Most of the sound and fury against 'un-Biblical' ideas has been focused on science: particularly the "religion of the Antichrist," evolution.
Heathen Numerals and 'End Times Bible Prophecies'
(Oakland Blog, via SFGate, used w/o permission)
It could have been worse. Someone might have claimed that because two and two equals four, God cannot exist: and we'd have folks demanding that Satanic arithmetic be banned from schools.
I don't think that two plus to equals four proves that God does exist, but I don't refuse to believe in multiplication because there isn't a multiplication table in the Bible. I'm not even outraged by today's Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Maybe someone's stitched together Revelation 2:10, Luke 15:4, Isaiah 60:22: proving to his satisfaction that multiplication and a base ten numbering system are "Biblical."
Somehow, coming up with 'End Times Bible Prophecies' seems to be a male preoccupation. Maybe it has something to do with Y chromosomes and the corpus callosum, and that's another topic. Topics.
Oddly enough, I've never encountered someone who refused to use the symbols 0 through 9, despite their 'heathen' origins. Yet more topics.
Newfangled Ideas and the Papist Peril
Folks getting upset about newfangled ideas is nothing new.About eight centuries back, some European scholars realized that we might be living in a really big universe. Others insisted that there couldn't be other worlds: because Aristotle said so. In 1277, the Church stepped in: and ever since, claiming that we must be standing on the only world has been against the rules for Catholics.
Telling God what He can't do seems silly, at best: and the same principle can be applied to searching for life in the universe. My opinion. I'll get back to that in another post.
Roughly three and a half centuries back, a Calvinist fired back at new ideas with a well-researched bit of Biblical scholarship. His chronology placed the moment of creation at nightfall before October 23, 4004 BC.
The Ussher chronology is still with us. A remarkable number of Catholics fervently support the 17th-century Calvinist's timetable. They may be unaware that Ussher also worked hard to protect Christians from 'papists:'
"The religion of the papists is superstitious and idolatrous; their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical; their church in respect of both, apostatical; to give them therefore a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, is a grievous sin."If Ussher had been right about creation's age, accepting his timetable would make sense. Evidence that Earth is much more than six millennia old was mounting in the 18th century, so I don't agree: but I'm a papist, and Ussher warned folks about my sort. Moving on.
("James Ussher," Primate of All Ireland, Wikipedia)
Science and Common Sense
(From TrollArt.com, via Google Developers, Google+, used w/o permission.)
I don't think God is a liar. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter, because I also believe that God created the universe I live in: and defined what is real and what isn't.
Since I believe that God is truth, and that truth cannot contradict truth, I must also believe that studying what God created is okay. (Catechism, 144, 159)
That's not just my opinion. Pope Paul VI wrote that honest scientific research can't get in the way of faith, since faith and the physical world both come from God:
"...Therefore if methodical investigation within every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith, for earthly matters and the concerns of faith derive from the same God...."Thomas Aquinas said that truth cannot contradict truth, by the way.
(36., "Gaudium et Spes," Pope Paul VI (December 7, 1965); via Internet Office of the Holy See)
Second Vatican Council: Real and Imagined
The second Vatican council (II Vatican Council) happened in 1965. I was in my mid-teens at the time, worshiping in the mainstream Protestant church I grew up in: and trying to make sense of a changing world.The '60s were a distressing decade for folks who liked the status quo. The second Vatican council didn't introduce new dogmas, or forbid anything new: but it did acknowledge that the 20th century presented new challenges, and opportunities. Some American Catholics decided that the Holy See was wrong: and set up their own little churches.
"Gaudium et Spes" is one of the four Constitutions of II Vatican. I suspect that Pope Paul VI's failure to condemn science helped convince some tightly-wound American Catholics that the second Vatican council was a mistake: and that their little circle of acquaintances were the only "real" Catholics left.
As I've said before, Catholics aren't Calvinists. But some of us get our native culture and Church teachings confused. America's default Christian beliefs are, arguably, Calvinist: and it's often easier to go along with cultural norms.
Some American priests — and, sadly, bishops — decided that II Vatican Council gave them artistic license to remodel their churches and rewrite the Mass. The results were almost as accurate a reflection of the council's documents as the Three Stooges' portrayal of American jurisprudence. (January 19, 2014)
I'm not happy about some changes in American culture: but I most certainly do not want a return to the "good old days." My memory's too good for that.
"Happy days" America was nice for men who looked and acted sufficiently WASPish to get by in a booming post-war economy, and that's yet again another topic.
"The Religion of the Antichrist"
I take my faith very seriously. The Bible, Sacred Scripture, is an important part of that faith. (Catechism, 101-133)I read and study the Bible regularly, and have read it cover-to-cover. That last took quite a long time. But I don't believe that it's a science textbook: or a computer manual. (January 14, 2011)
I also take the Antichrist seriously - to a point. The "religion of the Antichrist" that I'm concerned about is a "...pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God...." (1 John 2:18; 2 John:7; Catechism, 675)
Putting myself, or humanity, or anything else that is not God, in God's place is idolatry: and a profoundly bad idea. (Catechism, 2097, 2112-2114)
My faith doesn't depend on science: but it's not threatened by knowledge. If anything, what we're learning about the scale of this universe encourages even deeper reverence for its Creator.
Finally, here's a longer excerpt from II Vatican council's "Gaudium et Spes:"
"...Therefore if methodical investigation within every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith, for earthly matters and the concerns of faith derive from the same God. Indeed whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, even though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their identity. Consequently, we cannot but deplore certain habits of mind, which are sometimes found too among Christians, which do not sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science and which, from the arguments and controversies they spark, lead many minds to conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed...."Related posts:
(36., "Gaudium et Spes," Pope Paul VI (December 7, 1965); via Internet Office of the Holy See)
- "Cave Men, Sea Monsters, Dead Scorpions, and Theoretical Physics"
(January 31, 2014)
Particularly - "Cockroaches, Spiders, and — Things"
(January 10, 2014)
Particularly - "Personal Preference, Reality, and Dealing with Knowledge"
(January 2, 2014)
Particularly - "Truth Cannot Contradict Truth"
(October 13, 2013) - "When to Call Tech Support, When to Read the Bible"
(January 14, 2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment