The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic
Church
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Melchizedek is venerated in all the liturgical traditions of the Catholic
Church as a type of Christ himself, the king of Salem (Jerusalem) who is
also the high priest. Yet Melchizedek's very name states that the
Canaanite god Zedek was his king!
How can it be that someone who does not even know that the LORD is God
can be a saint?
First, in Melchizedek's time, God's ''name'' was not very
well-established in the world. Abram himself had not yet received his own
covenantal name, Abraham. In Melchizedek's day, the whole world was still
waiting for God to reveal himself more clearly.
Second, not once in the passage does Melchizedek say or do anything
against the LORD.
Third, to the contrary, everything he says and does gives great honor to
God.
Saints love God and come close to him with the clarity available to their
time and place. Please read CCC 58. Melchizedek is a saint.
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Since Melchizedek's day, of course, God has made it possible for his
saints to receive and respond to him with greater and greater clarity. In
the fullness of time, God has revealed himself completely to the world in
his only Son, Jesus, who continues his work by the power of the Holy
Spirit, in and through his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic
Church.
It is the witness of the whole Catholic Church that Melchizedek saw God,
loved him, and honored him with a clarity and intimacy so extraordinary
for his time that it prefigures the work of Christ himself, but
Melchizedek's level of clarity is not good enough for you. You have - as
he did not - the additional clarity and intimacy provided by the teachings
and worship of the Catholic Church.
The covenants given by God are the only means by which men may draw near
to God. Those in our time who ''through no fault of their own'' [CCC 847]
do not know Christ and his Church may yet move closer to Christ through
the Old Covenant [CCC 839] or, as Melchizedek did, through the covenant
with Noah [CCC 58].
However, anyone who moves toward words or deeds that contradict the
sacraments or the firm teachings of the Catholic Church is definitely not
moving closer to Christ. Things have happened since Melchizedek's day!
Since Melchizedek's day, God has made Abraham the ''father of a multitude
of nations,'' appeared in the burning bush to Moses, freed Israel from
slavery at the Passover, and given Moses the Law on Mount Sinai, and a
child has been born ''in Bethlehem of Judea,'' [Mathew 2:1] ''a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord.'' [Luke 2:11]
All men of good will draw near to loving intimacy with God in and through
the covenants. There is no other way for man to be with God except in and
through the very specific covenants God has established. God must (and
does) find man and offer man intimate union with himself.
You have the advantage of the intimacy of the perfect and complete
covenant, the New Covenant that Jesus himself has established by his
sacrifice on the Cross with his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic
Church. In the Eucharist, by the power of the Holy Spirit whom he sent,
Jesus makes present to all men of all times and places the New Covenant in
his blood, the covenant of complete and perfect intimacy with God.
Since you know about the New Covenant and have been joined, in and
through the sacraments, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the most
intimate possible way to Christ and his Bride, the Catholic Church, that
covenant of supreme intimacy is the covenant through which you must
continue to draw near to Christ. You have been joined to the perfect
intimacy of the New Covenant. For you, a lesser intimacy will no longer
do. <<
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Here are three different strategies. None of them are ''mindless belief''
- all three use your ability to discover, to figure out, and to decide.
However, the three strategies are still very different, as you will see.
In CCC 119, the bishops united with the Holy Father quote St. Augustine:
"But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the
Catholic Church already moved me." Using this hint, which strategy do you
think St. Augustine and other Catholics might recommend as best?
a. Decide that the sacraments are real,
discover who Christ is, and then figure out what the Bible means.
b. Discover what the Bible means, figure
out who Christ is, and then decide if the sacraments are real.
c. Figure out who Christ is, discover what
the Bible means, and then decide if the sacraments are real.
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The sacraments of the Catholic Church
a. are more important than Christ.
b. help us to know Christ as he really
is.
c. prevent us from knowing who Christ
really is.
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The following three answers are all at least partially correct. However,
if you had to pick just one, then you would say that a sacrament is best
described as
a. a reminder of the risen Christ.
b. a symbol of the risen Christ.
c. a work of the risen Christ.
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Starting points are important. A lot of people who have respect for the
Bible have had trouble with the idea that the Pope and the bishops of the
Catholic Church united with him - and nobody else - protect the true
meaning of the Bible. [CCC 100] Catholics do not have trouble with this,
because, like St. Augustine, they have a different starting point. What
starting point do Catholics take? Catholics decide
a. what the Bible means after realizing
that the sacraments are real.
b. whether the sacraments are real in terms
of our idea of the Bible.
c. whether the sacraments are real in terms
of our idea of who Christ is.
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Man can find the true, real meaning of the Bible
a. using his own abilities and knowledge,
and entirely on his own.
b. but only with the help of the sacraments
of the Catholic Church.
c. only very imperfectly, because men
always make mistakes, and disagree.
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The Catholic Church teaches all men that the meaning of the Bible
a. can be separated from the reality of the
sacraments.
b. can not be separated from the reality of
the sacraments.
c. has nothing to do with the reality of
the sacraments.
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Apart from the sacraments of the Catholic Church, the meaning of the
Bible
a. can not be known.
b. can only partially be known.
c. is completely unknowable.
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Note: Do NOT restate the incorrect answers to this question. Only the
correct answer has meaningful content.
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers
>> Deuteronomy << || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1
Kings 2 Kings || 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith*
Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job
Psalms
Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of
Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel
Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah
Haggai Zechariah Malachi
The Old Testament books with a star *
are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates
that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to
be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120],
but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called
''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.
The New Testament quotes or refers to passages in the book of Deuteronomy
about how many times?
a. 200.
b. 300.
c. 400.
