.

Revelations of Church-related paedophilia continue around the world and seem to be never-ending. They touch all denominations, but the Catholic Church is by far the worst offender – to such an extent that its endemic nature is evident.

The Catholic Church is morally bankrupt as an institution.

Pope Francis is now left with just two options : either he puts a stop to it or he admits his inability to do so and resigns :

« And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves » — Matthew 21:12–13

As Jesus clearly demonstrated: there is no other honourable alternative.

I find it very interesting to see that the Vatican knows exactly what should be done to avoid any further crimes of paedophilia committed by the clergy. Allow me to quote, once again, the Vatican’s statement regarding His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell :

« The Pope confirmed Cardinal Pell has been forbidden from contact with minors as part of “precautionary measures” … »

Those “precautionary measures” should be extended to include the totality of the Catholic clergy throughout the world with immediate effect – but in a slightly less restrictive form.

In my professional dealings with top officials of a major Chinese state-owned company in the financial sector, the rule was that no senior official was ever allowed to have a meeting with me unless he or she was accompanied by another Chinese official from the same sector. I never had a face to face meeting with my principal interlocutor – even if it was over a casual lunch or dinner.

That is the rule which, to my mind, should be practiced by the Catholic Church in all its dealings with children under the age of 18. The confessional should also be banned for that age bracket.

.

Dear Not_Now.Soon,

«If there was going to be changes in the bible, they would have removed the parts that showed their faults.»

And they tried, but one, they were not thorough enough as the text was spread over several scrolls and text finding and editing was not as easy as today; and two, some crimes were too publicly well-known to ignore, so all they could do instead was to soften and try to justify them.

---

Dear Banjo,

Thank you for your interesting remarks.

Faith is a wonderful thing to have and life without it is unfulfilling, but it can sometimes be misplaced, including (but not limited to) in some of the less-than-authentic sections of the bible and in modern material science.

Those who want to follow the blessed footsteps of Saint Jesus of Nazareth would find it easier if they stopped burdening themselves with much of the edited Hebrew texts.

Yuyutsu,

<<And they tried [removing Bible parts showing faults], but one, they were not thorough enough as the text was spread over several scrolls and text finding and editing was not as easy as today; and two, some crimes were too publicly well-known to ignore, so all they could do instead was to soften and try to justify them.>>

That is your personal opinion. You provided no supporting evidence.

<<Faith is a wonderful thing to have and life without it is unfulfilling, but it can sometimes be misplaced, including (but not limited to) in some of the less-than-authentic sections of the bible and in modern material science.>>

Faith in what or whom?

<<Those who want to follow the blessed footsteps of Saint Jesus of Nazareth would find it easier if they stopped burdening themselves with much of the edited Hebrew texts.>>

Nothing in Scriptures says Jesus was a saint.

The Hebrew texts of the OT applied to the nation of Israel and not to followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, 'Do not think I have come to get rid of what is written in the Law or in the Prophets. I have not come to do this. Instead, I have come to fulfill what is written' (Matthew 5:17).

However, Christians benefit from OT teaching in this way:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17).

Since this was written before the NT was compiled, it applied to the OT which,
(1) Is breathed out by God and is useful for ...
(2) Teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that ...
(3) God's servant will be equipped to do good works.

So, there is valid teaching in the OT for NT believers, but all of God's commands to the Israelites do not apply to Christians. Most of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are found in Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

Dear OzSpen,

"All Scripture is God-breathed"

Indeed, this is almost by definition, but not everything that was ever written can be considered as scripture.

The question at hand is about the relationship between what Jesus referred to as "Law and Prophets" and the book we now know as "the bible" (by Jews) or "the old testament" (by Christians).

Clearly there is an overlap and I too occasionally use sections of the OT for the purposes you listed, yet we must tread with caution because parts of the bible have been tainted.

«Nothing in Scriptures says Jesus was a saint.»

Or anyone else for that matter, not directly, but if a bird with the typical long-white neck swims gracefully on the lake without getting wet, then I would call it a swan. I hope and believe that you do not suggest that Jesus ever sinned or that his miracles were counterfeit.

«That is your personal opinion. You provided no supporting evidence.»

True. Unfortunately I gave away those books on which I base this opinion, that researched the bible forensically, read between the lines, compared it with other scrolls from that period and arrived at these conclusions.

«Faith in what or whom?»

Faith in God never fails but faith in edited books is dangerous.
According to the above research, for example, the Israelites used to deify Joshua, even way beyond their admiration for Moses. The bible was then edited to hide this shameful fact and soften Joshua's roll, big enough as it remains. It also took care to mention that nobody knows where Moses is buried in order to prevent similar wrongful worship of his grave and having faith in him instead of in God.

Yuyutsu,

<<not everything that was ever written can be considered as scripture.>>

That's Yuyutsu's view. God’s view is 'all Scripture is God-breathed'.

I do wish you would know the content of the Bible before making an ignorant comment like you did.

<<Clearly there is an overlap and I too occasionally use sections of the OT for the purposes you listed, yet we must tread with caution because parts of the bible have been tainted.>>

That's Yuyutsu's opinion. You gave no examples. The NT uses some sections of the OT for teaching, e.g.
+ Jesus referred to the burning bush incident to explain his resurrection (Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37).
+ When Jesus told a rich man how to enter the kingdom of God, he pointed to the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:12–16; Mt 19:18–19; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20).

<<I hope and believe that you do not suggest that Jesus ever sinned or that his miracles were counterfeit.>>

The sinless Son of God who was God never called himself a saint.

<<Unfortunately I gave away those books on which I base this opinion, that researched the bible forensically, read between the lines, compared it with other scrolls from that period and arrived at these conclusions.>>

Haven't you heard of using Dr Google to do research online?

<<Faith in God never fails but faith in edited books is dangerous.>>

How would I know this truth: 'Yet to all who did receive him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God' (John 1:12)? I need NT Scripture.

I don't put my faith in edited books but in the Lord God revealed through Scripture.

<<the Israelites used to deify Joshua, even way beyond their admiration for Moses. The bible was then edited to hide this shameful fact and soften Joshua's roll, big enough as it remains.>>

Again, you provide no evidence. To say it is in a book you gave away is dodging the issue. You seem to want to denigrate the OT and NT as the Book of Scripture.

To Yuyutsu.

You said regarding the bible being edited:

<<And they tried, but one, they were not thorough enough as the text was spread over several scrolls and text finding and editing was not as easy as today; and two, some crimes were too publicly well-known to ignore, so all they could do instead was to soften and try to justify them.>>

Do you have anything to support these claims, or are they just one more of your unsupported opinions that you think is the truth and factual. Let me say it again. Just to be clear. The bible tells of both the good and the bad that people do. Most people have more self censorship then that and only publically report the good things they do. So if they wanted to remove something and were actively editing the bible then they would be successful in doing it. The fact that this isn't the case is more then enough evidance to reject your claims.

Therefore in this case you need to have more then another speculative claim to back up your other unsupported speculative claims. Is there anything to support what you've written to suggest it's true outside of your demand that it is true?