| HintHRO said: Just like 'The bible is up to interpretation', the New Testament is something religious people made up because they know how fucked up their favorite book is, but they still want to believe in God and control people. God did not personally tell us that the old testament is something we should ignore, those were people who realized christianity would die if the people knew the bible said such horrible things. There are still people out there who strongly believe in the old testament and you can't tell them they are bad Christians because they actually believe what the bible tells them. Besides that, the old testament is still in every bible printed nowadays. Educational books that are incorrect are not given to schools anymore because it is proven to be incorrect. You can't prove the old testament to be 'old Christianity' because the one who wrote the bible won't even bother to come to earth to make that clear. Also muslim terrorist actually do what the quran tells them. You can't tell them they are wrong. Overall, religion is a big mess and should be a thing of the past. |
The Old Testament shouldn't be ignored but it needs to be considered in conjunction with the New Testament. As a Catholic, I believe that the interpretation of the Pope when it is supported in unison by the bishops forms an infallible interpretation of the bible. Because the Catholic Church compiled the books of the bible, it retains ultimate authority over its interpretation (note that a single person doesn't have authority, but only the pope when supported in unison by the bishops). Ultimately, this is still a matter of faith since there is no way to prove that the Catholic Church is infallible without referring to scripture. That said, this is how hundreds of millions of Christians resolve the conflict between the Old and New Testament that you are describing above. This is why a Catholic could never possibly justify terrorism.
Words cannot interpret themselves. This is why our governments appoint courts to interpret the word of the law. We can and should read the law and obtain insight from it, but ultimately the courts have authority over it's interpretation. It's no different with the bible and the Catholic Church. We can and should read the bible, but when our interpretation conflicts with the official teachings of the Church, we can trust that the Church's teachings will provide us with the proper guidance.
All I am trying to show here is that religion is less of "a mess" then you might think it is. There are very real ways to avoid improper interpretations for those who really do seek the truth.
