He Who Doesn't Approach the Kingdom of Heaven as a Little "It"...
Posted by: tony on 10/04/2006 02:31 PM
Updated by: tony on 10/04/2006 02:32 PM
|
Expires: 11/04/2006 12:00 AM
|
 In a post entitled The NAB Leans Pro Abortion?, Custos Fidei states:
Here it is, reason #666, on why the USCCB is a highly flawed institution filled with the (unholy) Spirit of Vatican II:
This past Sunday in the Novus Ordo US Lectionary (both a USCCB invention), the Bible verse used in the Gospel was the Gospel of St. Mark 9:35 (36)...
RSV (Catholic Edition)
And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them,
Douay-Rheims
And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them. Whom when he had embraced, he saith to them:
NAB
Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them,
Does anyone, especially Catholics, ever refer to a baby as an "it"?
The pro-abortion (ipso facto pro-choice) call unborn babies "it" in order to de-humanize them.
Yet another example of the undermining of our Catholic faith by none other than the USCCB and their 'version' of the Bible, the NAB.
LOL!!!
I don't like to laugh at Custos, I'm sure his heart is in the right place, but it really sucks when your whole vision of what is done in the Church is altered by "spirit of Vatican II colored glasses". You see a boogeyman in every closet.
I am blessed with a fabulous homilist as a pastor. Every week, we look at the Word of God through the eyes of the people who wrote it (through which all biblical exegesis needs to be seen).
Explained to us that the term "it" is used, because in Jesus' culture, children were less than human. They really didn't reach "human status" until they were about 12 or 13 and could go to work (were Bar/Bat Mitzvahed).
Until that time, if there was famine, and there was a choice on who to feed, the child or the parent, the parent ate first, and the child would starve to death. This really was a practical attitude at that time, and is exemplified in the instructions on board a plane: "In the event of a loss of cabin pressure, place the mask over your face first, then put the mask on your child's face" (you can't do any good if you pass out, and then your children pass out anfter you and you all die from lack of oxygen.)
There is also the original Greek.
Mark 9:36 "kai labwn paidion esthsen auto en mesw autwn kai enagkalisamenoV auto eipen autoiV"
Another neat resource is the Greek Bible.
autoV,rp {ow-tos'}
1) himself, herself, themselves, itself 2) he, she, it 3) the same [ed. - Gender is Neutral].
So it appears from this that "it" is the appropriate translation, and the other two translations are a little off. The other translations might be more poetic, but the NAB translation is the most accurate, both in the literal translation of the Greek, and the attitude of the value (or lack thereof) of children in Jesus' time.
This gives a whole new meaning to approaching the Kingdom of God as a little child. Jesus wasn't saying: "approach with wide-eyed innocent wonder" (as I had been taught in the past), but "approach as the lowest of the low in society".
Of course, I'm a new dabbler in Greek text, and biblical exegesis, so anyone who has more qualifications than I, feel free to correct me, give me your qualifications, and the links to any appropriate texts that refute my statement.
This isn't some liberal, "spirit of Vatican II" plot to promote abortion by dehumanizing children, in Jesus' time, they weren't human.
We, in our oh-so-wealthy society, can afford to view our helpless gifts from God in a more humanitarian light.
|
