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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Modern Theology	Thomas	Thursday, August 2, 2007
Question: left the program because I believed the instruction provided violated the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. I am asking for your opinion. Hebrew Scripture The professor states that the LOT (Old Testament) story must be followed to the end. 4:“You have to understand; what we are going to try to do is understand why they're writing the story. If you can understand why; first of all why was this included in the canon? Then you want to know why was it written in the first place? What was the author's intent (human thought and human intent)? That gets into a thing called hermeneutics. "Words just convey human thought. What we are really after when we are reading words is the thought. Don't allow yourself to get hung up on: “well the Bible says”; “What does the Bible mean? Not what are the actual words; but what meaning the author had in his head (human thought and human intent) when he put these words down to try to explain what he was feeling; kind of like poetry. The ofessor is questioning “why that story of LOT…why insert this into the story?” referring to the incest relationship. A student responds to the estion; “the Amorites and a Moabites; they were enemies to the Hebrews…..The professor states; “you are exactly right. They were more than enemies they had this cultural bias between the Amorites the Moabites. They hate them just because they are Amorites and Moabites………” "So this story is in here to justify; justify ethnic hatred.” This is the theory that the professor is pushing; the Bible was written by humans with human thoughts and intentions, nothing more. The transcript below was taken from the recorded the class lecture dealing with Christology. In particular, the professor of a Catholic university, a Catholic Priest, is describing the mystery of the Divine conception of Christ "We still want to figure out the biology of it so we make the Holy Spirit as sort of like the Divine sperm. This is not the way we can conceive of this. I mean I really do think that the point of the matter is; I think here we are at the heart of the mystery of how the Divine and the human are one in Christ and you can’t really kind of appeal to the parts and try to analyze it; um; um; I think it is a kind of affirmation of faith. On the other hand, don’t think you know more then you now.” 19:58 “They want to talk about it as a miraculous birth; well, I don’t know what you mean about a miracles birth. I mean the other thing is, we all; as human beings; we are born of a human. You can’t take that away. We don’t know any other way to become a human. But the other part of this is too, that this also was God.” Thank you in advance and may God bless and protect you and yours always
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Thomas: I am not sure how to comment. What you have posted is very difficult to understand. It appears to be transcript fragments. I really cannot tell what is going one. It would have been better to just tell me what the instructors were teaching. As best as I can tell, one issue is discussing why the incest passages about Lot and his daughters were included in the Bible. It appears that the professor is suggesting that the story is present to justify ethnic hatred in a way such as what we see in the Middle East today. If that is what the professor is saying, that is utter nonsense. The Moabites and Ammonites play a significant role in the history of Israel later on. I think the most plausible reason for the story of Lot and his daughters is to explain the origins of those two ethnic peoples. Without that story, we have no idea where the Moabites and Ammonites came from. As for the incestuous origins of these peoples, the Navarre Bible Commentary suggests: In this short account the sacred writer's intention may have been to show the superiority pf the people of Israel, a people created by a very special divine plan, over the other peoples of the region. The Moabites and the Ammonites are portrayed as something inferior on account of their incestuous origin. Thus, the commentators seem to agree that these are the two reasons for the story: 1) to provide a origin of of the Moabite and Ammonites; and 2) to promote the common and repeated idea of the Israelites as superior to other nations. This may sound the same as what the professor mentioned but it is not. the profession seems to imply the story of Lot was "an excuse" for ethnic hatred. That is it not. As for the professors hermeneutics, he is correct that when studying a passage we must consider the intent of the writers. But we do much more than that. The Bible is written by human beings, with their thoughts and their stories. By that we must look at the words themselves, the context from which they were written, the historical context, the philosophical and religious context, the audience they were writing to, their intent of their stories, etc. This is all true, but this is also within the context of the Inspiration of God that ensures an infallible religious message. In this sense, the Bible is not mere literature; it is the very Revelation of God to his people, inspired by Him and written through the personalities and circumstances of the writers. Because any passage of Scripture is part of the Revelation of God, each passage fits into the whole. As a result, no interpretation can hope to be accurate if localized to only the passage and surrounding texts. It must be considered against the whole of the book, the whole of the Old or New Testament, and the whole of the entire Bible. Hermeneutics is far more then merely understanding the intent of the writer. On this other matter: "We still want to figure out the biology of it so we make the Holy Spirit as sort of like the Divine sperm." This line of thinking is blasphemous I believe. It is an attempt to dismiss the mystery of the miracle and reduce it to a biological function in which the Holy Spirit is merely a biological function. This is a kind of reductionism that denies the majesty of God and the fact that the impregnation of the Bless Mother by the Holy Spirit was a profound act of Love, not a mere pseudo-biological type event as if Mary was artificially impregnated like some cow on the farm. I find this quite offensive and, as I said, blasphemous. What is God's name are they teaching in these schools? Bishops need to enforce the legislation already in place to clean up the theological sloppiness, and sometimes outright heresies, in our schools. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Modern Theology

Thomas

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Question:

left the program because I believed the instruction provided violated the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. I am asking for your opinion.

