THE BIBLE’S RELEVANCE TO THE CATHOLIC The Catholic religion embodies a host of spiritual components, such as Holy Mass, Eucharist, Scripture(Bible), Sacraments, Papacy, Rosary, prayers/novenas, devotions to Mary and saints, pilgrimages and a few others. Unfortunately the non-Catholic Christians seem to have a wrong impression, that the Bible does not play any significant role, in the practice of the faith, among the Catholics, whereas it should have a prime place, greater than any other. “IS THIS TRUE”? Trap of Misinterpretation: Most of the non-Catholic Christian congregations, have none of the items listed above, except the Bible. As a result, starting from childhood, almost everyone has a high level of proficiency in the Scriptural verses of the various books of the Bible. Surely a welcome thing, because it is the Word of God, and understandably plentiful graces and gifts can and will accrue to anyone who uses them. Each book/verse in the Bible is full with deep meanings and connotations, that anybody can fall easily into the inevitable trap of misinterpretation. Why so? The original authors of these various books, lived thousands of years before Jesus Christ, and wrote in such languages such as Greek, Hebrew and others, while the languages were mostly Aramaic, and those of Parthians, Medes, Edamites, Egyptians, Asian states and so on. The cultural differences of these different peoples must have played significant roles, in the inner meanings (as written) in the original texts, of the various books of the Bible. The Bible: As a book in its present form, it did not exist till the 14th or 15th century and it is common knowledge that the “Bible” was compiled much before the Reformation movement. Beginning with Martin Luther, and others like Calvin, Ulrich Zwingly and others, the Bible and its books were interpreted by these reformers/preachers/presbyters who had their own explanations,(often selfish) resulting in chaotic conditions among the then Christian communities. The Catholic church: Out of necessity, they did not want the same chaotic conditions, within their members and carefully advised the people to follow the established teachings of the 1500 years of “Magisterium” wrt the Biblical books/verses. The Catholic church had its own group of biblical scholars/experts who after years of deep study, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, had formulated and published its interpretations which were to be acted upon in faith and trust for the common good of mankind. As a result of this protective strategy, the average Catholic, was not expected to study deep into the Bible, but to just follow the teachings of the pastors, who were equipped to understand/interpret the Scriptures, by their long years of study in their respective seminaries/ universities. Thus came about the situation that the Catholic common man/woman did not use and study the Bible, like how the Protestants and non-Catholics did. The Second Vatican Council: Some important decisions, resulted in a substantial shift and since then the Bible’s importance in the life and well-being of every Catholic, took a dramatic turn, with everybody being encouraged to read and follow the teachings, as written in the Bible. The most important protective clause naturally was to use only the approved interpretations of the Magisterium of the Catholic church. While anyone is encouraged to study and follow the Bible, he/she is also guided to understand the right interpretation. Wrong Interpretations examples: We see in the book of Romans 10:9, 11 and 13, it says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The non-Catholic interpretation is that “Salvation can be achieved through faith.” It boils down to saying that a Thief, can after the crime say “ I believe in Jesus Christ as my Saviour” and go scot-free. This case has to be seen in the light of Luke 19:8 where the tax collector Zachaeus, repents and says “Look half my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times”. That is why in James 2:26 we see “ Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” Salvation by Faith alone – is just one example of how wrong interpretations cause havoc. The Bible in Catholics: Lastly the accusation that Catholics give more importance to other spiritual components like Holy Mass, Eucharist, Sacraments, Papacy, Rosary, prayers/novenas, devotions to Mary and saints, etc, than the Bible, is sad to say, totally erroneous, because each one of these is substantiated clearly in the Bible. The origin for the Holy Mass/Eucharist is seen in Luke 22:19, and John 6:51. Each sacrament originates from verses from the Bible, ie. Baptism in Matt 28:29, Confirmation in Acts 8:14-17, Reconciliation in John 20:23, and Matt 16:19, Holy Communion in Luke 22:19-20, Matrimony in Mark 10:9, Holy Order in Luke 22:27, and Extreme Unction in Mark 6:7-13. Again the pope is simply the successor to the apostle Peter who was nominated by Jesus Christ himself. Matt 16:18, where we see “ Jesus saying “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church”. Every word in the Rosary is based on the Bible, where one meditates on the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Summation: We can confidently say that the Bible is much more interspersed, with the religious practices of the Catholic church, to such an extent that every event, worship, prayer and practice is entirely based on the Bible. Sadly the non-catholic Christians do not have or practise any of the spiritual components, and are therefore forced with no other alternative but to only read the Bible, and in this process inadvertently get misled with wrong interpretations, by certain pastors/preachers, just to gain popularity and build up their empires – the 33000 denominations outside the Catholic church. Jesus asked his disciples to go and baptise all nations, but surely not create 33000 denominations to engage in fighting with each other, with Bibles in their hands.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 02:13:16 +0000
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