OTHCC Chapter 87: items 1721 - 1740

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

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The Church teaches [CCC 847] that if, through no fault of your own, you do not know Christ and the Catholic Church who is his Body, then

a.   you are going to hell, no matter what you do.
b.   you can be saved, if you try to do God's will.
c.   you will be saved, whatever you do.

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When someone teaches or believes an idea that directly contradicts the teaching of the Catholic Church, then

a.   there is a chance he could be correct.
b.   we know that he is going to Hell.
c.   what happens to him can be known only by God.

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So, if someone who understands what he's doing rejects the sacraments and the truths of the Catholic faith, that would be very, very bad for him, but if a basically good person through no fault of his own does not know Christ and his Church, then that would be OK for him. Given this, wouldn't it be fine if Catholics did not try to teach others about the full truth of Christ and his Church, and just left everybody alone?

The short answers are, don't underestimate man, don't overestimate him, and anyway, Jesus himself told us to preach the gospel to all nations.

Don't underestimate your fellow man - there are plenty of people sincerely searching for the Catholic Church. There actually are people who have heard it all - all religions are alike, all religions are bogus, etc. - and now they want the truth. They have the right to have their questions answered - by you, if necessary - and their searching rewarded. >>

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Also, don't overestimate man, either, or the world. Adam and Eve's Fall was real, and it twisted the world beyond man's capacity to repair by himself. The world is not always a very nice place. Jesus Christ is not a convenience, he is a necessity. Man is fallen, not only prone to sin, but also prone to justifying and excusing his sins. Part of ''preaching the gospel to all nations'' is simply resisting evil acts, and saying out loud that they are evil. Be nice to people - but don't be nice to actual sin.

Finally, it's not your job to make even one person a Catholic. Nobody can do that, not even the Pope. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and you need to take that seriously. It is absolutely true that you do risk moving farther from Christ if you do not walk with his one true Bride and Body, the Catholic Church. It is absolutely true that being a Catholic is better than any other choice, ever. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit takes man's freedom so seriously that he waits for each man to decide that for himself. It is certainly not your job to give a man less freedom than God does.

However, Jesus did tell his disciples to preach the gospel to all nations. All men of all times and all places have the positive right to know Christ and his one true Bride and Body, the Catholic Church, and to receive her sacraments. Yet salvation is a free gift, and it must be freely received.

Making sure that all men at all times and places have enough knowledge and opportunity to freely choose to be a Catholic and to receive the sacraments, if that's what they really want, is the job of every Catholic, including you. <<

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Read Deut 29:1-6. Read the book of Numbers, Num 32:13. Before reaching the land God promised them, the people of Israel wandered in the desert

a.   a short time.
b.   forty days.
c.   forty years.

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The Old Covenant is the Christian name for the covenant by which God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in Egypt and, on Mount Sinai and through Moses, gave them his law. The Church teaches that the Old Covenant is

a.   the final covenant before the New Covenant established by God's only Son.
b.   the oldest covenant of all the covenants that God has made with man.
c.   the only covenant of all the covenants that God has made with man.

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You now know that the Holy Father and bishops profess that, in effect, there are even ''older'' covenants than the Old Covenant, which also remain in force and are not revoked. Creation itself is the beginning of the covenants, followed by the covenant with Noah. Thus too, the Old Covenant with Israel begun with Abraham remains in force and has never been revoked, the Jews remain a people chosen and delivered by God in the Exodus, and their observance of the Law he gave them on Mount Sinai through Moses does keep the covenant God made with them and ''prophesies and presages the work of liberation from sin which will be fulfilled in Christ.'' [CCC 1964] <<

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Read Ex 16. Read Ps 78 [Psalm 78], especially Ps 78:1-25. Now read John 6 (Jn 6:30-35). The manna is a type of

a.   the Eucharist.
b.   the Law.
c.   Noah's Ark.

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The fact that manna is a type

a.   means that the manna itself has lost all significance.
b.   means that the manna itself has lost much significance.
c.   means that the manna itself retains its full significance.

