Too much private revelation????

Markie Boy said:

In listening to Catholic speakers, and people in general, it seems private revelations are discussed a ton. And they are often referred to as though they are equal to Scripture, and should be guiding all of our moves.

It's something I have grown very uncomfortable with, as even the approved private revelations have some things I find not in line with Apostolic teaching enough.

In the end I find Scripture inspiring and rock solid, but the private revelations are so sketchy (just dabble in the Third Secret of Fatima a little) - I am not drawn to them at all.

Is anyone else in this boat?

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I'm the opposite but I think there's a reason. I come from a background were private interpretation can be encouraged. Not for everything, for example you don't privately interpret John 3:16. So, now I'm looking at Catholicism private interpretation isn't as common. Sometimes and as far as I know though, the Catholic Church doesn't always have an official teaching. One I spoke about recently was Genesis 6 and the supposed Nephilim.

EDIT: This post was corrected by @zippy2006 in post #4

Not now, but I certainly was in that boat when I was Roman Catholic.

Markie Boy said:

In listening to Catholic speakers, and people in general, it seems private revelations are discussed a ton. And they are often referred to as though they are equal to Scripture, and should be guiding all of our moves.

It's something I have grown very uncomfortable with, as even the approved private revelations have some things I find not in line with Apostolic teaching enough.

In the end I find Scripture inspiring and rock solid, but the private revelations are so sketchy (just dabble in the Third Secret of Fatima a little) - I am not drawn to them at all.

Is anyone else in this boat?

Click to expand...

I agree, and it's not only the substance of private revelation that is problematic, but the sort of personalities it attracts.

Aspzan said:

I'm the opposite but I think there's a reason. I come from a background were private interpretation can be encouraged. Not for everything, for example you don't privately interpret John 3:16. So, now I'm looking at Catholicism private interpretation isn't as common. Sometimes and as far as I know though, the Catholic Church doesn't always have an official teaching. One I spoke about recently was Genesis 6 and the supposed Nephilim.

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In Catholicism private revelation refers to direct, non-scriptural revelations to individuals that does not belong to the deposit of faith. For example, the Marian apparition at Fatima is an approved private revelation, and the Medjugorje visions are non-approved private revelations. Individual interpretations of scripture wouldn't generally be considered private revelation.

zippy2006 said:

I agree, and it's not only the substance of private revelation that is problematic, but the sort of personalities it attracts.



In Catholicism private revelation refers to direct, non-scriptural revelations to individuals that does not belong to the deposit of faith. For example, the Marian apparition at Fatima is an approved private revelation, and the Medjugorje visions are non-approved private revelations. Individual interpretations of scripture wouldn't generally be considered private revelation.

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Ah ok I see, I don't know why I assumed revelation was a synonym for interpretation. Thanks!

Aspzan said:

... Genesis 6 and the supposed Nephilim.

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Nephilim were nothing more strange than Nibelungs *, just an old tribe. Ground tillers short of land found gatherers frightening (they no doubt were of sturdy build and more rumbustious folklore). (The climate was probably going through a misty phase in some countries.)

Anakim means clanspeople and Rephaim means ancients or people with long roots.

(My friend used to live in a place called Ham and he used to insist there really were Zuzims there.)

* I'M NOT WANTING YOU TO GO WAGNERIAN BTW

It's our duty to each make up our own minds about each item.

The NT charism of the prophetic is intended IMO to be about how to apply Scripture in the here and now and is given for the people around us. The better "private revelations" may be in this spirit. Some may be very watered down and waffly and a waste of time, and some may be out and out erroneous.

Some Protestant environments have so few standards to draw on, a lot of completely horrendous rubbish has become extremely prominent.

"Approved" solely means permission to state that a trip or activity may be allowed in the name of a church entity, e.g "parish pilgrimage" (instead of individuals).

In some locations it has been requested there not be visitors from the general public. If something spiritual is worthwhile in our eyes we can always commune with it from a distance.

In the case of Fatima (which I had never heard of till I was about 30), though earlier categorised as "approved", there was no justifiable reason Lucia should have ongoingly been kept prisoner or her writings - or separately their variously found meanings - tampered with. What is the record of multifarious persons who have in very different ways inserted themselves into the affair? If we don't understand certain reputed "dedication" ceremonials is there a residue of beneficial significance ordinary people can draw on? Are some typical bigwigs trying to imply we shouldn't intercede with God for the world because the world has become too good to need it?

If you aren't into it don't worry at all. If you are into it use diligence.

We've got to try and get into the headspace of people who are "carrying on about" these things: what are their stated or unstated reasons for getting worked up or indeed remaining calm? How does it compare with all our other insights? Are they using shorthand which would be more informative if we knew what it stood for? Are they solely pushing people's buttons? (Like I said, don't forget some of those Protestants.)

All these factors will vary in every case. God might want us to stay out of something for now and look into it at a later date once He has helped us understand something else. The reach of some media nowadays seems to have a different effect on some of us than in earlier times. I like to "read" all current events through "heroic" or "legendary" period "glasses" (based on my voracious reading on all subjects and in all fields from a youngster up - in spite of there not being many books at home), that helps me get a measure of the "characters" and how I might like to react to them.

If you are solely into videos, beware intensity. A written text helps us keep the matter in its place while we cope with it the way we like. I scan (sometimes spirally) and I speed read. Written material doesn't "do anything to me" per se, my brain is a separate organ and I crunch information how I like. My imagination and my mind's eye are the labotarory atop my shoulders. I run and rerun all hypotheses. My inference (not someone else's) is what decides anything and everything, for the time being, till I next chop and change it on purpose.

Markie Boy said:

In listening to Catholic speakers, and people in general, it seems private revelations are discussed a ton. And they are often referred to as though they are equal to Scripture, and should be guiding all of our moves.

It's something I have grown very uncomfortable with, as even the approved private revelations have some things I find not in line with Apostolic teaching enough.

In the end I find Scripture inspiring and rock solid, but the private revelations are so sketchy (just dabble in the Third Secret of Fatima a little) - I am not drawn to them at all.

Is anyone else in this boat?

Click to expand...

I don't really see that myself. I don't often hear Catholics talk about private revelation, except maybe Dan Burke but then he has the experience and maybe even the authorization to speak on such things.

Even still, whenever Catholics speak of personal revelation it is certainly a far cry from how protestants portray it, which is more akin to what you speak of. Rather from what I've seen, these personal revelations are still subservient and subordinate to the Church, as they should be.

Any Catholics who might fall into a more protestant value of personal revelation are more outliers.

Well Fatima's something else, I don't count that as personal revelation. I think it's only been proven more and more true in recent years. When I think of personal revelation I think of some layperson who says "oh the Holy Spirit told me".