Novenas & Novellas

Catholic

The Lord’s Prayer is Tradition, not Scripture

Interesting fact I’ve just learned: if you say The Lord’s Prayer, you’re not quoting Scripture — you’re quoting Tradition.

The prayer taught in Matthew 6:9-13 does not include the last two lines of what’s commonly accepted as The Lord’s Prayer today. The tradition of including those lines actually comes from Chapter 8 of the Didache, a first- or second-century document that is often acknowledged as the first written Christian catechism. The Didache is not itself Scriptural, but if you read it, you can see that is is derived directly from Gospel teachings.

You’re Reading a Man-Made Bible

Catholic

“Bible Christians” would do well to consider why everyday Jews often study Hebrew and everyday Muslims often study Arabic. (A hint: the reasons are similar.)

They would then do well to consider that the majority of modern European-based languages didn’t even exist in their current forms when Jesus walked the Earth. Including, but not limited to, English.

Put more bluntly: unless you’re reading the original texts in their original languages, you are by definition reading a manmade interpretation of Scripture. There is no such thing as a perfect translation between any two languages; all translators make choices.

This is, by the way, why Catholics (and some others) make such a Very Big Deal out of things like Apostolic Succession and teaching authority. We know we’re reading and learning from manmade interpretations. So we are extremely picky about whose interpretations we use.

The Pope: No Nukes, Period

Catholic Politics

Folks, let’s make something clear here:

It is quite literally Pope Leo XIV’s job to articulate Catholic teaching. If you’re not Catholic, then you are free to simply answer “noted” and move on. If you are Catholic, you should already know our rules on the matter — and in the United States, compliance with them is legally voluntary.

Catholics emphatically do not believe that our religious beliefs are a private part of who we are and how we live. Our understanding of “separation of Church and State” is that there is no official religion in the United States — i.e., we’re supposedly free to practice ours. See the First Amendment.