Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics House rules/notes… 1. Online via Meetup/Zoom or In Person at St. John Neumann Catholic Church 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191 https://saintjn.org/ 2. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 3. I will send out Meeting Recaps the same night as our sessions – these are unedited versions without pictures. An edited version with pictures will be posted on our website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps before the next meeting. Taylor will notify everyone at that time. 4. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat box, email the Meetup group, or me at ron@hallagan.net. 5. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and Christian denominations, and we agree to be respectful at all times. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ; in fact, I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them! 6. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn/understand/apply the Bible and our Catholic faith. 7. Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying with other Catholics during the week? Fellow member Jason Goldberg has started “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup.” Sign up at: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/. 8. “The Chosen” TV series. All of us seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not always easy. It can help if we have seen and heard Him. The Chosen captures Jesus better than any show I have ever seen. Highly recommended. 9. RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing! Catholic Catacombs Website: https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps Bible Study Format: Each week of the month has a repeating topic, as noted below. Each meeting: 5 min greet, prayer, 10-15 min Catholic topic, 40-45 min main topic. Week 1: Gospel Week: Week 2: Bible Week (Gen > Rev): We are in EXODUS, the 2nd book of Moses. Week 3: Survey Topics Voted on by Members:
1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Comparative Religions 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) Book of Revelation 6) Major Heresies and Church Councils
Week 4: Member Questions:
o What does it mean to be born again? Does this change the self?
o “How do we know we are following Jesus?
o Does the path get harder or easier the closer we get to God?
o Is the peace of Christ different from peace of the world?
o Why doesn’t God just show himself?
o Is it possible to ask for too many blessings?
o Jesus says in John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I.” What does this mean? I thought they were one.
o In Genesis and somewhere else, it says that God changed his mind. In another place, it says God repented that he made humans. I thought God was unchangeable. Can you explain this?
o Please provide an intro or overview of the OT books.
o Is sex good or bad?
o What’s the difference between Charity and Love? What are the highest forms of charity?
o Can you provide a brief review of the origin/meaning of the (12) statements in the Creed?
o How many Gospels have the story of Jesus’ calming the storm? They seem different. Are they the same story?
o Why does God seem full of vengeance or violence in the OT? Is this a misinterpretation?
o Can we do a Christian Meditation one evening?
o Is “recognition” a good thing? How does pride play into it? Glory and pride discussion.
Catholic Catacombs Website: https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps
Major liturgical events in the Church – We are in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Dear Lord
Thank you for your promise that where two or three of us are gathered in your name, You are there.
This statement alone makes it clear that you want us to hang together – with You
And what better way to do that than to study Your Words!
We welcome you tonight as we study your Ten Commandments and continue to learn about Buddhism
So that we can better understand and explain the truth You have given to the world.
A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for those who seek understanding. Prv 14:6
And as You taught us to pray:
Our Father
Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us all.
Amen.
Question asked last week: Where does it say the Church can excommunicate people?
Regarding A Brother Who Sins
If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he still refuses to listen, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. - Matthew 18:15-18
Note: excommunication is more medicinal than punitive. The goal is to get the person to stop sinning or teaching things the Church does not teach, and return to good-standing. Every effort is made to get the person to stay, but in the end, it is up to that person's behavior.
Today’s Agenda
Commandments – 5-10
Christianity and Buddhism
The Ten Commandments: Five through Ten
Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill. [תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח׃ (trə·ṣāḥ) – murder]
Human life is sacred because God is the Lord of life.
In the divine law which tells us we are to love God and our neighbor, we are instructed to use our free will to do good and avoid evil. The greatest evil that can be done to one’s neighbor is to take his life.
This does not apply to defending oneself or defending the innocent (with limitations). The Hebrew translation states the “unjust taking of innocent life” – the definition of murder.
Similarly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2258-61) states, “Do not slay the innocent or the righteous.” This includes abortion, suicide, and euthanasia. Guilt presumes the person acting against this commandment is in their right mind.
