Knowing God Reason and Revelation Chapter 2 Knowing God Reason and Revelation

Objectives How can I know about God? How do we know what is true in the Bible?

Our Need for God We are by nature religious beings. We are made to live in spiritual union with God and our hearts yearn for him. “For you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” - Saint Augustine

How do we discover God? Reason and Revelation Use our natural gifts of observation and reason. Certain experiences allow us to realize that there is something far greater than just what we can see and touch. Reason tells us that something had to create the order of the world. Paul 1:20

Reason and Revelation Message of Creation + voice of conscience = existence of God This process is called natural revelation. Through natural revelation we can know the one true God from his works of the world and in the human person. Human reason alone is too limited to show us the existence of God. God revealing himself to us makes up for the limitations of human reasoning.

Reason and Revelation How do we come to know Jesus Christ? In Divine Revelation God makes himself and his divine plan known to the human race through words and deeds in human history. Ex: God revealing himself to the Chosen people, sending Jesus Christ Jesus was fully God and fully human. Jesus Christ is the fullest and complete Revelation of who God is, and through Christ, God established his covenant with the human race. How do we come to know Jesus Christ?

Homework Alert! Read Chapter 2 pages 22-30 There will be a reading comprehension quiz on Chapter 2 tomorrow in class. You will NOT be able to use your notebook or textbook.

Knowing Jesus Christ God has provided two ways for coming to know Jesus Christ: Sacred Tradition Sacred Scripture Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, after he physically left them. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles handed on everything they knew about Jesus to the first Christians. The passing on of the Good News of Jesus Christ is called Sacred Tradition.

Knowing Jesus Christ The Holy Spirit also inspired people in the early Church to create written documents explaining what the Apostles had handed down about Jesus. The Gospels were written with different faith perspectives on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s life and teaching. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the Gospels that are in our Bible today.

Knowing Jesus Christ The Church looks to God’s Revelation in Scripture and Tradition as the only authentic and complete source for our knowledge about God and God’s will for the whole human race. It is the responsibility of the Church to transmit to all generations what God has revealed. The official teaching office of the Church, or the Magisterium, consists of the successors of the Apostles: the bishops in union with the Pope.

Biblical Inspiration and Interpretation Catholicism and other religions differ over their interpretations of the Bible. All Christians recognize that God is the ultimate author of the Bible because the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors in their writing. Some Christians believe that every part of the Bible must be absolutely true, even geographically and scientifically.

Biblical Inspiration and Interpretation The Holy Spirit inspired the biblical authors to write what God wanted us to know for our salvation. Human creativity was still used when writing the Bible. Catholic understand that the Bible is without error in communicating what God wants us to know for salvation without having to be historically and scientifically correct. This is called biblical inerrancy.

Goals When Reading the Bible When we read the Bible, we must keep two important goals in mind: investigating what meaning the sacred writers really intended. Literacy forms Historical situation of the author Ways people spoke and acted in that culture finding and using tools of interpretation such as the senses of Scripture.

Senses of Scripture Literal Sense Spiritual Sense What the words of scripture actually mean. Spiritual Sense The meaning expressed by Scripture when we read it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Goes beyond the literal sense to consider what the events of Scripture signify and mean for salvation.

Spiritual Senses of Scripture Allegorical Sense Uses not only literal meaning but deeper, figurative meanings. Ex. Israelites crossing the Red Sea / Baptism Moral Sense The Church calls us to act on the instructions and encouragement we receive from Scripture to do good and act justly. Anagogical Sense We are led from considering scriptural events to considering events in our lives that are significant for our salvation.