Frankly, and with all due respect to Kosta, if someone does not believe in the inerrant and infallible word of God then I'm not impressed with whatever purported knowledge they and others claim to have. People can cite Greek and Hebrew until the cows come home but it means nothing.
Nothing to you, you mean. I am an engineer. I prefer facts where facts matter. I believe that existance exists and that reality is reality. I also hold the Faith. I'm not impressed with those who create their own faith.
The Church declared the scriptures to be infallible. We can argue, and have, about whether scripture derives it authority from the Church or the Church derives its authority from scripture. But the bottom line is the scriptures are the only writing to be declared by the Church to be infallible and inerrant. So for someone to come along and say the scriptures are in error and incomplete goes against centuries of Church teaching. I don't need to hear the arguments laid out by atheists and agnostics. Yet you subscribe to this as "knowledgeable" and as an "expert".
You are not of the Faith. What does it matter what the Church teaches? I never called Kosta expert; I merely said that he is knowledgeable. I believe the Church; I appreciate Kosta's knowledge of how Scripture developed.
Are you ready right here and now to accept our friend kosta's view that the scriptures are in error or are you going to accept the Church's teaching of the inerrant and infallibility of scripture? Do you think that Paul's writings were bigoted? Frankly, I don't expect an answer. When I have asked this questions of other Catholics they become silent on the matter. Catholics no longer believe in the inerrant and infallible word of God.
The Word of God is infallible. The interpretation of the word of God is infallible. That is the Catholic belief. If you think that you hold the original writings of whoever Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were in your hands, then you are sadly mistaken. Hint: they didn't write the King James version.
I'll settle for those who have a child like faith in God's word any day then those who fancy themselves as "experts". Those who accepts God's word as it exist and look for insight rather than controversy. I am not impressed by those who have a low view of God's word. God certainly doesn't and neither should we. Experts such as this provides me with no spiritual insight.
Is it all about you? What you'll settle for? What impresses you? Who provides you with things? Your discourse has degenerated over the months, my friend. You don't have the word of God as it exists; you have the KJV or whatever it is that you are reading. In English. God gave us His word in Greek and we have exactly none of the original manuscripts. We have what the Nicene Council tells us is the word of God in Greek. Do you accept that?
Then what do you hold in your hands? It is either the infallible word of God exactly as Matthew, et alt wrote it to be or it's trash.
Nothing to you, you mean. I am an engineer. I prefer facts where facts matter.
So? I'm a computer analyst who deals with a great deal in statistical data. I to am interested in facts where facts matters. So let's look at the facts. You state that you believe in the infallible word of God. Then you state that we don't really have the word of God as it exist. Then you state that the Nicene Council agree on the word of God. Then you state that you appreciate kosta's view on how scripture develop even though he doesn't agree on the infallibility or inerrancy of scripture. Those are the facts. So for someone to tell me they're interested in facts, don't these facts seem a bit inconsistent?
Your discourse has degenerated over the months, my friend. You don't have the word of God as it exists;
Perhaps my discourse seems to have degenerated over months because all that seems to be written is double-speak. Either the scriptures are the word of God as it exists or it's not. If you don't believe it's the King James, then would you believe it's the Catholic approved American Standard?
God gave us His word in Greek and we have exactly none of the original manuscripts. We have what the Nicene Council tells us is the word of God in Greek. Do you accept that?
We don't have the Ten Commandments written by God's finger from Mount Sinai. Yet we know what the Ten Commandments are. The Nicene Council was formed in 325AD. They knew they had the infallible word of God otherwise they wouldn't have said so, isn't that correct? The Church can't be wrong, can it?
Not according to the Catholic church.
From Catholic answers.com....
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0510fr.asp
The interpretation of the word of God is infallible. That is the Catholic belief.
And a wrong one at that.
If you think that you hold the original writings of whoever Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were in your hands, then you are sadly mistaken. Hint: they didn't write the King James version.
Nor do Catholics have the original. They didn't write the Septuagint either. The Catholic Bible is a translation of a translation.
So the very criticism you level against the *Protestant* Bible applies at least equally to your own. On one hand, you appeal to the fact that Protestants do not have the original manuscripts in your argument against Protestants use of Scripture. OTOH, Catholics appeal to that very same Scripture, which is no more certain, to support their most cherished doctrines.
It's hypocritical to demand to have it both ways. It's disingenuous to try to use Scripture from sources you demean and expect others to accept them as authoritative after trashing the sources.
Therefore, all the doctrines that the Catholic church appeals to Scripture for authority of, like the papacy, and apostolic succession, the institution of the priesthood, their ability to forgive sins, etc, are all built on unreliable documents (by your argument) and therefore are no more certain that that.