Q: Jesus added one more thing to this commandment. What was it?
In Matthew 5 (Sermon on the Mount), just like Jesus elevates the law against adultery to include lust, he elevates the law on murder to include unjust or uncontrolled anger since this internal condition leads to violence.
Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
This refers to fidelity in the covenant union of marriage. It is fitting since God calls husbands and wives to be one body, like the Trinity. St. Paul states in 1 Cor 6:9 that this includes all forms of impurity, including fornication.
It is no accident that the prohibition against adultery follows the prohibition against murder, for even the most cursory review of history, literature, and experience reveals that violations in the area of sexuality are particularly destructive of human well-being at every level – individual, familial, and communal.
As stated in Genesis 2, God sees sex as good and important (be fruitful and multiply…) for we are not only practicing love and unity, we are populating Heaven.
That said, God calls us to raise our relationships higher than the animals – including sex – by adding love and commitment.
Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.
God has already forbidden injury to our neighbor’s person (Thou shall not kill), to the person’s spouse (adultery), and now to our neighbor’s goods. This Commandment forbids any worldly goods whatsoever to be taken away wrongfully.
The prohibition against robbing another person’s belongings remains a fundamental building block of the moral life, for it amounts to a respect for the dignity of one’s neighbor.
The CCC 2401-2463 says “The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence.”
The CCC also states that this not only applies to one’s property rights but extends to the protection of individuals (i.e., kidnapping). This is especially important in times and places that do not have the protection of good laws. Legitimate property needed for families to meet their present needs and future prosperity ought not be subject to the ruthless appropriation by other men.
Q: What other forms of thievery might be included in this commandment, according to the Church?
This commandment also forbids not paying wages that are due, cheating others in transactions, bribery, and fraud.
Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor (lie).
The eight commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with other people.
The Lord has already forbidden anyone to injure his neighbor by deed; now he forbids us to injure him by word. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This can occur either in a court of law or in ordinary conversation.
Since God makes the universe with His Word and He gives humans speech, we are to learn how to emulate Him in how we use language. This is not only for our own integrity and trustworthiness but equally to avoid injuring the name of our neighbor.
Jesus goes further and tells us to practice letting our yes means yes, and our no mean no. We are called to practice radical honesty in all our affairs. When you do this, your reputation will precede you, because this is a Godly trait. God is the source of truth, and we do well to imitate the Father until it becomes a habit (virtue) in us. This doesn’t just mean “not lying,” but defending the truth when you see the need.
Q: What other forms of “false witness” are included in this commandment, according to the Church?
It includes spreading rumors and engaging in gossip. Gossip has been called “a polite form of murder, via character assassination.” As even the OT book of wisdom (Sirach) says:
“Hedge in your ears with thorns, do not listen to a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars for your mouth.”
– Sir 28:28
Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
The ninth commandment is the battle for purity of heart.
Covetousness is the inordinate desire to acquire that which belongs to another and suggests possible malice toward the one in possession of what is desired (related to envy). To covet or take that which belongs to another is a sin against justice. Jesus’ warning against lust is similar but it is a sin against temperance (the disordered desire for sexual gratification).
In 1 Jn 2:16, John lists three kinds of covetousness as the key motivators to sin:
1. Lust of the flesh
2. Lust of the eyes
3. Pride of life
Q: What do these remind you of?
These are the same sins that led to the Fall of Man (Gen 3).
Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods. Whereas the 9th Commandment is concerned with concupiscence of the flesh, the 10th Commandment is concerned with concupiscence of possessions. Both are disorders of the spirit.
This commandment is not directed toward one who admires what another has but is concerned with the sins of envy and greed arising from someone having more than you or doing better than you.
Envy is a capital sin which Augustine defined as “a diabolical sin" because it consumes the soul. The Catechism defines envy this way: “Envy is the sadness at the sight of another's goods and the disordered desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly.”
ENVY
“After this life, envy can only be found in hell. Don’t seek early admission.”
Q: Are you worried about any of these commandments now that we’ve reviewed them?