Hebrew Scripture
The professor states that the LOT (Old Testament) story must be followed to the end. 4:“You have to understand; what we are going to try to do is understand why they're writing the story. If you can understand why; first of all why was this included in the canon? Then you want to know why was it written in the first place? What was the author's intent (human thought and human intent)? That gets into a thing called hermeneutics. "Words just convey human thought. What we are really after when we are reading words is the thought. Don't allow yourself to get hung up on: “well the Bible says”; “What does the Bible mean? Not what are the actual words; but what meaning the author had in his head (human thought and human intent) when he put these words down to try to explain what he was feeling; kind of like poetry. The ofessor is questioning “why that story of LOT…why insert this into the story?” referring to the incest relationship. A student responds to the estion; “the Amorites and a Moabites; they were enemies to the Hebrews…..The professor states; “you are exactly right. They were more than enemies they had this cultural bias between the Amorites the Moabites. They hate them just because they are Amorites and Moabites………” "So this story is in here to justify; justify ethnic hatred.” This is the theory that the professor is pushing; the Bible was written by humans with human thoughts and intentions, nothing more.
The transcript below was taken from the recorded the class lecture dealing with Christology. In particular, the professor of a Catholic university, a Catholic Priest, is describing the mystery of the Divine conception of Christ "We still want to figure out the biology of it so we make the Holy Spirit as sort of like the Divine sperm. This is not the way we can conceive of this. I mean I really do think that the point of the matter is; I think here we are at the heart of the mystery of how the Divine and the human are one in Christ and you can’t really kind of appeal to the parts and try to analyze it; um; um; I think it is a kind of affirmation of faith. On the other hand, don’t think you know more then you now.” 19:58 “They want to talk about it as a miraculous birth; well, I don’t know what you mean about a miracles birth. I mean the other thing is, we all; as human beings; we are born of a human. You can’t take that away. We don’t know any other way to become a human. But the other part of this is too, that this also was God.”

Thank you in advance and may God bless and protect you and yours always

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Thomas:

I am not sure how to comment. What you have posted is very difficult to understand. It appears to be transcript fragments. I really cannot tell what is going one. It would have been better to just tell me what the instructors were teaching.

As best as I can tell, one issue is discussing why the incest passages about Lot and his daughters were included in the Bible. It appears that the professor is suggesting that the story is present to justify ethnic hatred in a way such as what we see in the Middle East today.

If that is what the professor is saying, that is utter nonsense. The Moabites and Ammonites play a significant role in the history of Israel later on. I think the most plausible reason for the story of Lot and his daughters is to explain the origins of those two ethnic peoples. Without that story, we have no idea where the Moabites and Ammonites came from.

As for the incestuous origins of these peoples, the Navarre Bible Commentary suggests:

In this short account the sacred writer's intention may have been to show the superiority pf the people of Israel, a people created by a very special divine plan, over the other peoples of the region. The Moabites and the Ammonites are portrayed as something inferior on account of their incestuous origin.

Thus, the commentators seem to agree that these are the two reasons for the story: 1) to provide a origin of of the Moabite and Ammonites; and 2) to promote the common and repeated idea of the Israelites as superior to other nations.

This may sound the same as what the professor mentioned but it is not. the profession seems to imply the story of Lot was "an excuse" for ethnic hatred. That is it not.

As for the professors hermeneutics, he is correct that when studying a passage we must consider the intent of the writers. But we do much more than that. The Bible is written by human beings, with their thoughts and their stories. By that we must look at the words themselves, the context from which they were written, the historical context, the philosophical and religious context, the audience they were writing to, their intent of their stories, etc. This is all true, but this is also within the context of the Inspiration of God that ensures an infallible religious message. In this sense, the Bible is not mere literature; it is the very Revelation of God to his people, inspired by Him and written through the personalities and circumstances of the writers.

Because any passage of Scripture is part of the Revelation of God, each passage fits into the whole. As a result, no interpretation can hope to be accurate if localized to only the passage and surrounding texts. It must be considered against the whole of the book, the whole of the Old or New Testament, and the whole of the entire Bible.

Hermeneutics is far more then merely understanding the intent of the writer.

On this other matter: "We still want to figure out the biology of it so we make the Holy Spirit as sort of like the Divine sperm." This line of thinking is blasphemous I believe. It is an attempt to dismiss the mystery of the miracle and reduce it to a biological function in which the Holy Spirit is merely a biological function. This is a kind of reductionism that denies the majesty of God and the fact that the impregnation of the Bless Mother by the Holy Spirit was a profound act of Love, not a mere pseudo-biological type event as if Mary was artificially impregnated like some cow on the farm.

I find this quite offensive and, as I said, blasphemous.

What is God's name are they teaching in these schools?

Bishops need to enforce the legislation already in place to clean up the theological sloppiness, and sometimes outright heresies, in our schools.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.