Spero News on MQJ

Spero News | Liberal parish debates Bible as false idol

A reader alerted me to the Web site of St. Joan of Arc Church in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese.

The site is loaded with left-wing material, but this item caught my eye: The 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?

Telling quotes, and kudos to Spero News for highlighting the fatuosity of posing these questions in a Bible study group.

I should note that I cut off the excerpt from Spero News at this point because the author goes on to inject some gay-bashing and “baby-killing” rhetoric. I believe homosexuality and abortion are sins, but I am in favor of effective debate on such subjects.

If, instead of “effective” I used words like “civil”, “measured”, or “respectful,” I am sure that I would get arguments from those who believe that it is not only pointless but wrong to be polite in the face of mortal sin. By using the word “effective,” I hope to place the burden of proof on the name-callers, where it belongs.

Technorati Tags: misquoting jesus, ehrman

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