I WAS catholic......you cant get through CCD without getting a history lesson.
I keep a journal by my bed. It takes a bit of training but just jot down what you remember when you wake up.
How can we get rid of our sinfulness?
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I WAS catholic......you cant get through CCD without getting a history lesson.
I keep a journal by my bed. It takes a bit of training but just jot down what you remember when you wake up.
An aside, I was telling AJ last night It wasnt healthy for me to post in here any longer. I can handle a conversation but the minute the logs go on the fire......well I'm choosing a healthy conversation over swords......deal?
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Absolutely. Deal! We're never going to agree on religious perceptions, but certainly we can share our perceptions without looking for points to attack on. This is what I was thinking yesterday as well, that a conversation was superior to a war. The real Canadian talent, dialogue
Heh heh, they were something last night! I think this is an interesting generation of teenagers we are spawning in 2007. They are so much more aware of the world at 12-13 then my peers and I were at that age back in the 1970's. But again, we didn't have the internet, satellite/cable tv and the rest!
Exactly. The Bible is a collection of 72 books on the relationship of God to His people. It defines faith. It is not a history book, or a science book of an English Lit book. It teaches concepts, not academics.
Without a doubt the Holy Spirit leads us to discovery and faith in God, but AJ, He does not call us to be isolated theologians coming upon faith alone. We are a community. You keep referencing the Church as a human construct. I submit to you that that is our biggest area of disagreement. I know, through what the Bible itself teaches, that the Church was created by Christ. He appointed St. Peter to be the guardian of the early Church, the ROCK upon which the Church would be built.
The Apostles were charged with defending the faith and teaching the faith, and they became the first Bishops of the early Church with Peter as their head as the first Pope.This is both historical and spiritual. Reading the Bible without the guidance of the Church leads to false doctrines and self-appointed theologies, which are potentially spiritually dangerous.
Your advice to Maple to pick up a Bible on her own, without guidance, is both foolish and dangerous to her spiritually. In the secular world we would never appoint a newbie to a job without providing training and guidance. The same is true of the Church. New members must be provided with instruction in the faith and guidance from the Holy Spirit through His Church.
Not mankinds doctrines AJ, but God's. Faith is not enough, for faith without works is dead faith. Quoting endless pages of Bible passages at people will not help them as much as feeding them when they are hungry, comforting them when they are hurt, being with them when they need a friend. There is a time and a place for everything, and Jesus Himself commands us to attend to the needs of people above all else.
One thing that gets on my nerves, not necessarily you AJ just in general, is encountering these so called "born again Christians" whose sole purpose seems to be to both worship the Bible more than God and to mouth endless Biblical quotations at people non-stop.You know the sort I'm sure. Every conversation, ever tiny bit of verbiage is peppered with quotes taken out of context from the Bible. In short, one just cannot talk to these people for these people are unable to see the needs of others as the Bible is blocking their vision.
confused again??? how come you keep writing 72 books in the bible??? i thought the bible had 66 books?????
so do you think dreams mean anything? i read that they do in one book, but this other psychology book i read says they dont.
The original Bible, still used by the Catholic, Orthodox and traditional Anglicans, has 72 books. The protestants, Martin Luther to be specific, took it upon himself to remove 7 books from the Old Testament Canon. Rather an odd thing to do for a faith group that claims to be "Bible" people. The problem was, Luther realized that the 7 books supported theologies he wasn't comfortable with, such as praying for the dead for example, so he arbitraily removed them from his edition of the Bible.
Morning Maple! Hope you have a good day today!
No, I'm not saying it is unimportant, I am however stating that the Bible is a collection of God's words to His people. It is a book of spiritual awareness and liberation, but should not be used to chain a person down in the sense that they cannot reach out to other people because the Bible is in their way. I despair at people,as I wrote to AJ, that never seem to stop mis-quoting Scriptures endlessly to people who need more than words to help them along.The Bible is obviously part of the Tradition of the Church, but it is certainly not more important than the Church or the people of God. Real faith is shown, not talked about. It is in your mannerisms and habits that people see Christ, not in how well you can flip off Bible passages.
The protocol for anyone who believes he is receiving supernatural messages from Jesus, Mary, a saint, or an angel is to submit the private revelations to the bishop of his diocese for investigation. If the bishop rules that nothing supernatural is going on, and the person continues to be troubled by such "messages," he should consult with a priest and/or a medical professional for assistance in stopping them.
I've had a little bit of a read of several protestant bibles.; I realize scripturally they are not up to scratch in various passages for Catholc doctrines and some of the bibles don't bother with important books to the catholic faith, called deutrocanon or Apocrypha.
But I thought I like to give an opinion on how well they actually read as well as their compatibility with the Catholic Church.
1611 King James Version. This is one of 4 bibles I have the privilege of owning, It is the one I like to read the most even though it is quite lacking in terms of it is often found in book stores in a form which is NOT the original. The KJV included the deutrocanon in 1611, and sadly most copies no longer have that in. Luckily Penguin Books has come out with the first complete 1611 version of the book, which is paperback, and very affordable(most versions of this one with the apocrypha cost around $60 or more even). I found this bible was not only a classic book in itself as a translation, but in a good majority of passages it is very catholic friendly, especially the full version of it. In fact I saw this version happily sitting on a bookshelf in the "new" section of my local Catholic bookshop. I'm not at all surprised as this is specifically an Anglican bible and much of the doctrines of this faith came from the fact it was initially part of the Catholic Church. Despite it's many translation flaws we now know of, this is still the best, most catholic compatible, protestant bible.
New King James Version -
I heard this one was translated both from the original KJV and the Latin Vulgate. I also own this one because it was given to me for free from the Gideons, It's quite well written for modern times. It does however lack the Deutrocanon, and although it's translated from the Vulgate, why get a protestant version when you can get a Catholic one and know that it's 100% accurate? Still it is a nice book to read and I read the Gospels and Revelation in this translation when I took my Christian faith up again(I previously had a "Good News" bible, but that's a catholic bible so I won't discuss it here).
New International Version -
This is perhaps the most deceptive bible I have ever read. It's still the bible, but unfortunately it's a terrible translation, and a bad read too. The NIV is completely anti-catholic, and it shows too. Several important passages have been completely misrepresented here, abiet I will not say it was deliberate, especially what Jesus says to Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. One thing I don't like about Protestant bibles is how they seem to throw out all the good along with the bad from previous translations. The KJV and NKJV translated this passage directly from the greek and got it right, Jesus says to judas "Friend, wherefore(Read it as "why" or "to what purpose") art thou come?", he does not say what the corrupted NIV text has, which is "Friend, do what you came to do". This is just one of the passages where it doesn't bother with a direct translation of what has been said. This is a corrupted translation and doesn't deserve anyone's time.
The Message -
I don't like this version either, although it is one bible I haven't read, after hearing it read aloud in my previous Pentacostal church, I realize how misleading this bible can be. Firstly when translating the bible, I find it is heretical to assume one can completely understand the message of the bible and "adapt it" for others. This is a terrible rule of translation, one which the Catholic easy reading bible, the "Good News Bible", does not follow thank God.
The good news version is simply a translation word for word into simple English, while "The Message" is a re-write of it. Regardless of such terrible disregard to scripture accuracy, and although I will never read it(Why bother when I've got the "Good News: Catholic Edition"?), I think this is probably a better read than the NIV, which is more subtitle in it's terrible translative work, and therefore a more damaging translation.
James 2:14-26
Quote:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,
16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?
17 So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.
20 Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.
23 Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God."
24 See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?
26 For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.