Welcome to the club! The “good news” is that God knows that we will make mistakes – many mistakes – and so He offers us grace and forgiveness continually in the Eucharist and Confession, so that we can continue to grow spiritually in His Image. If we don’t take advantage of these, then He can’t help us much. That’s choice is on us.
Q: How do we compare the Old/Mosaic Covenant with Jesus' New Covenant?
Just as in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus elevates the Old Covenant and its earthly sacrifices, earthly Passover, and earthly Exodus into the New Covenant of the Last Supper with His eternal sacrifice for our eternal freedom.
Q: Can the Ten Commandments lead us to Freedom?
You might say “faith” is “why” we are saved and the Commandments are “how” we are saved.
Like every other good thing, there is a cost to the commandments – it’s called love of God and love of neighbor; but these commandments are truth, and there is eternal freedom in truth.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn. 8:32).
The “world” (and Satan) would like to convince us that happiness is all about what we can get in the 6th Day (don’t look at the 7th!). The 6th Day is all about immediate gratification and all suffering is evil – the 6th Day commandments. However, this dumbed-down version of happiness is more accurately referred to as our “creaturely, animal comforts,” and more often about ourselves than caring for others. They aren’t bad in and of themselves, but they risk replacing our true life’s priorities of God, goodness, and love of others. That’s a bad risk for which there is no insurance except…. Confession and Eucharist… while you are still here.
Q: Why do the Commandments all seem restrictive or negative?
It may seem that the commandments are negatives – what not to do – but that is only one side of the coin of love. All these commandments are either acts of love of God or love of neighbor. In more primitive times, God in His wisdom decided to teach people about specific behaviors that came from selfishness. 1300 years later, they were ready to hear the Beatitudes/Sermon on the Mount, which simply took those commandments from exterior to interior.
Q: Bonus Question: What is another word for Covenant?
Testament! The Old Testament and New Testament actually means the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
Comparative Religions
We have concluded Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism (all available Catholic Catacombs website) and now move on to Buddhism.
World Religions # members %
Christianity 2.5 billion 34%
Islam 1.6 billion 24%
Hinduism 1.2 billion 15%
Nonreligious 1.0 billion 14%
Buddhism 600 million 7%
Judaism 15 million .1%
Mormons, 7thDA, JehWit, FreeMas 10-20 million each .3%
World Religions Comment
As move on from monotheism, it is important to understand that this involves a significant shift in thinking. Non-Judeo-Christian religions believe in everything from thousands of gods (Hinduism) to no god (Buddhism).
Q: How should we view our human brothers and sisters of different religions?
All of them are children of God. Recall that God breathed his spirit into humans in Gen 2:7. All humans. Jesus came to save all humans. There is no exclusivity.
Q: It’s important to understand the gifts all humans received when God breathed His spirit into us. Explain.
The spirit is what makes us in God’s “image and likeness” – Gen 1:26. With the spirit, all humans gain a spiritual intellect, free will, and an immortal soul. This is why humans seek meaning and a higher purpose to their lives. It means that humans, no matter who they are or where they are from, are one race, not many.
The reason that humans seek meaning, purpose, perfection, truth, justice, goodness, peace, immortality, and to be perfectly loved – is because these are attributes of God. We are all His offspring. We are simply children who have inherited a likeness to our parent/the Trinity.
We are not so much physical beings having a spiritual experience as we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
We can think of all the religions (this includes atheism) as having three basic options/levels.
1) Basement: Materialism. Materialistic science requires all reality to be observable and measurable. There is no higher meaning or purpose to anything. We are here by accident, and one day the human race will pass away unnoticed, just like it arrived. The fact that all humans crave things like meaning, purpose, goodness, and justice is a false narrative; an illusion. But we are more or less free to be whatever we want to be for this lifetime, and we have all the evidence we want because we only consider what is observable and measurable.
