Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Bible Contradictions/Factual Errors (?)

The assertion that Scripture is false because it contradicts itself is not a new concept. Since the earliest centuries of Christianity there have been those who claim that Scripture cannot be inspired by God because it contradicts itself or contains errors of geography, or time inconsistencies, or other reasons. But, these perceived errors and contradictions are due to those folks' misunderstanding of the passages cited. Sound exegesis (considering the author, the target audience, the literary genre employed, the time, the place, the culture, the language, worldly events surrounding the writing)reveals that Scripture supports and compliments itself, never contradicting. Augustine addressed this issue back in ~400AD when he said
"...if any one is perplexed by the apparent contradiction, the only conclusion is that he does not understand. Accordingly it remains for me to explain how both passages, instead of being contradictory, may be harmonized by one rule of sound faith. The pious inquirer will find all perplexity removed by a careful examination." (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/140611.htm)


Here are some links to lists of "errors", and explanations of correct understanding of them...

anti-Biblicans say:

a list of  "contradictions":
http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

a list of "inconsistencies":
http://infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/inconsistencies.html

an Islamic viewpoint:
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/2666/viewall/



Refutations:

Introduction to Bible Difficulties and Bible Contradictions

A rebuttal of the "contradictions" and "inconsistencies"...
http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/bible.htm





Similar to claims of intra-Biblical contradictions, some non-Catholics (usually anti-Catholics) suggest that some Catholic dogmatic teachings or "infallible" papal statements have contradicted other dogmatic statements. These suggestions are ultimately false, however. Like Scriptural "contradictions", context is the key. One contextual aspect of misunderstanding is the translation from the original language into English. Scripture is originally Hebrew and Greek and sometimes there's no direct word or phrase in a modern language to translate a Hebrew or Greek word or phrase. Or, for example, in the older English translation (ie KJV) an English word has different meaning or implication than it does today (ie "meat", "hell"). Likewise, an old Church document translated from Latin into English over a century ago can use the word "worship" regarding treatment of Mary. Back then "worship" did not mean or imply adoring Mary, as we adore/worship God as the source of life/love/salvation, which is the common meaning of "worship" today. It meant only honor and respect, then. (Refer to http://americanberean.blogspot.com/2013/08/honor-veneration-worship-adoration.html). (Popes have stated things that contradicted other popes, but those cases are not "infallible" statements, they are not contradictions of official teachings. Most folks don't understand what infallibility is. It's neither inspiration nor prophecy. It's only the Spirit preventing errors being taught as Truth. The pope is only infallible when addressing the whole Church, as the visible Church leader, on matters of faith or morals. For example, when a pope is addressing one person or region of the Church, even on matters of faith and morals, he is not prevented by the Spirit from erring.)



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Sexual Crimes & Misconduct in Catholic and Other Institutions


Clerical Sexual Offenders in American Catholic Institutions:

Total number of Priests & Bishops in the USA since the 1965: 87,576 (http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html). I arrived at that number by averaging the yearly ordinations listed on the table on that site. It lists 5-year increments, I used the average of those ordinations listed to get a yearly ordination rate and added that to the 1965 number of priests/bishops.



According to http://bishop-accountability.org/, since the mid-20th century...

3,933 (4.5% of all priests & bishops) priests/bishops were ACCUSED of sexual offences.
13 (0.3% of Accused) priests/bishops were ACQUITTED.
69 (1.8% of Accused) priests/bishops were ARRESTED.
21 (0.5% of Accused) priests/bishops were CHARGED.
2 (0.05% of Accused) priests/bishops were CLEARED.
445 (11.3 % of Accused) priests/bishops were CONVICTED.
15 (0.4 % of Accused) priests/bishops were INDICTED.
5 ( % of Accused) priests/bishops were NOT GUILTY/REINSTATED/RET'D TO DUTY.
1279 ( 32.5% of Accused) priests/bishops were SUED.
366 ( 9.3% of Accused) priests/bishops SETTLED to avoid being Sued.
1 priests/bishops sued had SUIT WITHDRAWN.
1,717 (43.7% of Accused) priests/bishops were merely ACCUSED (falsly? ie, no further legal action?) .

Compared to the total number of priests and bishops in the American Church over those years...

4.5% (3,933) of ALL Priests & Bishops were ACCUSED (includes legal actions/verdicts above, including merely accused) of Sexual Offense.
0.5% (445) of ALL Priests & Bishops were actually CONVICTED of Sexual Offense.
1.4% (1,279) of ALL Priests & Bishops were SUED for Sexual Offense.
0.4% (366) of ALL Priests & Bishops SETTLED out of court for Sexual Offense.
2.0% (1,717) of ALL Priests & Bishops were merely ACCUSED for Sexual Offense.

