Confusion, And Bible Quotes.

I received a comment about Francis quoting the Bible, which apparently would make his observations not worthy of censure. I have already replied to the comment, but it's probably good to spend some words more on this.

Every Modernist, every Protestant, even every Atheist can quote the Bible. I can, actually, not imagine anyone who, interested in dismounting the Truth, would not find it convenient to do the same.

Protestants quote the Bible with every breath, and every televised pastor a' la Joel Osteen would sprinkle Bible quotes on his sermons to make a, well, perfectly Protestant – if at all – point. In my experience, bad Catholics do exactly the same. I have a rather extensive knowledge of bad priests, and have never found one who would be short of a Bible quote for his purposes.

This is less evident in traditional Catholic countries, where people are much better at recognising Catholic teaching than Bible quotes and bibliolatry is unknown, and are therefore less prone to be very impressed by; but it is decidedly more pronounced in traditionally – or rather, former – Protestant countries, where the Bible is surrounded by a mystical aura of automatic Truth dispenser, without considering that the Devil can quote the Bible with great ease. Still, and to make the point once again: no priest, however bad or outright heretical, could not do the same.

My religion is Catholicism, not the Bible. It's not the Bible that made Catholicism, but Catholicism that “made” the Bible, giving certain books and not others, certain letters and not others, certain Gospels and not others the rank of Scripture. Scripture which is then read in accordance with the Truth the Scripture is there to foster. Therefore, whilst the Bible is inspired, this does not mean it can be legitimately used for purposes that run contrary to that inspiration. Still, the sheer mass of the Scriptures will make it very easy for everyone with an agenda to find quotes fitting for his purposes.

It's a game everyone can play. Even the Bishop of Rome, who isn't an eagle by any standard.

If this were not so, then the Proddies – undoubtedly our betters at Bible quotes – would be right, and we wrong. Just the contrary is the case.

Coming back to the case illustrated a couple of days ago, Francis uses Bible quotes for what clearly is a dismounting- or discounting – of fasting; something that very well matches his dislike for every traditional practice, from praying by rote, to rosary counting, to the Traditional Latin Mass, and which therefore allows one to immediately understand where he is going. He uses a Bible quote for this. Big surprise. I have seen bad priests doing this since I was a child.

How can we, then, recognise when the Bible quote is used or abused? We do it by looking at the message the one quoting the Bible wants to convey. If the context is, as this is invariably the case by Francis: “those who respect the traditionally observed rules think they are good, but they may well be hypocrites” then it is clear the context is not one of defence of traditional Catholic values, but rather of its dismounting, or discounting.

This can be rather subtle in more refined bad priests than the Bishop of Rome; but it is particularly evident in his case, because his torrential blabbering and off-the-cuff heresies will always give a very clear indication of, as they said at school, what “the author wants to say”.

The author wants to say that fast, like every other rule, isn't important in the new “time of mercy” (I have written about that, too). Rather predictably, he does so by quoting the Bible. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and countless other open heretics or very bad Catholics would do exactly the same. Again: Bible quoting is a game everyone can play, even atheists, as the now omnipresent “do not judge” mantra and the flippant abuse of the Golden Rule abundantly show.

Don't be deceived by the Bible quote. Look at the message the speaker or author wants to convey. If the message is wrong, no Bible quote will ever make it right.

M