OTHCC Chapter 66: items 1301

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Hezekiah seeks consolation from the prophet Isaiah. Read 2 Kings 19:14-37. What happens?

a.   The Assyrian army is slain by the LORD and retreats.
b.   The Assyrian army lays siege to Jerusalem and captures it.
c.   The king of Assyria is used by the LORD to punish Judah.

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Josiah purifies and restores the temple desecrated by his predecessor, and the book of the law is found. On reading it, Josiah wonders: does the law of our fathers call down upon us a blessing, or curse us because we have strayed so far from the holiness of faithful obedience that it calls us to? Josiah calls on the prophetess Huldah to interpret. Her response: the law will be both blessing and curse. Read 2 Kings 22-23:1-27.

Read 2 Kings 24-25. Now re-read 2 Kings 25:27-30. It was an ancient custom for a new king to grant amnesty to prisoners. It is historically possible that Jehoiachin was actually released by the new king of Babylon. Some commentators see this ending to 1 and 2 Kings as a glint of hope - the house of David had not quite been snuffed out, and in fact is honored. The Catholic Church looks at Jesus and sees the complete fulfillment and completion of the promise God made to the house of David. <<

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The obvious fact that, throughout history, people have had many different opinions about religion means that

a.   God does not exist.
b.   no religious ideas are correct.
c.   people have different opinions.

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Centuries ago, many people sincerely thought that the earth was flat. Their sincerity

a.   does not necessarily prove that the earth is actually flat.
b.   means that it doesn't matter whether the earth is actually flat.
c.   means that, when people sincerely thought the earth was flat, it was.

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Marcion sincerely thought that the Old Testament does not belong in the Bible. This means that

a.   absolutely anything we think or do will move us toward Christ, as long as we are sincere.
b.   Marcion and his followers were moving toward Christ when they thought and taught that.
c.   sincerity can not be the final judge of whether a thought or action will lead us closer to Christ.

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''God is controlling man like a puppet, so that, whatever man thinks, whatever he does, he always moves in one direction - the right one.'' This statement is

a.   a solemn teaching of the Catholic Church.
b.   logical, if you assume that heresies don't matter.
c.   too horrible to think about, so it can't be true.

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Because God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not control us like puppets, we do have the ability to move toward anti-''special'' places, where our union with Christ is less and less. We also have the ability to move toward very special places, where our union with Christ is more and more. <<

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''Christ is everywhere'' means that

a.   Christ is equally available to us in every single situation and in every single idea.
b.   in this life, there is no place we can go, from which Christ can not call us to him.
c.   whatever we think or do, Christ will not allow us to turn away from him.

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The Catholic Church teaches that

a.   an all-loving God prevents each man from truly turning away from Christ.
b.   as each year passes, mankind inevitably moves just a little closer to Christ.
c.   each man has the ability to move closer to Christ, or farther away from him.

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Someone comes up to you and tells you that he believes in God. [Remember, we think ''he'' is necessarily a male human being only if the context tells us so. Since the context doesn't tell us that, then ''he'' is a generic human being.] He also says that he ''doesn't believe in all that religion stuff.'' So, he does believe in God, but he ''doesn't believe in all that religion stuff.'' Taking for granted that we will always treat him with respect and courtesy, his words still remind us that

a.   absolutely everything in an idea has to be in direct conflict with what the Catholic Church professes in order for the idea to be a heresy.
b.   if something in an idea is determined by the Catholic Church to be in direct conflict with what the Catholic Church professes, it is a heresy.
c.   what matters is whether the most important idea is faithful to the Church's teachings, not whether some particular point contradicts the faith.

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If sincere people have ideas about the Bible that contradict what the Church teaches, that truly

a.   does move them closer to Christ.
b.   does not move them closer to Christ.
c.   prevents Christ from saving them.

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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.

Read Judith, Jdt 16:25, the very end of the book of Judith. Scholars note that similar words end the accounts of many of the judges in the book of Judges. Most scholars think that the book of Judith is a story, rather than a historical account, and seems to cast Judith in a role similar to that of a judge in ancient Israel. There is a crisis in Israel and Judith is called by God to respond and defeat Israel's enemies. What is the awesome weapon the faithful and courageous Judith possesses that God uses to defeat Nebuchadnezzar's general Holofernes and his whole army? Her

a.   beauty.
b.   cunning.
c.   strength.