Of the Accused 4.5% of the priesthood, almost half of those accusations (43.7%) didn't pan out beyond accusation (at least not as of publication of that table which I am referring). That means a more accurate number for maybe-guilty priests is 3933-1717=2216 = 2.5% of the priesthood. The percentage of the total number of priests, who are proven guilty is 0.5%. Those who were POSSIBLY guilty (sued/settled) tallies at 1.8%. So, assuming (for the sake of argument) that all those who were sued/settled were indeed guilty, the maximum percentage of the priesthood who are sexual offenders is 2.3%.


Another source has a larger number of total priests than my derived figure of 87,576. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102100144_pf.html
"A review by America's Catholic bishops found that about 4,400 of 110,000 priests were accused of molesting minors from 1950 through 2002."
Using that figure, the total ACCUSED is 3.5%,  the CONVICTED is 0.4%, the CONVICTED+SUED/SETTLED is 1.8%.


Those sexual offender numbers are from 1965 onward. In the 2000's the Church established policies and procedures  to reduce pervert priests among the clerical ranks. Since then, there have been on average per year, 7 credible allegations against priests (who number about 40,000). That means that presently, the number of pervert priests averages about .0002% of all priests in any given year.

Media Predictably Goes Silent As Catholic Abuse Allegations Fall To Lowest Levels
Sex Abuse Scandal Rocks Public Schools (while being unreported) while in the Catholic Realm in recent years an average of 7 credible allegations are made (among 40,000 priests)
http://www.catholicleague.org/sex-abuse-scandal-rocks-public-schools/

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-sex-abuse-a-catholic-problem

-----

Offenders in Non-Catholic Christian Organizations:

Protestants :
http://www.reformation.com/   

http://www.catholicleague.org/sexual-abuse-in-social-context-catholic-clergy-and-other-professionals/

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/1/27/pdf


-----


Offenders in Secular Organizations:

Doctors Sexually abusing folks:




Public Schools:

Per http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/crimeindicators2011/index.asp  as to violence in general:
In 2010, data from the National Crime Victimization Survey23 showed that more victimizations were committed against students ages 12–18 at school than away from school. Students ages 12–18 experienced about 828,400 nonfatal victimizations (theft24 and violent crime25 ) at school,26 compared to about 652,500 nonfatal victimizations away from school (table 2.1). 27 These figures represent total crime victimization rates of 32 crimes per 1,000 students at school and 26 victimizations per 1,000 students away from school.

So, kids are safer out of school than in school.

As to teacher-student sexual abuse,...

http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/about/administration/provost/hofhrz/hofhrz_s03_shakeshaft.pdf
"Even when students allege abuse and the district responds, few students, families or school districts report this sexual abuse to the police or other law enforcement officials. As a result, most cases are not logged into the criminal justice system. Instead, abusers are dealt with using internal channels. In
one of my early studies of 225 cases of educator sexual abuse in New York, none of the abusers were reported to authorities, and only 1 percent lost the license to teach."

Sexual predators in Public Schools, when caught, were shuffled around the school system.

http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/report.pdf


For the following article, I don't know who's plagiarizing whom, here... This story is repeated virtually verbatim at each of these sites. It refers to an "Associated Press investigation" on sexual misconduct of public school authority figures (teachers, coaches, principals, etc).
http://www.komonews.com/news/content/10690766.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102100144_pf.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-plague-of-sexual-misconduct-in-schools/

Here's the summary of the AP's study: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/teacher_sex/index.html?SITE=IACOU
But, I haven't found the source data.







Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Way and the When of Apostolic/Early-Christian Worship

Scripture and the Early Christian Writings give us an idea of the communal worship of the earliest  Christians... they "broke bread", read Scriptures, gave money for the benefit of the congregation, received a blessing. 

OT backdrop: In Genesis 14 Abram meets with the Priest of God, Melchizedek. The priest shares bread & wine with him and gives God's blessing and Abram gives a tithe of his income.

17  And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

Malachi says that in the future (relative to that prophet's time) a perfect sacrifice will be offered repeatedly, throughout the world, among all nations, until the end of time...

Malachi 1
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

That prophecy is fulfilled in the institution and continuing daily celebration of the Lord's Supper. In every region of the world, every day, a Mass is celebrated, which Catholics believe is the actualization, the re-presenting, of the once-in-time sacrifice of the Lamb of God: Jesus.

