"When teaching the love of truth, never lose the truth of love". - HARRY WONG
I was raised and bred in values and virtues by the Augustinian Order. I have spent 11 years from gradeschool to highschool in a conservative Augustinian School in the province of Camarines Norte in the Philippines. I was learning the stories in the Bible even before I learned how to read.
I was in third grade when one of my teachers played devil's advocate to us to encourage class discussion. He argued that some of the stories in the Bible are not actually true but the authors just made up those stories, like of Adam and Eve (as in Malakas at Maganda, a Philippine legenday story of creation) to make it more comprehensible to the laymen. He even cited some scientific explanation of Darwin's Theory of Evolution as the one which is more possible to have happened. The students had to prove him wrong, and the debate got heated.
The discussion went ongoing after school hours and even got my parents discussing about it too during dinner when I told them about the issue.
After more than 20 years, I came across this news which says exactly the same thing as my former teacher told us that some parts of the Bible are not actually true:
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say, they may contain “historical traces”. (READ FULL STORY: Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible)
I am now an adult and I know what part of the Bible do I have to believe is true. I also have concluded long ago that by the order of things, there must be the one at the peak of the hierarchy, the Supreme Being. I can't easily answer all my questions about life. I just hold on to my faith.
But how do I explain all these to my seven year old daughter who's just starting to learn the stories in the Bible? I definitely do not want to burst her bubble.
RELATED TOPICS: education, religion, The Bible
15 comments:
Catholics have always been under attack by Protestant Christians. Making up shallow lies against Catholics is part of their Protestant culture and Sunday service. Why? Because they have to . . . because Protestantinism will not exist if it weren't for the ancient Christianity of Catholicism.
The word PROTEST in Protestant came about during the Reformation Period, led by the ex-Augustinian priest Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc... The results are the different Protestant denominations such as the Lutherans, Baptists, etc..
Our Catholic religion can be traced back to Jesus and the Apostles. The different Protestant sects can only go as far as the Reformation period. Their Protestant founders can be traced back to erring humans. They will keep you from researching real history by throwing around misconceptions about Catholicism.
A lot of Catholics have been converted to Protestantinism, sometimes unwittingly, because their Catholic faith and/or knowledge of it has not been strong in the first place. Being Catholic should be an on-going learning experience, especially to Catholics who were 'born' into the faith.
Protestants will question your faith, and if you do not know how to defend your faith, you just might be persuaded to go against it and join the Protestants, or you just might be pushed to learn more about Catholicism, and become a defender of it.
Learn about your faith by researching the "Apologetics."
I have taught my young kids early on about their catechism, what the mass means, the consecration of the host (which is the holiest moment of the mass), church Latin, Bible history, etc... so that they can defend themselves. Unlike me, who got so confused back in 6th grade public school here in the U.S., when a Protestant classmate questioned me why we pray to idols and statues.
My kids will be knowledgeably prepared to defend their faith when that time comes.
This one is a very good website to start. Here are some answers regarding the Bible and the Protestant stance on Sola Scriptura.
God bless.
My name is Lorenzo Crescini. I am a Captain of the merchant Navy now on retirement. When I was a secular missionary in an African leprosary, I wrote some Flashes on the Holy Gospels which helped a lot of people by giving them new trust and hope. You will find them in web site
www.lorenzocrescini.it/holygospels
E mail: ricercapap@lorenzocrescini.it
Here are the first three Flashes as an example:
1. There is the historical proof the myth could not invent the Cross . If the Cross roused a "social orror" by the heathens ,it caused a shocking religious dismay by the Jews. It is not a case that the first christians in order to avoid that the preaching might bejeopardised, represented the Cross by an anchor ,a plough, a mast, a man praying with open arms.How can we think that this way of dying was put in the myth by the christians themselves ?
2. Should somebody tell us of having seen a dead person on the cross resuscitated, nobody would believe him. But if the same person stating that could also make miracles, then we would believe him. That happened to the Apostles who got the power of making miracles in order to be believed. Without that power, Christianity couldn't have been born.
