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If anyone uses Christianity to justify homicide or prejudice then I am pulled to strongly question if their faith is truly Christian. Christians live life in emulation of Jesus Christ and to glorify God. People are sinful. People do the wrong things. Those who say they are Christian do the wrong things but becuase one person who says, I am a Christian and then uses the Bible to codone sins against others, it is not inline with the teachings of Christ!
So the Catholic church isn't christian?
The Spanish Inquisition
The Malleus Malleficarum
The Crusades
Well, it certainly does not negate the entire work, even though some Bishops may question certain aspects. It also needs to be remembered that the Catholic Church is Rome, and as far as I know, Vatican Two is quite clear about the process of scriptural study and says nothing refuting the veracity of the text.:idea:
This is nothing new, simply reworded a bit differently. The Church has never said that the Bible is a History Book, and that is clearly expressed in the documents of Vatican II. The fundamentalist teaching that everything happened just as described needs to be examineed a little more closely. There is a certain literary style that one can discern through studying the scriptures, and many worthy scholars (and devout and worthy Christians, I might add) have scoured those pages to squeeze every possible meaning from them.
There is truth there, for sure. and one has no need to plow through the smoky metaphors and doomsday language of Revelation to recover the warnings that are found in every scripture from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism. You can find it in Jeremiah, Isaiah, Esdras, and most of the prophets. You can pretty much figure out from the interaction between men and gods or God, what way things will go if we don't adhere to the laws that are written all around us. Science will call it action and reaction. Fundamentalists will call it Divine retribution. Hindus will point to the karmic wheel coming back around. But one thing is certain. We are destroying this planet and each other and whether we do it slowly or in a flash of a mushroom cloud, it is going to happen. And yes, it is in the Bible, but you don't have to take it seriously. You can ask any other holy man or woman from any faith persuasion and they will have someting similar to say about it. Just because it is a story book doesn't mean that it has nothing to teach. It is the wisdom of the elders passed on and contemplated and now it is your turn to join in the contemplation.
Shalom,
Marcus