Catholics and Fundys and the Word of God

There has always been a great divide, a huge chasm, between Roman Catholics and Protestant fundamentalists. This confrontational split is based upon two very different ways of understanding the Bible.

In a smallish town in central Florida, this division has come to a head.

Invariably our daily paper carries one or more diatribes about the Bible being the infallible, inerrant, and inspired "word" of God. From that stance, the writer usually goes on to claim that the Bible says God will destroy our nation if we don't put prayer back in the public schools, hang the Ten Commandments in every public building, rid ourselves of abortion and homosexuality, and stop the teaching of Evolution.

Some years ago, both the RC's and the Fundys decided to close their eyes to much of what the other side believed in order to climb in bed with each other primarily on the issues of abortion and homosexuality (especially gay marriage).

That creative coupling is about to become undone as it relates to understanding the Bible.

Responding to one of these "Letters to the Editor," the pastor of Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church took umbrage with the writer's position that one cannot be a Christian unless he/she believes the Bible is "infallible."

The good reverend suggested that was not the case, that the Bible is not an "infallible" authority. He argued thusly: The Church (by which he means the Roman Catholic Church) was founded "by our Lord [who] is 'The pillar and foundation of truth,' and therefore: The infallible authority (1 Timothy 3:15)."

He went on. "Jesus founded the church, and His inspired church wrote the New Testament. Interpreting the Bible and ignoring the church that wrote it, and truly knows what it means, is to distort the scripture." (My emphasis)

Only the Roman church, which wrote the New Testament, truly knows what it means! That's got to be hard to swallow by the so-called "evangelicals" for whom the Bible has become an infallible idol.

Actually, the reverend was right about only one thing - that the Bible is not an infallible authority. He was wrong about everything else.

Jesus most emphatically did not "found" the Catholic church or any other church. The Jesus described in the New Testament was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew. He knew from nothing about any kind of church. One cannot quote that passage about Jesus giving Peter the "keys," either, for that is most certainly a later interpolation by the "church."

With regard to the question as to who wrote the New Testament - well, it wasn't the Roman Catholic Church, because that "church" did not exist when the New Testament was written. For several hundred years C.E., there were many churches, differing widely with regard to a variety of issues - theological and literary. And they fought each other ferociously and constantly.

They fought about how to understand Jesus. They fought about how to worship. They fought about what books or letters or essays should be read in church meetings. They fought about whether one had to be a Jew to be a Christian. They fought about what kinds of foods to eat. They fought about when and if Jesus was going to come back. They fought about whether women had any rights in Christian groups. They fought about the role of the leaders, i.e., bishops. They fought ardently about the gospels and which were "true" and which were "false." They fought about most everything that Christians are still fighting about today!

Many epistles and gospels were written and used in those first few hundred years. The people who used them believed they were the "true" followers of this Jesus they had been told about. It wasn't until the "orthodox" or Roman church garnered enough power almost 400 years after the Jesus event that the variety within Christendom began to dissipate.

While the 27 writings that comprise the New Testament as we know it were well-known, they were not collected into one volume and termed "canonical" until the end of the 4th century. And that happened only because the "orthodox" or Roman church had been given the "keys" to the kingdom, not by God, but by the Roman Emporer, Constantine. Constantine crowned the Roman church the official church of the Roman Empire. Even then, however, there was much disagreement among the hierarchy about these 27 books.

Gradually, the orthodox were able to suppress the other gospels and other epistles and other Christians. Many of the other Christians were killed. Many of their writings were burned.

Fortunately, a number of these writings and gospels, buried by monks who refused to be cowed by the Roman orthodox, have been discovered in recent years. They must be considered to obtain a complete picture of the "early" Christian churches.

To claim that only the Roman Catholic Church knows what the Bible "truly means" is laughable. No one knows what the Bible "truly means." If God gave the Roman church the ability to discern his "truth" in the Bible, then he is the one responsible for all the terror committed by the Roman Church in the past 2,000 years. I don't think even Catholics want to believe that.

Everything is interpretation. There is no one, absolute "truth" that resides under the sign of the Vatican or under any sign. That's why we have so many different groups all claiming to be Christian and that their "truth" is God's truth.

Here's a final tidbit to chew on: Peter never went to Rome. Peter was not the first pope. There is absolutely no evidence for either of those beliefs! None! Those are legends to keep the faithful cowed and the bishops in their seats of power! The whole notion of apostolic succession [the idea that Jesus "ordained" the twelve disciples, who then "ordained" the first bishops, who have then ordained every other bishop and priest down through the years in an unending succession of ordinations] was created by the church power brokers to justify their usurpation of power from the people, and to legitimize their continuing grasp of episcopal authority.

Unfortunately, it's worked pretty well. The "Church" via the bishops tell the faithful what to believe under penalty of eternal torment. The faithful, being good sheep and wary of being punished forever, pretty much go along to get along.

And that's the hell of it!