3. Jesus says on the Cross: "My God ,My God ,why did You abandon me ? Such words might even shock the reader. Why should they have been written if they weren't true,then ?
Hi Teacher Sol!
I am a (non-practicing) Catholic, I haven't finish reading the Bible myself, but I accept the idea that some parts (if not all) of the Bible are forms of fiction. I am not sure if this is the right thing to say but I guess you just have to tell your daughter not to take things literally? I believe that the Bible is a holy book, however, I also believe that the Bible exists not to control, but to guide us in our lives. So I think you can tell your daughter to continue reading the Bible, but you should also guide her when she starts to come up with questions, hehe, ang labo. Ang point ko kasi is not to take things too literally. Hindi naman yata masamang magtanong tungkol sa paniniwala mo, hindi ba? It's not that you're doubting, but you want to learn more.
Hihirit lang ako, ano. I do not like those people who asks questions about one's religion, especially when he's trying to provoke that person by defending his beliefs. I have friends who are Born Again Christians, INC, Protestants, etc. but I really do not care about their practices. What's important to me is that you do good things, you treat others well, and that you live your life in an honest way possible. You might be someone who goes to church/mosque/synagogue on a regular basis, pero hindi ka naman marunong makisama, what's the use of being 'faithful'? Also, I also tend to cringe everytime I hear about fanatics who use religion to take control of other people's lives, taking the written scriptures too literally.
Hmm, I guess this comment's enough for today. Mag-aaral pa ako for my Cultural Anthropology class. See you!
Angela
http://www.angelasolis.ph
hey, marisol.
you have just posted a topic i feel passionate about. yes, it could be confusing, causing an endless debate. but all i know (and i think it is safe to tell your child) that the BIBLE is a book written by scholars who wanted to establish a "history" of the "lost" people. aka Israelites. It is a "compilation" of stories, mixed in genres(so if some portions, or most parts are fiction, it still does not make it a lie), all talking about how keeping good values beats doing bad, and how LOVE and wisdom are most important compared to monetary wealth or fame.
Adam and Eve are fictional characters, and maybe Noah was too. Maybe Jesus had brothers and sisters and maybe Mary may not be the "virgin" that the church portrays her to be. Maybe, Jesus even married Mary MAgdalene.
But, so what?!
All these thoughts, suppositions, will not lessen the value the bible has. It does not falsify the teachings of Jesus. And maybe the term "virgin" must be viewed in a much more "mature" and broader sense, such as-- she was the kind of mom all women are called to become, etc. And that we must not judge a person for what she was, but what she has realized, and how she wants to become--a better person. It also teaches us about the magic of forgiveness and humility.
The Bible is right, because the authors believed it to be. It has touched many, and saved a lot of souls. They may not be anchored on historical records, but the insight we gain from it when we read it remains universal (a WARNING for those who interpret eveything, specially the figures of speech, literally). This is what matters. And you are right, beneath all the arguments or debates over which one must be believed in, we must always remember that THERE IS SOMEONE SUPREME, above all of us. And so whether it is the bible, the koran or the Lord of the Rings that we read, one thing remains the same: the GOOD, the TRUTH, and LOVE have power over everything, and they win-- ALL THE TIME.
And dont we, as CHristians, also call our God-- LOVE,TRUTH AND LIGHT?
Be well, and dont worry much. you will be able to teach the bible to your kid correctly, because you make sure you live the word. and that's important....