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The eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign is the year he took Jerusalem. However, the twenty-second day of the first month is the day after Passover. Thus the sacred author of Judith gives a reminder of both defeat and victory in the one date. Read Jdt 2:1-13. In the book of Judith, the situation seems hopeless, and yet God does work to save his people, but not in any expected way. It was not likely then and it is not likely now that an entire army could be defeated by one courageous woman's beauty, yet that is what happens. Judith, seemingly powerless, cuts off Holofernes's head with his own sword, and scatters his army.

The Catholic Church reads the Old Testament in the light of Christ, and sees God gradually revealing that his ideas of power and man's ideas are not the same. The book of Judith is one example of this. The Church sees the Old Testament as gradually preparing man for the coming of Jesus, who defeats life's strongest enemy, death, out of what seems to be complete weakness, by dying on the Cross.

However, the Church never forgets that in her Magnificat, her great hymn of praise, Mary also shows that she too belongs to the poor. Read Judith, Jdt 15:8-10. This passage has been heard by the Church to refer to Mary, the Mother of God and the New Eve, who is in worldly terms even more insignificant than Judith.

Finally, read Judith's canticle, Jdt 16:1-17. <<

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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

The book of Esther contains the story that is the basis for the Jewish feast of Purim, traditionally a feast of wild celebration. It is a story of villains and heroes whose setting is banquets. The book also includes instructions for celebrating the feast of Purim. The version of Esther accepted by Catholics includes additions that many scholars say were added by an editor who wrote in Greek. Mordecai the trickster is a Jew at the court of a Persian king and is able to have his cousin Esther named queen. The villainous Haman plots to kill all Jews and Mordecai in particular. Haman is defeated and killed instead. Queen Esther obtains a royal decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves against attack. They do, and slaughter great numbers of Persians. The Greek editor adds material at the beginning and the end, which clarifies that God (not the flawed Mordecai) is the true victor and the true hero and places the story in the context of a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Read Esther, Esth 10:4-13. <<

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With unbelievable trust, God gave man, in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, the ability, and the duty, to

a.   read the ideas of the finest scholars in order to learn exactly what the Bible means. [CCC 119]
b.   rely on the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church to answer all questions regarding the meaning of the Bible. [CCC 119]
c.   study the Bible and help the Church come to a firmer judgment about what it means. [CCC 119]

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Catholic bishops and their experts can make very silly mistakes, and they may also make such grim and horrible mistakes that we might have to say that sin seriously blinded their judgment. This shows that

a.   Catholic bishops are much sillier and more sinful than you or me.
b.   people can make serious mistakes, even when they sincerely try to get it right.
c.   you personally are special and can figure things out better than other people.

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It is absolutely OK if there are things that we must just receive from Christ, as a gift from him, in order to be able to appreciate the full meaning of the Bible. In fact, receiving from him (in and through his one and only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church) is the beginning of our freedom.

You probably know that many people, including many professionals who study the Bible, now think that 'receiving' in that way makes men into submissive slaves, mindless 'puppets of Rome,' instead of free men who think for themselves.

Although this is incorrect, it is a very understandable mistake in many cases. Over the centuries there have been enough Catholics who have said that everyone should 'submit' his intellect to the 'authority' of the Catholic Church. That might justify some of the nervousness people have about receiving from Christ's own Bride and Body, the Catholic Church.

The next nine items belong together. They talk more about receiving, freedom, and using our own freedom and own powers to move closer to Christ. This discussion may be a little complicated for you right at the moment, but we can't wait any longer to plunge into these things, since they're so important. Do the best you can, and don't forget that you can return to these items and re-read them later if you want to.

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Exactly when does your free relationship with God begin? The Catholic Church is very clear about this. You are not born in isolation, by yourself, and then, at some later point, you enter into a free relationship with God. You are born WITHIN a free relationship with God. [CCC 1] That's a crucial difference, and it is the deepest reason that no one can give himself everything he needs to find the real, full truth of the Bible. To see this better, we need a little more background.

