UK Bishops Deny Bible

It is impossible for
us to print this story and refrain from
comment. We would be derelict in our duty if we were to do so. If
there is one standard we will always hold high, it is the
standard that declares that the Word of God is inspired, and
accurate in every way, both historically, scientifically,
literally and prophetically. It was designed in heaven as an
almanac for man by a God who cannot fail, tell lies or make
mistakes. The very fact He knows the end from the beginning shows
that the prophetic realm and the future events revealed in the
Book of Revelation are minor matters to an omniscient God,
showing clearly that the comments below are made by deceived men
whose faith has become unbelief. Truly a modern day example of
the blind leading the blind. Consequently, we have added in
brackets italicized comments in rebuttal, and other comment where
appropriate, as to what we believe.

Chair of Council of Mosques and Imams
Dr Zaki Badawi (center), with Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Free Churches
Moderator David Coffey, Cheif Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks, and Archibishop Rowan
Williams. July 10th 2005.

Murphy - O'Connor demonstrates the
reason why he attacks the Bible -
Ecumenism won't work if the Bible
is infallible!

Here now is the story….The Roman Catholic Church has
published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some
parts of the Bible are NOT ACTUALLY TRUE. The Roman Catholic
Church has issued this document as part of the 40th anniversary
celebrations of Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council document
explaining the place of Scripture in Revelation. In the foreword
to this document the two most senior Catholics in the UK.,
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster,
and Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and
Edinburgh, explain that the context of this document is based in
the fact that people are searching for something worthwhile. That
part we cannot disagree with. But then they begin to destroy the
credibility of the very foundation of our faith. In the U.K., the
Catholic Bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their
5 million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study
of Scripture, that they should not expect "total accuracy" from
the Bible. "We should not expect to find in Scripture full
scientific accuracy or complete historical precision," they say
in "The Gift of Scripture." (2 Tim 3:16 says, "All
Scripture is given by inspiration of
God…" If that is true, and it is, they are
clearly challenging God Himself, by saying He is unable to
present accuracy and truth when Jesus said "I am the truth," This
is bald-faced heresy presented by intellectual know-it-alls who
like the Pharisees, don’t have a spiritual clue!)

Some Christians, they say, 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 are among those
that the UK’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be
"historical." At most, they say, they may contain "historical
traces." (So its goodbye to Adam! Strange then that Jesus is
called the 2nd Adam in the New Testament. That is confirmed as a
"type" in Romans 5:14-15, and as a reality in 1 Corinthians 15:45-48.
How can this be if the first one never existed?
That’s enough to show what rubbish they are promoting,
without getting started on the rest of this document.)

The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since
the 17th century, when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for
flouting the near universal belief in the Divine inspiration of
the Bible by advocating the Copernican view of the solar system.
Only a century ago, Pope Pius X condemned Modernist Catholic
scholars who adapted historical-critical methods of analyzing
ancient literature to the Bible.

Cardinal O'Brien

These bishops say the Church must offer the gospel in ways
"appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to
our contemporaries." (Hmmm – Interesting! Centuries
ago, they denied the Bible to the people. Now, they want it
fudged with a flood of new, ‘youbeaut’ versions to
confuse everyone. The foolishness of using the word
"intelligible" is easily seen by comparing any specific verse in
15 or 20 versions. On reading each verse, no one, with any
certainty, could in many cases, say what the original language
was implying or teaching.)

The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation,
they say, but continue – "We should not expect total
accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters."The Bishops go
on to condemn fundamentalism for its "intransigent intolerance"
and warn of "significant dangers" involved in a fundamentalist
approach. (What a disgrace that a person who wants to be
grounded in God-given, literally understood, basic doctrine, is
branded with the purposely-intended dirty label of
"fundamentalist." Jesus was the ultimate fundamentalist. If
it’s good enough for Him, it’s good enough
for me!)

Cardinal O'Connor

They say such an approach is dangerous, for example, when
people of one nation or group see the Bible as a mandate for
their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by
the Bible to use violence against others. (That sounds good,
and we certainly do not condone violence. However this statement
is purposefully tricky. I would certainly not use the word
"superiority" in a prideful sense, but I remember my old Pastor
years ago giving me my first assignment in preaching to the
Church. He asked me to speak on "The Superiority of
Christianity." When the Bible teaches that Jesus is the ONLY way
to God, then Christianity is more than superior. What these
Bishops are setting up is doubt on this foundational truth as a
means to create a pathway to a One-World Church.)

Of the notorious anti-Jewish curse in Matthew 27:25, "His
blood be on us and our children," a passage used to justify
centuries of anti-Semitism, the bishops say these and other words
must never be used as a pretext to treat Jewish people with
contempt. Describing this passage as an example of dramatic
exaggeration, the bishops say they have had "tragic consequences"
in encouraging hate and persecution. The attitudes and language
of 1st century quarrels between Jews and Jewish Christians should
never again be emulated in relations between Jews and Christians.
(We agree that there is no justification for anti- Semitism
or any excuse to treat Jews with hate, contempt or persecution.
However to say that this passage is an example of dramatic
exaggeration is to misunderstand the very real consequences which
must arise when anyone rejects God. There are numerous other
examples of this principle, one being Acts 18:5-6 where Paul
pronounces the very same words on the Jews at Corinth, and
declares he will henceforth go to the Gentiles with the Gospel
message.)

As examples of passages not to be taken literally, the bishops
cite the early chapters of Genesis, comparing them with early
creation legends from other cultures, especially from the ancient
East. The bishops say that it is clear that the primary purpose
of these chapters was to provide religious teaching and that they
could not be described as historical writing.

Similarly, they refute the apocalyptic prophecies of
Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible, in which the
writer describes the work of the risen Jesus, the death of the
Beast and the wedding feast of Christ the Lamb. The bishops say,
"Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and not
be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in
this book details about the end of the world, about how many will
be saved and about when the end will come. (Is that so? If
Revelation is written by inspiration from God, then the words
written by these bishops are blasphemous. What arrogance to say
that a loving God would not have us expect to discover end time
truths. Right there we see that they obviously don’t expect
a second advent and so have unceremoniously thrown their wedding
garments on the rubbish heap.)

My final comment is this. Surely this is another sign of the
End Times. It’s one thing to have the agnostics, atheists,
Darwinite evolutionists and the Rationalists of this world attack
God’s Word. We expect that. It’s another thing
entirely when that attack comes from within the Church. Jesus
suffered treachery. It seems we must too!