Whither Truth?

The priest officiating at the mass I attended this morning warned us that, according to Jesus, if we have anything against our brother, we are to leave our offering at the altar, and first go and reconcile with him.

What the gospel actually says is

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Do you see the difference? He has inverted the meaning of the passage. 

This is characteristic of Satan’s work: he inverts the truth. And he seems to be in control of much of the modern church. As Pail VI said, the smoke of Satan has penetrated the Vatican itself. The modern church embraces sin, and condemns feelings of guilt. Hitler was right, by implication; the Jews were wrong.

A friend laments that we just can’t trust anyone any more. How do we know what we are doing is right? You can’t trust your parish priest; he might be a gay pedophile. You can’t trust the church hierarchy; she knows of McCarrick. The late Pope Francis was an apostate. If you can’t even trust the pope, what’s left?

I suggested the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“How do we even know the Bible is reliable? The Ethiopian Bible has different books!”

Why do I think the Bible is reliable?

1. God’s existence is undeniable.

2. God is by his essential nature good.

3. A good God would not leave us without direction.

4. His “user manual” would be most obvious and in plain sight.

5. The Bible is the most universally recognized “user manual”—older and more widely endorsed than any other holy book or scripture. And by the best minds.

6. Therefore, it can be assumed to be the final authority on what is true.

By “The Bible” I mean, by the logic of the argument, the Catholic Bible, since it is the most generally accepted. But that is really neither here nor there, since the books contained in the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or Ethiopian bibles do not contradict one another. They can all be completely true. Other scriptures of other religions can be, and logically are, mostly true as well.

I hold the Catechism of the Catholic Church to be reliable in turn because, following the same train of logic, Jesus sets up the apostolic succession, and says “the gates of hell will not prevail against you.” So any doctrine the church universally and firmly holds must be true, secondarily to the Bible.