Didn't Catholics once believe in the literal interpretation of the bible? ?

Question

When did this change?

Answer 1

Catholics believe that the “bible alone theory” is not what the bible teaches.

The Bible is the word of God. In sections  131-133 the Catechism we find this:

“Hence “access to sacred scripture  out to be open wide to the Christian faithful”…

Therefore the study  of the sacred  page  should be the very soul  of sacred theology…

The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all Christian faithful.. To learn the surpassing knowledge

Of Jesus Christ. By frequent reading of the Divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of

Christ…The Church is telling Catholics read your bible….The Catholic Mass is totally Bible centered…

The Processional March  of each Mass is lead by a person holding the Cross and then a person holding the Bible up high in the air…The Catholic Church protected the bible across the ages until the Guttenberg Printing Press was invented. Century after Century , Monks in Monasteries   faithfully copied scripture they were incredibly accurate. The Catholic Church was the first  in the World to say  that the Bible is unerring.

We said this 1100 years before any Protestant denomination existed. Ironically, the way Evangelical denominations have decided to have Unity with each other is to agree not to look at scriptural  references that they are in disagreement about.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say  that Bible Alone is the only authority. However the Bible does say Jesus founded his Church  and Gave it all authority. (Mat 16-18).

Evangelicals often trust an “Authorities” interpretation of scripture rather than their own personal one.

Every Evangelical that goes to a Bible study  is being influenced by someone else’s interpretations of Scripture. We see the thousands of Denominations all of which claim to get their faith from the same Bible. And believe contrary  Doctrines. Some turn to The New International Bible commentary  in order to get the correct interpretation. So even for Martin Luther Scripture Alone wasn’t enough  he acknowledged their had to be a “Human Authority “ governing it he just thought he should be this “Authority” Not the Catholic Church.. Over 33,000 denominations  were formed because people came to irreconcilable differences over Scripture. If Truth is not relative then their Can be only one Truth. Therefore not everyone  who honestly feels They are led by the Holy Spirit in reading Scripture is correct . Its sad but True… We sometimes need help interoperating Scripture Acts  8:30-31... Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition make up a single Sacred Deposit of The Word Of God…The teaching Church, with its Oral Traditions was Authorities .Indeed even the Gospels themselves are Oral Tradition That has been written Down Luke 1.1-4 To believe In Sola Scriptura is to ignore everything else Christ has brought to us. Traditions of the Early Fathers and Christians Writings of the early Chuch Fathers Christians and even traditions from the Old Testaments

Answer 2

If by that you are asking whether or not Catholics think the entire Bible should be interpreted literally then NO - the Catholic Church has NEVER said the entire Bible should be interpeted literally.

Parts of it must be interpreted literally, yes. The whole thing? No.

Answer 3

They do not.

Like the Pharisees, they put their "traditions" above the Word of God.  Jesus had no end to conflict with the Pharisees over this.  

Answer 4

It is not the Bible, but the Catholic Church that is the foundation and the pillar of truth...

"I write these things to thee hoping to come to thee shortly, but in order that thou mayest know, if I am delayed, how to conduct thyself in the house of GOD, which is the Church of the Living GOD, the pillar and mainstay of the truth." 1Tim 3:14-15



That would be the Word of God preserved by the Catholic Church as the bible, right?

Why do Catholics refuse to concede that their church became doctrinally corrupt in the Middle Ages, necessitating the Protestant Reformation?

Catholics refuse to concede such a thing out of faith in Jesus Christ. Christ solemnly pledged that the gates of h**l would never prevail against His Church (Matt. 16:18), and He solemnly promised that after His Ascension into Heaven He would send His Church ``another Paraclete . . . the spirit of truth,'' to dwell with it forever (John 14:16-17), and He inspired the Apostle Paul to describe His Church as ``the pillar and ground of the truth.'' (I Tim. 3:15). If the Catholic Church (which Protestants admit was the true Church of Jesus Christ before Luther's revolt) became doctrinally corrupt as alleged, it would mean that the gates of h**l had prevailed against it--it would mean that Christ had deceived His followers. Believing Christ to be the very essence of truth and integrity, Catholics cannot in conscience believe that He could be guilty of such deception. Another thing: Catholics cannot see how the division of Christianity into hundreds of rival camps and doctrinal variations can be called a ``reformation'' of the Christian Church. In the Catholic mind, hundreds of conflicting interpretations of Christ's teachings do not add up to a true interpretation of Christ's teachings.

Jesus also had this to say, "And if he refuse to hear them, appeal to the Church, but if he refuses to hear even the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and the publican. Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven."

Jesus Christ founded a Church (Matthew 16:18). He did not command anyone to write a Gospel.

The Word of GOD is a person, and not a book (John 1:1,14).

The Catholic Church is based on the Word of GOD alone and not on Scripture alone.

the Bible came from the Church, and that the Church did not come from the Bible. The Catholic Church is the Mother of the Bible, not the Daughter.

THE BIBLE IS A CATHOLIC BOOK.

Isn't it strange that other Christian Churches have to admit (since they use the same canon) that the Catholic Church made an infallible decision when it decided which books of the New Testament are inspired and which ones aren't, yet these same Churches reject the Canon of the Old Testament decided by the same Bishops in the same Councils?

Answer 5

We do on some things, check out John 6. Actually, the Catholic interpretation comes from the Apostles and the early Christians. Nothing has changed.

The traditions handed down by the Apostles are of God, not of man. Jesus tells us not to hold to the traditions of men, he never tells us to reject the traditions of God. Jesus, being a Jew, practiced a religion full of traditions given by God.

Answer 6

In Catholic high school, they explicitly told us NOT  to believe in literal interpretations of the Bible. My guess is the change probably happened about 100 years ago.

Answer 7

No, early Christians did not automatically believe in literal interpretation.  The earliest Christian writings on the subject make that clear.  That does not mean the church felt that a literal interpretation was wrong, merely incomplete and in the case of symbolic writings, missing the point.  Catholics and the Orthodox have never embraced literalism.  Literalism grew out of the Reformation and was a derivative idea from sola scriptura.  Catholics and Orthodox use apostolic tradition to judge truth, that is all things handed down by the apostles such as the bible, songs, beliefs, stories outside the bible, documents that later Christians decided were not part of the bible but were still from the apostles like the Didache, artwork (Luke painted), practices and services.  The Catholic services are derived either from services left by Peter, James, Mark or Thomas.  Different parts of the Catholic Church use different services due to the diffusion of these earliest services.  If you were in India, you would see the impact of Thomas, if you were in Egypt you would see James and sometimes Mark, if you were in Rome, particularly during the Easter Triduum, you would see the effect of Peter's service.

The bible is viewed not as a divine mandate, but rather part of the truth handed on, to be prayed over rather than cut and pasted to develop doctrine.  

Answer 8

One word.....EVOLUTION.

Answer 9

Anyone taking the bible literally will not find God..God is always with you, but not the God portrayed in  biblical mythology..Read the truth of the real God..