it literally, where it is literal… I believe in the flood, Adam and Eve, etc… in fact the Church says we must believe in a literal Adam and Eve:thumbsup:

 

[Joe_Kelley]

See ENCYCLICAL*** HUMANI GENERIS*** OF THE HOLY FATHER PIUS XII [12 August 1950,]

1. Just as in the biological and anthropological sciences, so also in the historical sciences there are those who boldly transgress the limits and safeguards established by the Church. In a particular way must be deplored a certain too free interpretation of the historical books of the Old Testament. Those who favor this system, in order to defend their cause, wrongly refer to the Letter which was sent not long ago to the Archbishop of Paris by the Pontifical Commission on Biblical Studies.[13] This letter, in fact, clearly points out that the first eleven chapters of Genesis, although properly speaking not conforming to the historical method used by the best Greek and Latin writers or by competent authors of our time, do nevertheless pertain to history in a true sense, which however must be further studied and determined by exegetes;

the same chapters, (the Letter points out), in simple and metaphorical language adapted to the mentality of a people but little cultured, both state the principal truths which are fundamental for our salvation, and also give a popular description of the origin of the human race and the chosen people. If, however, the ancient sacred writers have taken anything from popular narrations (and this may be conceded), it must never be forgotten that they did so with the help of divine inspiration, through which they were rendered immune from any error in selecting and evaluating those documents.*