(August 31, 2015 at 9:01 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote:(August 31, 2015 at 8:43 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Yes, and the Evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians feel the same way about us Catholics as you do lol. They feel we cherry pick from the bible.
Truth is the Church existed before the bible did, and Jesus left the "keys to the Kingdom of Heaven" with Peter, the first pope of the Church. No mention of any books.
Not that the bible isn't important and insightful and inspired, but it has it's place, and it is not the main pillar of Truth.
But I get it. If I was following the bible word for word, I'd be receiving criticism just the same. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.
We're cool though, PT, you know I love ya. I hope our recent debates haven't made you think I have changed my opinion of you.
Nor mine of you, CL. But given your thoughtfulness, I feel it's only right that you should have the hard questions put to you plainly.
How do you decide which parts of the Bible guide you, and which part you can safely disregard? And why is your valuation of those parts be they literal, allegorical, and failed, truer than that of a Protestant, for instance? Aside from raw faith, of course.
That sounds perfectly fine to me, my friend!
To answer your question, I follow the doctrines of the Church. Unless we are theologians or scholars, or just trying to get a deeper understanding, us Catholics don't normally concern ourselves with biblical interpretations because we feel we have the Church to guide us on matters of faith and morals. One thing is for sure, we definitely need to believe in the Gospels. We need to believe in Jesus as a real person, we need to believe in His miracles, in His death and resurrection, and the core message of His teachings. I think the rest of the NT, over the years, has slowly been separated into what was simply tradition of the time (no women talking in Church) to what is actually Church doctrine (the divinity of Jesus). I don't think this is stuff people "decided" over night, but rather, it evolved with years of studying theology and gaining a deeper understanding. The OT, as you all know, we are free to either interpret literally or not, so long as we adhere to Church doctrine.
I don't know much about the protestant way of doing things except that it's more independent I think, and any of my brothers in Christ can chime in here if I'm wrong. I think each person reads the bible and interprets it for his or her own self... which is why there are so many protestant denominations. They all interpret things a little differently.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
