Bible infallibility

[kern]

I saw someone claim on a web page that Catholics do not have to believe the events in Job actually happened. i.e. it's not necessary to believe that Satan and God actually had a conversation with the words given to them, and Job may not have even existed. It can be understood as a (divinely inspired) "extended parable" or morality text.

Is this true? How do Catholics understand Bible infallibility?

-Chris

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by kern
I saw someone claim on a web page that Catholics do not have to believe the events in Job actually happened. i.e. it's not necessary to believe that Satan and God actually had a conversation with the words given to them, and Job may not have even existed. It can be understood as a (divinely inspired) "extended parable" or morality text.

Is this true? How do Catholics understand Bible infallibility?

I'm very interested in the answer to this, if only because my wife and I had a multi-hour debate about what Job means, or how to understand it. It has been argued that it's a parable; that the three "friends" represent three other views of faith, and that it was originally written to show how these different views argued and reasoned, and possibly that the stuff about God and Satan was added to show that all three of 'em are wrong in no small part.

Hmm. That's an interesting question in general; if Catholics are allowed to believe in evolution (as I understand you are)... Where are you supposed to start taking the Bible literally? OT/NT? Sometime in Exodus? The various OT Prophets?

 

[VOW]

Oh, Seebs:

You know us blasphemous, idolatrous Catholics.

We just pick and choose whatever we want to out of the Bible, and then make the rest of it okay with a wink and the sly remark of "Sacred Tradition."

(I'm a little wrung out by Interfaith Discussion, can you tell?)


Peace be with somebody, hopefully me,
~VOW

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by VOW
Oh, Seebs:

You know us blasphemous, idolatrous Catholics.

We just pick and choose whatever we want to out of the Bible, and then make the rest of it okay with a wink and the sly remark of "Sacred Tradition."

Heh.

Well, as a concrete example, the pope recently commented, as I understand it, that he doesn't think evolution/creation is a particularly important point of doctrine. Now, if I were to take some *other* randomly selected two pages out of the Bible, and say "I think this isn't doctrine", I'd probably get smacked around...

So... How do you tell?

(Note that I happen to *agree* that the creation/evolution thing isn't core doctrine; I'm just not always sure how to justify it.)

(I'm a little wrung out by Interfaith Discussion, can you tell?)

No, not at all. Hey, by the way, I was wondering, you seem to know a lot about Catholics, is it true that they worship Mary, and that they think saints are separate gods? Also, I heard once that a female pope was excommunicated because the Inquisition was a heresy, or something like that.

 

[kern]

seebs, there were 800 million people killed in the inquisition, so there would be no one left to excommunicate.

-Chris

 

[jukesk9]

is it true that they worship Mary, and that they think saints are separate gods?

Only on the third Sunday of the lunar year Qui Gonn and when that falls, the two moons appear and we sacrifice a red racoon to Mary.

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by kern
seebs, there were 800 million people killed in the inquisition, so there would be no one left to excommunicate.

800 million?

Hmm.

Lemme guess, Lion Heart said that?

*giggle*.

(I believe the world record is Mao's "Great Leap Forward", which may have killed 100 million people through starvation.)

 

[AngelAmidala]

Originally posted by jukesk9


Only on the third Sunday of the lunar year Qui Gonn and when that falls, the two moons appear and we sacrifice a red racoon to Mary.

Any relation to Qui Gon Jinn?

Sorry, I had to say it!

 

[jukesk9]

If I'd had my way, our family's new lab would've been named Qui Gonn in honor of the great Jedi Master (boy was I mad when he was killed!). But, my wife, always a lady, prevailed and we named him Dutch (a chocolate lab).

 

[VOW]

To Jukes:

Get Dutch a companion chocolate lab, and name him Swiss. Or Milk. Or Bittersweet. Or German. Or ...


Peace and Candy dreams,
~VOW

 

[jukesk9]

Okay, I'm pulling a Cliff Clavin here,

The reason we named our choc. lab Dutch is because my German Shepherd is from Holland and his name is Boesko. In Dutch, this means chocolate or dark or something like that so my wife thought it would be neat to name the lab Dutch. Hey, it's also Ronald Reagan's nickname!