From: eje@irenaeus.mlo.dec.com (Eric James Ewanco)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Biblical Inerrancy
Date: 14 Sep 92 02:00:03 GMT
Reply-To: ewanco@kalvin.enet.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

In article <Sep.12.23.15.48.1992.12723@athos.rutgers.edu>, mussack@innerdoor.austin.ibm.com (Christopher Mussack) writes:

>  I've been following the ideas about
> "Biblical inerrancy" but frankly I'm confused. Please realize that I
> am a Catholic and apparently naive about "Protestant" theology.  To
> help me understand where everyone is coming from I'll ask some
> concrete questions:
...
> I will give a (I hope bad) example: I was listening to a call-in
> radio show hosted by Bob George. . . . Bob George's answer was that
> Jesus said these things before the crucifixion and therefore they
> didn't apply anymore. Booiiinnnnnggggg!! I couldn't believe it. Do
> people really think that Paul supercedes Jesus? I suddenly
> understood the line from "Jesus Christ Superstar": "You've begun to
> matter more than the things you say."

Chris,

I would just like to emphasize that the Catholic Church also believes that
Scripture is inspired and inerrant, and always has -- after all, we're the ones
who put it together, and declared it inspired and inerrant in the 5th century.
We have always held that Scripture teaches us firmly and without error those
truths which God wished to reveal for us for our salvation.  We believe
Scripture to be inspired, inerrant, and infallible; see Vatican II, Dei Verbum
(of course you can also find it in documents going back to the first
centuries).

This story you tell does not at all represent the common evangelical Protestant
view of the Bible -- evangelical Protestants would be as shocked to hear this
as you were.  (You must understand that some Protestant denominations have gone
far afield of true Christianity.  Sounds like Bob George is one of them.)

There are a few differences between Catholic view of Scripture and certain
Protestant views.  For example, we do not believe that Scripture must always be
taken literally, as some fundamentalists do.  We believe that some parts of
Scripture are allegorical, and some are literal.  The traditions of the Church
help us distinguish acceptable and unacceptable understandings of Scripture.

We also do not say that Scripture is _necessarily_ scientifically or
historically accurate -- though there are some sections and truths which the
church teaches must be accepted as historical in nature, for example, the
Gospels, the Resurrection of Christ, the fall of man, the Virgin Birth, and so
forth.  (However, whether Jonah is historical or didactic is left up to the
individual).  This understanding of Scripture works, because we have an
authoritative teaching office that relies on Tradition and Scripture to ensure
that interpretations of Scripture do not fall into heresy.

We also believe that only the Church -- through the agreement of all the
bishops of the church, or through the Bishop of Rome speaking for all the
bishops in union -- can authoritatively interpret Scripture.  This scandalizes
many Protestants who believe that each person can accurately interpret
Scripture. But I would point out that in 400 years of individual
interpretation, Protestants are even more divided than they ever were, and if
two people claim to have an authoritative understanding of Scripture by the
help of the Holy Spirit, yet disagree, one or both of them is wrong.  The fact
that the Bishops of the Catholic Church can actually agree on an interpretation
is remarkable, if you consider that if you got 5,000 Protestant ministers in a
room and asked them to agree on something, it would be hopeless.  Hence the
Holy Spirit does not grant individuals authoritative interpretation.  Christian
doctrine and Scriptures belong to the whole church -- Christianity is a
community-oriented faith, not an individualistic one, and to interpret
Scripture by oneself with no consultation or agreement with other Christians is
I think a wrong thing to do.

> Chris Mussack        

Eric
--
/=============================================================================\
| Eric Ewanco - Software Engineer     For the rash and outrageous opinions ex-|
| Digital Equipment Corp, Maynard MA  pressed herein I alone am responsible;  |
| ewanco@kalvin.enet.dec.com          they do not belong to DIGITAL(TM).      |
\==============================- 2 Th 2:15 -==================================/
    "...[T]he greatest and most ancient Church known to all, founded and
    organized at Rome by [] Peter and Paul, [is] that Church which has the
    tradition and faith which comes down to us after having been announced
    to men by the Apostles.  For with this Church, because of its superior
    origin, all Churches must agree ...  and it is in her that the
    faithful everywhere have maintained the Apostolic tradition."
       -- St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, c. 180 A.D., 3,3,3.