Friday, July 7, 2006

St Joan's Weekly Bible Study Group is Debating the Truth of the Bible

.
In Minneapolis, the St Joan of Arc parish's weekly Bible study group held a discussion on a book titled Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by Bart D. Ehrman.

One of the group's facilitators wrote: ...Since God did not see fit to preserve the original manuscripts, as an all-powerful God presumably can do, that is a pretty good sign that the Bible is not inerrant, much less a foolproof guide to the questions of the present age, such as abortion, women's rights, gay rights, religious supremacy, Western-style democracy, etc. We can't set up the Bible as a false idol....

And the "Discussion questions" for this topic?

--Why, if our beliefs are more profound and more rational, do we need to denigrate the gullibility and obstinacy of Bible literalists? Why does their faith appear to be more intense than ours (or does it)?

--If the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, what value does it have?

--Has our experience with the Bible led to any faith journey changes of course among us, as happened to the author?
[snip] Spero News

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"--If the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, what value does it have?"

You know, I hope this question in particular, and maybe the others, are "straw man" questions. After all, Catholic do NOT believe that the Bible is inerrant, if you mean that in a literalist fashion. We've never had the issues with evolution, for example, that our fundamentalist brethren have had. Yet the Bible remains the inspired Word of God. I hope they read Vatican II's *On Revelation*--short, to the point, answers the question.