7-28-08 Bible Study

Well, I have been kind of lazy and so today I shall fight against it and type up my notes! In an effort to be as productive as possible, I have a program going in the background that is downloading a bunch of images off of the net so that I can make mosaics!

This last Bible study was a continuation of discernment and heavily emphasized the role of the Church in history, the differences in types of doctrine and the role that these doctrines play in our lives.

Here are my notes from the session.

1) Continuation of discernment.

a) You can’t accept God w/o knowing what God says.

b) You can’t look at any church doctrine and dissent from it.

i) Heretical, sign of rejection.

ii) Root of dissent is pride in oneself.

c) Humans by nature do not have divine faith

i) Faith in God is not like having human faith

ii) The Church is the vehicle to tell us what to believe about God.

iii) How can you know that the Bible is accurate unless someone tells you?

(1) One cant since that requires teaching.

(2) Bible assembled by the Catholic Church and therefore the authority to teach about the meaning comes from the Church.

iv) The only way you can know God by faith is to have the Holy Spirit fill you first.

v) Faith allows you to surrender your life to Christ.

(1) Personal surrender in response to the donation of God the Son.

vi) Mental faith is not good enough.

(1) Actions and living the faith required as well.

vii) We will never fully understand the mysteries of God, but the more we submit to Him, the more understandable they will be.

d) On Protestantism

i) “Sola Fide” (Faith alone) can separate personal and doctrinal attitudes.

ii) Protestants don’t have doctrinal authority

(1) Ultimately, all religious knowledge rests on their own personal interpretation.

(2) “Church shopping” is common. Searching for “personalities”

(3) Explains the highly schismatic nature of the Protestant faiths.

iii) What is the point of the Church if you already deciding doctrine against all the evidence?

e) Magisterium alone is entrusted with correct interpretation of Bible.

i) Scripture itself does not call itself Scripture.

ii) Magisterium tells us how to live our lives in light of new developments.

(1) Nothing new is revealed, it only becomes clearer.

(2) Only the Magisterium has the ability to teach infallibly.

(a) The ultimate purpose is to “protect the Church Christ founded from deviations and guaranteeing Catholics the “objective possibility of professing the authentic faith free from error, at all times and in diverse situations”

iii) Three types of Magisterial documents.

(1) Dogmatic

(a) infallible teachings on faith and morals.

(b) Permanent and ever-living.

(2) Pastoral

(a) Not infallible since it isn’t on faith and morals.

(b) More of how to practice the faith.

(3) Decree

(a) Still not infallible.

(b) These state ideas, etc.

(c) Can be retracted at any time.

(i) E.g. Ecumenicism.

iv) While the levels of teaching are all different, a Catholic cannot on his own or in a group decide to ignore the agendas of the Magisterium until the Magisterium changes said agendas.

f) Supernatural vs. Preternatural

i) Supernatural

(1) God.

(2) Does not exercise anything, He simply wills it to happen.

ii) Preternatural

(1) Satan or human spirit.

(2) Satan is not unlimited in power.

(a) Must exercise through the human medium, cannot will anything on his own.

g) Three types of –ations

i) Consolation

(1) Pleasurable feelings brought about by praying, etc.

ii) Desolation

(1) “Dry periods”- you pray but don’t feel anything.

iii) Inspiration

(1) A feeling about something

(2) Repeatedly brought to your attention.

h) Purpose of the Crucifix vs. Cross

i) Protestants see the Crucifix as a brooding element.

ii) Catholics have known the Crucifix/Cross is to show the love shown by God, not the pain inflicted.