You are created with freedom and power of your own. That is because you are created within a free relationship and to be in a free relationship - not a slavery. You are given so much freedom and power that you can even walk away from the free relationship within which you are created.

Free relationships are entered into with genuine freedom - on both sides, not just on God's side. Man is created with real freedom and real power, so that he can be in a relationship with God that is really free, on man's side, too. >>

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Out of love God created you to be in a relationship of real freedom with him. You can truly make a decision about the free relationship within which you are created. You can decide that you have no need of it, or that it doesn't matter all that much, or even that it actively gets in your way.

That's exactly what happened with Adam and Eve. The devil told them that God was getting in their way, limiting their power and their happiness, and that the solution was to ignore the fact of their relation to God and be god themselves. They chose to believe the devil.

If the matter weren't so devastating and serious, it would almost be funny that by rejecting (and by being able to reject) the free relationship within which they were created, Adam and Eve proved both that God really did create them with real freedom, and that he really did desire a free relationship with them. If they had not been truly free, or if God did not desire a truly free relationship with them, they would not have had the power to reject their relationship with him.

Pretty obviously, man is still not done with Adam and Eve's sin. Man is still quite capable of convincing himself that the fact that he does indeed have genuine strengths and powers (which he has so that he can be in a genuinely free relationship with God, not a slavery) 'proves' the exact opposite point: that he is not in a relationship with God, and that he can do everything all by himself. >>

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An interesting feature of being in a free relationship with God is that the relationship with him is then not entirely under your control. If you could 'make' God give himself to you, then God would no longer be free. Thus, the only time your relationship with God is completely under your control is when you reject him. If you want the only kind of relationship with him that he offers, a free relationship, then he will freely give himself as a gift that you can not control in any way, but only receive.

Along with everything else, Adam and Eve decided that they were tired of 'receiving' from God. To receive meant that there were things that God had and they didn't, things that were not under their control. The devil convinced them that receiving was unnecessary for their happiness - in fact, he convinced them that 'receiving' (far from being part of the joy of relationships that really are free on both sides) was just another name for 'submitting,' that it got in the way of their happiness, and that what would make them happy was grabbing and taking, not 'receiving.'

So, it is not that the Catholic Church is 'not allowing' man to find the real, full truth of the Bible on his own. It's simply that, whenever man pretends that all things are (or at least will eventually be) under his control and subject to his power, then nobody, not even God himself, can freely give man a gift.

It sounds illogical to accept our entire existence as a gift from God, and to accept the Bible as a further gift from him, but then to say that we will just grab and take the meaning of the Bible on our own. It sounds illogical, because it is illogical. Receiving gifts from God is how we begin to have the freedom and the power to love him back.

Receiving gifts from God is always and everywhere the beginning of our own freedom and power. Adam and Eve were wrong. Receiving from God is a good thing, not a bad thing. Refusing to receive from God is the beginning of walking away from him. Walking away from him does not give us more freedom, but only sin, death, and loneliness. >>

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So, receiving gifts from God enables man to use his own freedom and powers to study the meaning of the Bible, and thus to come closer to Christ of man's own free will. At this point, you need to have it clear in your mind that the Catholic Church professes that the Pope and bishops in communion with him do indeed give man what he needs to study and further understand the real, full truth of the Bible. Thus, with all her heart, the Catholic Church professes that the Pope and bishops in communion with him are doing something that is IMPOSSIBLE for them to do!

It is just as impossible for them to give man what he needs to study the truth of the Bible as it is for them to change ordinary bread and wine into our Lord's Body and Blood.

The sacraments accomplish what ONLY our Lord can do, by the power of the Holy Spirit whom he sent. In and through his one-and-only Bride and Body, the Catholic Church, the sacraments extend the salvific work of the risen Lord to all times and places, including our own. [compare CCC 1368]

The sacraments are our Lord's gifts to us. We are in a free relationship with him. Thus, although he is completely faithful to us, the relationship is completely free on his side, too. That means that there is absolutely nothing we can do about his completely free gifts to us. Although of course we can refuse them, we can't stop him from trying to give them to us. And absolutely nothing we do can ever explain them, control them, or 'make' him give them to us. >>

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