"Half-truth Half-Lie" is not quite correct because the bible is about one truth--God loves us--expressed through different stories.
yes, the bible is made up of stories. do you think the writers of genesis were actually there when God said "let there be light?" and who was counting the days when God was making the heavens and the earth? did those days have 24 hours, 60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute? of course not.
while not all the details in the bible may be historically true, there is, however, no doubt that jesus christ was crucified, died and resurrected. but was he born in a manger? maybe, maybe not. do you think there were journalists who knew that the son of God was about to be born and so followed mary to bethlehem? or was it nazareth?
read the infancy narratives of matthew and luke. they differ in many ways. either one of them is lying or both are wrong. i prefer to think--as the bishops do--that both of them are using the stories to emphasize the truth they want to convey to the believers for whom they were writing. yes, the gospels were written at different times for different people many decades after christ died.
i taught high school religion for a while. please see how i taught my students about the bible in "Introducing Gen X to the Bible." you might see how you can answer your child's questions =)
I believe that reading the bible should not be read like a science book. There are stories which have to be told in metaphors so that it can be universal and could stand the test of time. The problem is always in the interpretation.
At any rate, what matters most is that we believe in its teachings, believe in a true God Almighty. Once this belief stands on solid ground, nothing can stand on its way.
It is Sunday. This one is a good sermon. For those of different sect/religion, my apologies. Though I do think there are a lot of positive thoughts that you too can get from this.
It is so sad that our country is racked by so much division and disunity these days. If only we really listened to God, then there would not be so much greed in our hearts. All this noise about power boils down to greed. I pray that we all be filled with God's spirit of love and generosity.
That's the problem. We have left out God in the way we conduct politics in our country.
http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&col=59&story_id=52749
It is NOT surprising for the Catholic church to say that not all of the bible is true. Many Catholic dogmas and practices through claimed to be handed down from apostolic traditions are non-biblical anyway. If one were to score the biblical integrity of Catholic practices, it would not make it to the passing mark. In fact, at point in time, during the middle ages, people were barred from reading the bible. The church kept the only bible in town under lock and key. By barring adherents from reading the bible, the church is obviously saying - don't bother to read the bible ; just follow what we teach. Whether we consciously know it or not, and we may all be reading the bible today, this had been the strategy of the church for centuries.
I don’t think there’s enough evidence of a deliberate intention to distort facts of the story of creation. Whoever concocted the “intelligent design” story did it perhaps to make it easier for humans to understand the origin of life while proclaiming God’s glory. When giving bible lessons to children you must remember that the Holy Bible was not meant to be elaborate. St. John’s exhortation clearly indicates this - “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25).
In my case, I don’t see any problem teaching my kids intelligent design along side with the theory of evolution. I must admit that it is difficult to add up two conflicting dogmas. But like I said in Major Tom’s blog, the greater challenge is on how to prove to my kids that Darwin was darn wrong. Faith is not exact science. Whether the stories are concocted or not the objective is to glorify God and not to provide historically consistent facts. I don’t think it makes me less of a Christian to consider every possible angle of my faith (without being heretical of course). To me, faith without reason is fanaticism. I believe because I understand.
Mam Sol,
greetings to you!! It shows in your writings, with your choice of words that you're an intelligent person. And I do respect people like you! But you're not a theologian to pay attention or spend time to go to depth of the Bible and its content. For if you will, you might end up in a psychiatric ward.
As you can see, many churches has sprouted lately. All of them are claiming that they are the true church of Christ, holding the Bible in their right hand but giving dirty finger against other churches to the left. It's crazy churches fighting against each other to gain people attention to join them. The Catholic church is still making things too difficult for the common people to understand the doctrines only bishops,cardinals, and priests understand. Protestants keeps on throwing bad stones to Catholics, born again says they are reborn and baptized again by water and spirit, and says catholics are crazy worshipping "dyusdyosan". Iglesia ni Kristo continuously fooling their members,etc. Why make things concerning faith and spirituality complicated well in fact, there is only one way we can head towards salvation if not perfection? Why divert to a rugged, bumpy, and dusty road of confusion? Why not just focus to your personal relationship with Christ? Christ wants you to feel that when you're with HIM, everything will be light and easy, church leaders is just making a merry-go-round on your brain. Let them fight against each other, I tell you God is not with them. But, for as long as your faith is focused only to God, you will be well directed! Forget about where humans really came from, that's a century old dispute. What about salvation and eternal life? How can you achieve it? It should be "where am i going after this life" not "where we really came from"!! The story of adam and eve is not yet proven if factual or just a story to provide easy understanding of creation. Darwin's theory of evolution is still just a theory ( the missing link is still missing).
