" .. I felt as if a thunderbolt had
fallen upon me when I pronounced the awful oath which is required from every priest: 'I
will never interpret the Holy Scriptures except according to the unanimous consent of the
Holy Fathers.'"
"Many times .. I had discussed the nature of that strange oath; still more
often, in the silence of my meditations, alone in the presence of God, I had tried to
fathom the bottomless abyss which, it seemed to me, was dug under my feet by it, and every
time my conscience had shrunk in terror from its consequences. But I was not the only one
in the seminary who contemplated, with an anxious mind, its evidently blasphemous
nature."
"... And now we are gravely asked, in the name of the God of Truth, to swear
that we will interpret the Holy Scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of
those Holy Fathers, who have been unanimous but in one thing, which was never to agree
with each other, and sometimes not even with themselves."
Charles Chiniquy - Fifty
Years in the Church of Rome |
"Somebody ought to tell the truth about
the Bible. The preachers dare not, because they would be driven from their pulpits.
Professors in colleges dare not, because they would lose their salaries. Politicians dare
not. They would be defeated. Editors dare not. They would lose subscribers. Merchants dare
not, because they might lose customers. Men of fashion dare not, fearing that they would
lose caste. Even clerks dare not, because they might be discharged. And so I thought I
would do it myself . . . " Robert G. Ingersoll |
"Actually, the fact that we have four gospels
lies at the very heart of our problem. Because we read particular parables or sayings or
stories in several different versions, we can't miss the disagreements between them"
John Dominic Crossan (35 years of searching for the historical Jesus and former Catholic
priest) |