2) First floor: God and the Universe are One. There is varying kinds of a supernatural afterlife, but views God as everything in the universe. And since we are part of it, we are divine, too. When this life is over, or finishes its cycle of lives, we pass into another blissful state of nothingness (no individuality, but one with the universe). We have no physical evidence of this first floor, but it generally teaches peaceful ways of life and answers our inner calling to feel connected to a higher purpose. The first floor makes perfect sense since we can’t know anything outside our reality, and so this floor answers a basic spiritual need. The only way we could know if there was a God outside our material reality is if that God revealed Himself or willingly entered into it.
3) Second floor – Christianity. From the very beginning to the very end, the Bible is all about God entering our reality to connect with us. Half the time, we are running away from Him because what He asks of us is not always easy.
This God tells us that He is not equal to the universe, He created it. This God is perfect goodness, love, justice, mercy, and all-powerful and He gave us spiritual intellects, free will, and immortal souls so that we could join Him in Heaven.
Not only does this God satisfy our spiritual longings, but our spiritual longings came from Him.
Christianity has the evidence of extensive writings and witnesses for several thousand years and they all teach the same thing: love, justice, mercy, and to love sinners and help the poor. There is nothing self-centered in it at all.
Jesus goes so far as to show us the new nature that awaits us after our lives – when he performed miracles (spirit over matter), then walking among us for 40 days after the resurrection (a glorified body), and then ascending with his human body, wounds and all. This was to show us that we do not disappear into the dirt, nor do we become one with the universe, but we will be spiritually & bodily glorified as part of a new heaven and new earth. We have seen it and we know in our heart of hearts this is what we long for.
We do not believe the foundations of humanity are built upon illusions but upon seeking truth.
The reason nonbelievers like the lowest level is because they believe they have the most proof (physical evidence), and the most control over their lives, especially since they answer to no one. It’s actually just the fall-of-man-all-over-again, which is self-worship.
The reason why so many humans prefer the first floor is because it seeks to address one’s spiritual needs but also there is no personal accountability/responsibility (all the thrills of religion and none of the cost). You can make your own path and choose your own pace.
Christianity is the highest floor is because it has the highest experience (both personal and in relation to God), but it also has the highest of requirements with regards to individual accountability and responsibility. God gives us both the intelligence and desire we need – and His help – to accomplish this because is a part of what delivers peace and happiness.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a “religious,” monastic system founded in the 6th century BC on the basis of Hindu Brahminism. Though many are ordained monks and nuns, there are now many lay practitioners that make up the Buddhist community.
Buddha (563-483 BC) was the son of an Indian king. Around the age of 30, he left his privileged life in court to become an ascetic and spent several years traveling and meditating on the human condition, especially the reality of suffering. One day, while meditating beneath a bodhi tree, he became enlightened and afterwards began teaching his dharma, or doctrine, which included the “three characteristics of being” and the “Four Noble Truths.”
The three characteristics of being:
1. All things are transitory.
2. There is no self or personality.
3. This world brings only pain and suffering.
The Four Noble Truths:
1. This world is suffering.
2. The cause of suffering is desire.
3. The cessation of suffering is the cessation of desire.
4. The cessation of desire is achieved through practicing the Noble Eight-fold Path, which includes right speech, right action, right livelihood, etc.
The goal of Buddhism is to escape the wheel of birth and death. Since suicide leads only to reincarnation, the only effective way to escape this world is by attaining nirvana, a transcendental state of consciousness which serves as an exit pass from the wheel of birth and death.
Popularly speaking, the figure of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) stands in the place of a god; but strictly speaking the Buddhistic system is atheistic in that there is no “God” or “gods.” Nevertheless, a kind of spiritual structure is assigned to the universe, which is why it is considered a religion.
Buddhism takes on the Hinduism beliefs in karma, dharma, reincarnation, moksha, and enlightenment through meditation. It is different in that Buddhism rejects the priests of Hinduism, the formal rituals, and the caste system… (karma - justice; dharma – the teachings of Buddha; moksha - release from the cycles of reincarnation, or Nirvana.)