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The Catholic Church sees the entire people of Israel as a type of the Catholic Church, led out of slavery by the new Moses, Christ, through the waters of baptism. The fact that the people of Israel are a type

a.   means that the people of Israel themselves have lost all significance.
b.   means that the people of Israel themselves have lost much significance.
c.   means that the people of Israel themselves retain their full significance.

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This textbook introduces the Old Testament to Catholics who are not familiar with it. It emphasizes passages in the Old Testament held ''in the heart of the Catholic Church.'' These are passages that historically have been particularly important to saints and to the popes and bishops as they taught about or reflected on the reality of the sacraments and the truths of the Catholic faith. The fact that these passages in the Old Testament are emphasized in this introductory course

a.   is a warning that no course can ever teach the entire Old Testament, because there will always be more to learn from it, and emphasizes that the student should continue to read and study the Old Testament.
b.   means that the student should prefer a course that teaches the Old Testament as if the sacraments were not real and the New Testament were not true, because that would give him an unbiased view of the Old Testament.
c.   shows that Old Testament passages that have not been selected by this course for study are worthless and irrelevant, because the Old Testament has no meaning except to predict the New Testament.

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The Catholic Church sees the entire Old Testament as a type of the New Testament. The fact that the entire Old Testament is a type

a.   means that the Old Testament itself has lost all significance.
b.   means that the Old Testament itself has lost much significance.
c.   means that the Old Testament itself retains its full significance.

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You are moving seriously farther from Christ if in any way you begin to think that, in revealing himself fully in his only Son, God thereby said that his prior revelations of himself were a joke, a lie, or in any way anything but just what they are, irrevocable revelations of himself.

In our time, you do need to know that far too many Catholics over the years did not take this truth seriously enough, gave the Old Testament no real meaning outside of its meaning relating directly to Christ and his Church, and oppressed, tormented, and even killed Jews. However, you also need to read CCC 128-130. Read it now.

Put simply, the Old Testament retains its own value forever, and the Jews remain the Chosen People forever, for the simple reason that, when God reveals himself, he does not lie. <<

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Read Ex 14. According to this passage the Israelites are able to escape their slavery

a.   by defeating the Egyptian army in a pitched battle.
b.   by quietly praying while God did everything.
c.   by traveling over dry land in the midst of the sea.

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The people of Israel escaped their slavery, passing from death to life, as it were, led by Moses, by traveling safely through water. The Catholic Church has seen Moses as a type of Christ, and the crossing of the Red Sea as a type of the sacrament of

a.   Baptism.
b.   Confirmation.
c.   the Eucharist.

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Some modern scholars think that Ex 14 actually blends together two separate traditions about the crossing of the sea. If this happens to be true, then

a.   your faith is not shattered if there is no ''newspaper'' account of the crossing.
b.   your faith is shattered because there is no true account of the crossing.
c.   your faith is wounded because there is no true account of the crossing.

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You may as well know: some scholars think that the people of Israel crossed a ''sea of Reeds,'' (some sort of marshland), not the Red Sea. Ex 14 never actually mentions the particular sea crossed, but Ex 15:22 does. The Red Sea might be the correct sea referred to in Exodus, but ''Red Sea'' also might be an ancient Greek mistranslation of the original Hebrew text, a mistranslation then passed on for centuries. However, no pope, or even a single bishop, so far as is known, has ever even hinted that this possibility might affect your union with Christ. You don't need to worry about it, one way or the other. <<

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The God of Israel is a God

a.   about whom stories are told of great deeds he performs among the other gods.
b.   cut off from reality and human time and who exists only outside of time.
c.   who actively enters into human time and into real human hearts.

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The exodus of Israel from slavery, the giving of God's name, and the giving of the Law

a.   are central events to Jews and to Catholics.
b.   are central events to Jews but not to Catholics.
c.   are insignificant events to Jews and to Catholics.

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The events recounted in the book of Exodus (and retold and referred to in many other places in the Old Testament) defined Israel. From then on, Israel thought of itself as the people whom the Lord brought out of Egypt, to whom he gave his holy name, and to whom he gave the Law as a covenant with them. <<

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