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Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Pope's New Commandments



As usual, a lot of incorrect information in the comments section.

How can the pope add more Commandments. That is very very scary. -X

It does seem that the catholic faith is pulling away more and more from the teachings of the Bible according to Gods word.
The Pope himself has also added more Commandments to bring their religion up to date with the world!!

Many Blessings to you Candy
Rose

Rose has commented here at VTC previously, but I don't know if she is a regular reader. Hopefully, she will read this.

I believe this "Pope adds more Commandments" thing comes from a number of news articles written last spring which generated big headlines blowing up a small interview in the Vatican newspaper.

So what happened?

Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti gave an interview in the Vatican paper. He said that humanity is always finding new ways to commit sin. He gave illustrations to make his point. This was not the Pope proclaiming a change to the Ten Commandments. It was an "overseer" having a teaching moment.

Now, Candy writes often about how we must be careful in the music we listen to, or the movies we watch. Is she adding to Scripture? She is interpreting Scripture in light of modern society. This is the same thing.

Remember, just because you read something in the news doesn't make it true. News is generated for ratings and newspaper sales, and journalists are notoriously bad at understanding theology. Get Religion is a great blog which is entirely devoted to pointing out the religious errors in news stories. They wrote about the "new seven deadly sins" story twice.

Rest assured, the Catholic Church has not changed the Ten Commandments. If you look at the table of contents in the Catholic Catechism, you will find an entire section devoted to the Ten Commandments.

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10 comments:

Jennie said...

Hello,
I've been reading your blog for a few months. I do read Candy's too.
I think I found yours when I was looking up more info. on Charles Chiniquy.
I'd just like to say that if you compare the ten commandments in the catechism carefully to the ten commandments in Exodus 20, they are not the same. The ones in the catechism includes 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' in the same commandment as 'thou shalt not make for thyself any graven image.' In Exodus 20 those are two separate commandments.
Also see this link which does not mention the graven images commandment at all, which is how the commandments are always listed in Catholic publications that I have seen, such as prayer books for children, etc: http://www.marianland.com/tencommandments/ten_commandments.html
Also, I don't know if the post on Candy's blog said that this Pope changed the commandments, though one of the commenters said that. I have known that the commandments were different for years.
Please check this for yourself.
God's word is very different from the Catholic teaching if you compare it carefully.
Jennie

Elena LaVictoire said...

Hi Jennie,

You can read about why the Catholic bible is numbered the way it is in one of our previous articles here.

Jennie said...

Elena,
I see what you are saying about the different ways of ordering the commandments, since there were no verse numbers used in the past.
My problem is that most people, including children or uneducated people, may never see the commandments written out as they are in the Bible or in the catechism. They may not be taught or be able to read God's word for themselves.
You are blessed to be able to study and read the Bible. You probably know that it wasn't available to common people in many places, except for people like the Waldenses and Vaudois in Europe who had faithfully translated the Word directly from the Greek and Hebrew copies that had been handed down from the beginning of the Church (see http://www.bereanbeacon.org/history.php). Otherwise it was only available to Catholic Priests and other scholars in Latin or copies in Greek and Hebrew. If it weren't for the Waldenses and men like Wycliffe and Tyndale and Luther, the Bible would not have been available for all in Europe, and then America (except that I know the Lord would have provided some other way). I know the Catholic Bible comes from a different history, and wasn't translated into common languages until later, when the Bible was already becoming easily available.
Please read the Bible without the filter of Church tradition and you will hopefully see that the Church in the Bible bears little resemblance to the Roman Catholic Church.
Just to let you know, though I may use the word Protestant, I don't consider myself one in the literal sense, meaning as a Baptist I come spiritually from a line that never was IN the Roman Catholic church. There were many Christians all over Europe, and I suppose all over the world, who never were in the Roman Catholic church, even during the years when the RC was supposedly the only church. The RCC was persecuting these people for hundreds of years.
I don't get my info from Candy or from Chick. I can't stand those hideous tracts. He obviously has some historical facts, but I don't know about the validity of all his sensational info.
Thanks,
Jennie

Elena LaVictoire said...

Let me save you some time here Jennie. I was a late 20 early 30 something young woman who suddenly got challenged in my very luke warm, almost-abandoned Catholic faith. It was when I started to actually read the bible, and study church history that I became totally convinced that the Catholic church is the one true church founded by Jesus Christ.

I don't have time to discuss your revisionist history today, perhaps Kelly might have some time to do it, but rest assured, we have both studied these issues at great length. That we don't see it YOUR way doesn't mean that we didn't reach logical, thoughtful and scholarly conclusions.

Jennie said...

Elena,
I don't question your thoughtfulness, intelligence, sincerity, or honesty.
I am not being antagonistic for the sake of argument.
It is obvious you have studied and thought through these matters at length. I have done the same.
Since this has been a source of argument for centuries between sincere people who never have come to agreement, I don't expect my poor arguments to win you over to my way of thinking.
The sources that we use for history are different and cannot agree, because they are written by opposing sides. You believe your 'side' is correct and I believe my 'side' is correct.
I don't really want to place myself against you, but to tell you the truth as I see it. There is only one Truth, Jesus Christ, and only those who agree with His word are in the Truth. You must determine for yourself whether you are in the Truth and whether the Roman Catholic Church is in the Truth or not. The Church is not the truth, but it does give out the light of the truth when it lives and shares God's word. If the Church makes itself out to be 'the truth' and teaches things outside of His word, it usurps Christ's place, like a wife who lords over her own husband. That's how I see it.
Please don't think I am hateful towards you or Catholics. My Grandparents on my Mom's side were Catholic, my brother has joined the Catholic church, and I know Catholics are sincere and many study and love the Bible. I question how much they understand when they filter the word through the church tradition that often contradicts it.
Sincerely,
Jennie

Elena LaVictoire said...

Jennie, is it possible that you are reading the bible through "Baptist" filters? Is it possible that everything you have learned through your Baptist/Protestant paradigm colors your understanding and interpretation of what you read?

Just a thought.

Jennie said...

It's true that I see things from a Baptist perspective, but not in the way you might think. I don't agree with everything the Baptists teach, because they teach things based on tradition also, and sometimes fail to compare their teachings with God's word, as do all denominations.
My husband and I are very interested in reminding people to compare everything to God's word and not rely on tradition: Baptist, Catholic or any other.
I do read church history written by people who come from the non- Catholic persuasion, and there is much evidence there that says the Roman Catholic historians have revised their history. Please see the link I left in my earlier post for bereanbeacon.org on church history. I have to choose one or the other as true, since both cannot be true, and from what I have learned, I have chosen the 'Baptist' view.
Jennie

Elena LaVictoire said...

I would submit to you that there is much that your sources have re-written regarding history and the Catholic church. Likewise I invite you to peruse the articles we have accumulated here in the last year that better explain what Catholics really believe.

Jennie said...

Thanks,
I would like to look at the articles. Like I said, I will compare everything I read to the Bible, and whatever doesn't stand up to the comparison will not be believed.
Also, I know all things written by men are fallible, whether protestant or Catholic or Baptist, so 'Let God be true, and every man a liar.' Romans 3:4
Jennie

Kelly said...

Jennie, I replied to your comments, but it was so long that I made it a separate post. Thanks for commenting!