Like Hinduism, Buddhism holds the belief that all desire leads to suffering, that our conscious life is a burden and not worth living, and that true happiness is only to be had in a state of existence free from all desire, and free from conscious action. The necessity of reincarnation is to satisfy karma and enable humans to move closer to this freedom from self and this world.
Escaping of the wheel of life and death
Buddhism for All
Buddhism seeks to transcend notions of “religion” or “belief” and so that it appears to many to be compatible with all other religions, including Christianity. In other words, Christianity and Buddhism are just two ways to the same end: Jesus and Buddha are simply two enlightened teachers who help man to that end. Or, as a reader on a Christian discussion forum stated, “Buddha and Jesus were both just philosophers who urged men to be selfless.”
Such easy parallels between Christ and Buddha are misleading and distort the teachings of Christ. Jesus walked on water, read people’s minds, healed the blind and lame, raised the dead, forgave people’s sins, claimed to be God, and rose and returned from the dead. Jesus was God, Buddha was not. However, those who don’t know their faith well can easily be attracted to this kind of thing. As the Dalai Lama once made clear, Buddhists do not believe in a God, and especially not a personal God.
Buddhism basic facts…
Origin: 500 BC in India (= fall of Jerusalem to Babylon; Persians conquer Egypt; Roman Republic founded)
Founder: Siddhartha Gautama. He was given the name Buddha (“the enlightened”) after his death.
God: None, although there is a spiritual structure given to the universe.
Principle: All desire leads to suffering, Karma as moral justice, kindness to all things.
Good vs. Evil: Good and evil are similar to Hinduism. They are not seen as a reality but rather as part of an antagonistic duality within the self that must be overcome through the emptying of that duality. This view of antagonistic duality also extends to success and failure, rich and poor, all opposites. The very distinguishing between opposing terms proves an underlying desire for one or the other, and thus that desire must go.
Judgment Day: There is no single judgment day in most Buddhist sects. Similar to Hinduism, there are multiple planes of existence from higher heavens to lower hells, with earth being just one of these planes of existence in between.
The multiple heavens and hells are usually temporary states until the individual is consigned to another rebirth. The goal is to escape suffering and attain nirvana, a condition beyond being or nonbeing.
The ultimate heaven is Nirvana = "enlightenment" – a blissful state of mind or being that one attains by escaping the cycle of rebirth through meditation and detachment from the material world and desires.
Nakara is “hell” but, again, not permanent – which makes it a kind of purgatory. You are born into it through karma. Though not eternal, it can last millions of years.
“Strictly speaking a Buddhist is not a believer, has no concept of God, so it’s difficult for such a person to try to explain the existence of God.” – Dalai Lama, dialogue with Lawrence Freeman, Jan 12, 2013 (Laurence Freeman is a Benedictine monk and Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM)).
Christian view of “desire”
Christianity sees desire not as evil, but something as something that can be both good or bad, depending on whether it is directed towards goodness and loving, or towards self-gratification and control over others.
The desire for God, for one’s spouse and family, for friendship, joy, helping others, and enjoying nature is not only good but granted by God. Humans can look at the night sky, the day sky, the trees, or a lake or stream and be overtaken by its beauty. We almost desire to be one with them (which will come in Heaven). We desire good for ourselves and others, happiness for ourselves and others, and immortality. All good.
Yet, it is not surprising that many other religions see this material world – and our human natures/desires – as bad, something to be overcome or eradicated – because they have been the source of so much selfishness and suffering.
Because God gave us the free will, we are also pulled by self-serving desires. This is why we are here – to learn how to manage our free will for good and for love. Yes, it is a higher calling. But He also gives us help, grace, and forgiveness-for-the-asking to continue growing spiritually.
Closing Prayer
Father in Heaven,
We thank you for the blessing of exploring other religious beliefs together.
We especially thank our Eastern religious brothers and sisters for their contribution to peace in the world
And we pray for their souls and for the Holy Spirit to walk with them.
Finally, we ask that your love and grace follow each of us as we return to our daily lives,
Refreshed and blessed by You.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed are thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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