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Many modern scholars believe that Deuteronomy weaves together many legal
traditions from far older times in the life of the Jewish people in order
to
a. ensure that the Jewish people would
continue to be curious about them.
b. provide a new pattern of life for the
Jewish people after a great crisis.
c. reinforce the value of traditional
institutions such as the monarchy.
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The Catholic Church affirms that Deuteronomy, along with the rest of the
Pentateuch, is connected with Moses. However, Catholics are not required
to profess that Moses himself wrote Deuteronomy. Many modern scholars
suggest that Deuteronomy has a ''frame story''; in other words,
Deuteronomy pictures Moses solemnly speaking to the Jewish people four
last times, just as they are preparing to enter the land promised to them.
Read Deut 1:1-8. Read Deut 4:44-49, 5:1. Read Deut 29:1-2. Read Deut 33:1.
Within this ''frame story'' Deuteronomy gives its teaching
a. of faithful obedience to the laws of the
covenant.
b. that God is sorry he created the heavens
and the earth.
c. that Israel will surely be destroyed
because of its sins.
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In Deuteronomy, and elsewhere in the Old Testament, the ''obedience''
required of man by God is strongly associated with - is virtually
synonymous with -
a. blind evil.
b. faithful love.
c. terrible slavery.
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Many scholars have said that much of Deuteronomy takes a form similar in
language and style to that of an ancient treaty or covenant between a
superior ruler and an inferior nation. In the addresses in Deuteronomy
Moses typically
- reminds the people of how the LORD saved them with power
- makes a plea for obedience
- gives the laws by which the covenant can be kept
- renews the promise of life in the land IF the covenant is kept
''Horeb'' in Deuteronomy is Mount Sinai, the place where God first gave
Moses the law. Now Moses and the people are in Moab, just prior to
entering the land that God promised. Read Deut 29:1. Here Deuteronomy
reveals that the law Moses gives in Deuteronomy
a. cancels the law he received from God on
Mount Sinai.
b. continues the law he received from God
on Mount Sinai.
c. supersedes the law he received from God
on Mount Sinai.
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Read Deut 5:1-6:3. The Ten Commandments are given
a. as the commands of an insane and jealous
dictator who does not understand reality.
b. as the means to keep the covenant and
thus live intimately with God in happiness.
c. to harm the people and make them endure
perpetual suffering because of all their sins.
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Human nature being what it is, there may come a time when obeying one of
the Ten Commandments temporarily seems intolerable, or even insane, to
you. Please don't let these thoughts of the moment lead you to think that
God gave the Ten Commandments to harm you, or that he gave them because he
doesn't understand the real you. The Catholic Church confirms the view of
Deuteronomy: not wishing to follow the Ten Commandments always means that
God is just fine, and it's you who are temporarily confused.
You protest that you personally could never become so confused that you
begin to ''think'' (using the term loosely) that sin is actually a good
idea?
The sacrament of Penance will still be there after you wake up and
remember how wrong you are about that. <<
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Read Deut 6:4-25. What is the meaning and purpose of the laws given in
Deuteronomy? They
a. have no actual meaning, but are
arbitrary symbols of faithfulness.
b. have no actual purpose, but nonetheless
we can trust the LORD.
c. were given so that the people could
remain in the life of the LORD.
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Read Deut 6:4-5. Read Mathew 22:35-40. Quoting Deuteronomy and then
Leviticus, Jesus ties together the whole law in two commandments. Here we
briefly discuss another topic, a small but somewhat interesting point
regarding the translation of Deut 6:4. Some translations say, ''The LORD
our God is one LORD.'' Others say, ''The LORD is our God, the LORD
alone.''
What's the difference? Many scholars now think that ''the LORD alone''
better reflects the original context of this text. What is that context?
That there were many gods, the LORD being one of them. So, the ''literal
sense'' might be, ''although there are many gods, the LORD alone is our
God.''
Of course, over time the Jewish people themselves gradually understood
these very ancient texts in a further way. They gradually understood that
there was an additional reason that their devotion to the LORD had to be
so strict and faithful: the other gods did not actually exist. They were
illusions.
What the best of these scholars seem to be noticing when they point out
the differing translations of Deut 6:4 is that time itself can be holy, if
it passes in the presence of God. By means of God's presence with them in
time, the Jewish people first gradually learned to distinguish the LORD
from false gods, and then gradually learned that the false gods are
illusions, empty shells, not alive at all.
Was all that time learning more clearly who the LORD was wasted?
Only if time spent with God is wasted. <<
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Some scholars have said that Deut 27:9-10 is a key to understanding
Deuteronomy. Read Deut 27:9-10 now. These scholars say that this passage
reveals that the people of Israel are to obey God's laws as set down in
Deuteronomy
a. because the LORD has graciously entered
their history, made them his people, and offered them a life of faithful
love.
b. because in this way they can bargain God
into giving them the land and all the other things they want.
c. or else the LORD is going to wreck their
cities, destroy the Temple, and kill every single one of them.
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A siege occurs when a city is surrounded by an army that can not take it
directly and tries to bombard it or starve it into surrender. There are
passages in Deuteronomy which many scholars think show that the ancient
laws and traditions were collected together and edited into the book of
Deuteronomy first during the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon, and also after
Israel's defeat and Exile. They say that Deut 28:47-68 may depict some of
the actual gruesome sufferings and sins of the siege of Jerusalem and the
Exile. But what does Deuteronomy consistently say is the true reason for
these horrible things? Read Deut 28:47-68 and then answer.
a. Israel's leaders were simply not smart
enough to make the proper military alliances.
b. Israel was disobedient to the LORD by
failing to faithfully keep covenant with him.
c. Israel was a weak and unimportant
kingdom that was crushed like so many others.
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copyright (c) 2001 John
Kelleher. All rights reserved.
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