The Gospels of Matthew,Mark and Luke (sometimes referred to as the "synoptic" gospels) describe Jesus celebrating/instituting the New Passover feast, He Himself being the perfect Lamb of God which is sacrificed for us.


Acts 2
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Here we see that in the common worship they studied the Apostolic teachings together, prayed together and "broke bread" together. To "break bread" means to celebrate the Lord's Supper. To just eat for nourishment they used a phrase like "eat meat" or "take food", as in Acts2:46...

46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,


Acts 20
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

So, in the Apostolic age, the Christians gathered together on Sunday (the first day of the week) to read the Apostles' writings and the OT Scriptures and hear preaching and worship God and celebrate the memorial of the Last Supper. 

According to early Christian writings of the late- and post-Apostolic era, the Last Supper memorial was the re-presentation of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The bread and wine, they believed, actually became the flesh & blood of that Passover Lamb and they ate that Passover Lamb (Jesus), as directed by God in Exodus and by Jesus in the Gospels. (The original Passover Lamb meal foreshadowed the New Covenant Passover meal which is the Eucharist (the Lord's Supper) as instituted by Christ).

The following text extracts, from the first & second centuries, describe the weekly Sunday worship. Without the attributions of the sources, you might think these came from the modern catechism or from someone's description of the modern Catholic Mass...

Didache (circa 100 AD) Ch 14

But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.


Justin Martyr (100 - 165 AD)

First Apology Ch 66

And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins[Baptism], and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, This do in remembrance of Me, Luke 22:19 this is My body; and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, This is My blood; and gave it to them alone.

Ch 67

And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sundayall who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all risetogether and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.


Dialogue with Trypho, Ch 41
[Trypho was a Jewish man Justin was teaching or lecturing or debating or something...]

Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve [prophets], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: 'I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord; and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, My name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord: but you profane it.' Malachi 1:10-12 [So] He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and that you profane [it].

Dialogue with Trypho, Ch 117

Accordingly, God, anticipating all the sacrifices which we offer through this name, and which Jesus the Christ enjoined us to offer, i.e., in the Eucharist of the bread and the cup, and which are presented by Christians in all places throughout the world, bears witness that they are well-pleasing to Him....
 For there is not one single race of men, whether barbarians, or Greeks, or whatever they may be called, nomads, or vagrants, or herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and giving of thanks are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus. And then, as the Scriptures show, at the time when Malachi wrote this, your dispersion over all the earth, which now exists, had not taken place.


Ignatius of Antioch (circa 50 - 110AD)

Smyrneans:
They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again.

Philadelphians:
Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth ] the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants: that so, whatsoever you do, you may do it according to [the will of] God.

Magnesians 9:
If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death— whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master



Pliny the Younger, a Roman persecutor described the Christian worship (circa 112 AD)

...They declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately among themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery and adultery, to commit no breach of trust and not to refuse to return a deposit upon demand. After this ceremony it had been their custom to disperse and later to take food of an ordinary harmless kind. 

("to bind themselves by oath": in Greek, oath is sacramentum, the root of our word sacrament. The seven Sacraments are covenental oaths with which God blesses us.)


References:

Early Christian Writings
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/

Topical quotes from the Early Christian Writings
http://www.staycatholic.com/early_church_fathers.htm

Fordham's Ancient History Sourcebook: Christianity
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/asbook11.asp

"Setting your house in order"
http://blog.adw.org/2014/04/set-your-house-in-order-in-four-easy-steps/


Sunday, January 12, 2014

Trinity: OT-NT



Hebrews 1
GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.


Wisdom 7 (KJV)
25: For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: therefore can no defiled thing fall into her.
26: For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness.
27: And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets.
28: For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom.
29: For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it.

====

Jesus, walking on the water, meant to "pass by" the disciples in the boat. This means he intended to give them a glimpse of His glorious divinity, just enough to convey His majesty but not so much to kill them. (For a sinful mortal to look on His full glorious divinity meant death because nothing less than holy can exist in His full presence.) The phrase "pass by" is used in Exodus with Moses, and in Kings with Elijah. God "passed by" them to gift them with the experience of seeing God without being killed.

Mark6
48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

l
 



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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Jesus Really Was Born on Dec 25, In All Liklihood...


This article breaks it down...

http://www.catholicherald.com/stories/Was-Jesus-really-born-Dec-25,24876


However, there is a case to be made for another date... historical/astronomical/astrological evidence... ("astrology" not in the modern sense of fortune-telling, but in the sense of noting stars/planets and interpreting the positions in the context of Scriptural prophesies regarding coming events)...

http://www.bethlehemstar.net/