What should you teach your daughter?? All the good values of course! At your age you already know and seen what should be and not. That's simple...raise your kid the same way your parents did to you. Look what you are now hey! Don't let your child be fooled by those teachings of foolish religious leaders and philosophers. Accept Christ and only Christ, He;s the only one who will lead your way to eternal contentment which you can share to your daughter. Raise her in the sense of reality not of fallacy!!
"Walk by faith,not by sight" 2 Cor. 5:7
Thanks for the kind words. Same here, I am very impressed with how everyone expresses their thoughts about the issues I raise here. I believe many more readers are smart as well as those who are actively interacting here...and their thoughts are as invaluable as ours. It's good that our exchanges here are getting more sensible, hehe.
I am just sharing my thoughts here which I express through writings. Hoping that you might help me in my dilemmas and questions about some issues, and consequently I might help you get updated too with some hot issues and get the discussion going in this blog. Everyone is welcome to agree or dispute, let's have a healthy discussion, this is a free thinking "cyber classroom".
Going back to the question I posed at the end of the entry...with strong religious foundation since preschool (from my Alma Mater, yeah schoolmate!), I now have a consistent, devoted, faithful and true faith in God. I am not afraid to pledge allegiance to what I think is right. My concern is my daughter, as much as I want her to grow in love and faith there will always be questions in her mind that I wouldn't be able to answer eventually. My daughter is smart and is very curious about a lot of things, and asks a lot of questions. Minsan nagkakatinginan nalang kaming mag-asawa dahil hindi namin malaman kung saan nanggaling ang tanong nya, masyadong malalim ang iba na kahit kami hindi namin naiiisip.
But our active exchanges here help a lot, I'm sure not only myself, also the others who are passive readers in this blog *wink*
In as far as creation is concerned, I would be suspect of any theory that suggests that ALL living species that are here today were created day 1. We also know of species that were roaming the earth once upon a time but are no longer around. We keep on discovering new species ; perhaps they were here but we just weren’t smart enough to find them ?
Radiation from exploding stars may reach the earth tomorrow and change our skin color to blue! The earth is one little speck in 400 billion planets and stars in our galaxy alone hence susceptible to changes happening in our galaxy and in the greater scale of the universe. Our human-ness underestimates and fails to grasp the immensity of the universe we are in. To appreciate the numbers - it takes an earthling 17 minutes to count 1,000 , 12 days to count 1 million and 32 years to count 1 billion – one second per count, continuously, no meal breaks, no sleep. The universe is awesome, beyond dimension, an enigma . Some people believe that it had no beginning, that it could not have been possibly created from nothingness. Failing to understand infinity and eternity, we turn to the idea of a God, a creator.
Trying to fully understand God within the limits of matter, time and space of our existence confined to planet earth is a grand paradox. We only have a snapshot, a glimpse of creation from our earthly vantage point. The Gods we have created are the products of our human imagination and they mirror the human feelings we understand – love, wrath, compassion. Religion , human laws and assumptions we created like the length of 1 meter, the duration of 1 hour , are simply enablers for man to function properly in our little world called earth. The creator of this universe, if there is one, is truly beyond human comprehension.
wondering how to teach your kid teacher sol? You start simple.. in her level.. you don;t have to tell all the stories, just those that are important to her... it would not be good to confuse a child, just start with the basic cathecism! and if you are still not sure on how to go about it... just pray! I'm sure the Lord will guide you!
nakaka-relate ako sa half truth half lie entry mo... ang hirap ma-digest lalo kung mula sa catholic school, diba?
Hey Teacher Sol,
Kahit huli na hahabol pa rin ako. I am impress with the response of your readers. I also believe that our faith is not about history it's about practicing good values and a being the model for your children. Peter Jennings' book "In Search of America" covers this controversy and it is a good book. Hope you have time to read it.
Post a Comment