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Ask A Catholic: The Bible and Blasphemy

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Ask A Catholic: The Bible and Blasphemy

What questions do you have about Catholicism? Submit them online, or fill out the form below. 

By Mitch Finley

If Jesus is the Word of God that is God, from the Gospel of John, then how is calling a collection of letters, poetry, and other stories [the Bible], “The Word of God” not blasphemy?

In a nutshell, Catholics believe that sacred Scripture is the written testimony to the divine Word. 

Scripture attests to what theologians sometimes call “the Christ event.” However, the Word of God, i.e. Christ, precedes the Bible and surpasses it.That is why the center of our faith isn’t just a book, but above all a person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made human.

In other words, for Catholics the Bible is the word of God only because Jesus is the word of God (John 1:1 ff). We worship Jesus as the Word of God, we do not worship the Bible. We worship That To Which the Bible Gives Witness, i.e. the risen Christ.

Mitch Finley
Mitch Finleyhttp://mitchandkathyfinley.com
Mitch Finley is the author of 30+ books on Roman Catholic theological topics and spirituality, all written to appeal to both non-academic and academic readers. Mitch holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Santa Clara University and an M.A. in Theology from Marquette University. He and Kathy Finley have been married since 1974 and are the parents of three grown sons. To learn more, visit his website.

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Oscar
Oscar
1 year ago

I am a catholic but someone told me that were in the bible does it mention we should go to church every Sunday.

Mitch Finley
1 year ago
Reply to  Oscar

The heart of the Church’s instruction that we are to attend Mass on Sundays goes back to the Third Commandment: “Take care to keep holy the sabbath day as the LORD, your God, has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 5:12). Although the Jewish People celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, the first generations of Christians began to observe the sabbath on Sunday, recognizing how important it is for Christians to celebrate the day that Jesus rose from the dead. As the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults observes, “Sunday extends the celebration of Easter throughout the year … It makes present the new creation brought about by Christ” (364). The focus of our Sunday should be the celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass. This is our time to be formed by God’s Word and nourished at the table of the Lord, becoming prepared to live out and share our faith in the week that follows. In his encyclical, Dies Domini, Pope Saint John Paul II reminded us that Christians “cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday Eucharistic assembly” (no. 81). This is why the Church teaches us that Sunday Mass is a non-negotiable part of being a Christian (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2192).

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