16 Mar 2021 – Inspiration and the Truth of Sacred Scripture

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] My name is Terry Barber, and I'm excited to be able to spend this hour with Bishop Strickland to talk about how people can fall deep in love with Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.

[2] For those who are brand new on YouTube, I welcome you back to our YouTube channel, and I'd like you to like us if you can, and that way we'll get the word out to more people on that form.

[3] And what we do is we take the tweets of Bishop Strickland at the first half of the show and ask Bishop Strickland what was his point on these tweets and try to talk a little bit about how we can influence the culture as the Second Vatican Council says for us lay people and most of us listening are lay were to sanctify the temporal order and I think Bishop Strickland has been very much an advocate for empowering lay people to do just that.

[4] Bishop Strickland welcome again to another hour.

[5] Thanks, Terry.

[6] Thank you.

[7] And I just want to ask you on March 4th, you talked about Lent, where I think we're halfway through Lent right now as we have this broadcast.

[8] And you pointed out then that this Lent, let us offer prayers and acts of atonement.

[9] And I might add reparation for the grave sinfulness of our world.

[10] We are called not to curse the darkness, but to transform it into God's love.

[11] And you pointed out, out here that you said small acts of penance, I want to know what those are, small acts of penance of atonement for our sins are a powerful way of living in the love of Jesus.

[12] Can you give some examples, Bishop Strickland?

[13] Yeah, and it is just small things, but let's say you are in traffic and somebody's trying to get in and you're in a hurry.

[14] Yep.

[15] Just let them in.

[16] That's something simple.

[17] Maybe it's, you know, it's a little uncomfortable.

[18] You're a little cold.

[19] You're a little warm.

[20] And you just say, that's okay.

[21] I'm not going to try and change anything or change a thermostat.

[22] Just say, I'll just offer it up.

[23] Just a little thing.

[24] I think we're conditioned in our way.

[25] world with all the advertisements that I see and so much input, it's like, if you're uncomfortable, fix it.

[26] If you have a little pain in your side, take something.

[27] And instead, just make it a little sacrifice and reparation for your sins and the sins of the world.

[28] That idea of atonement and reparation.

[29] I think many of us do curse the darkness and we can feel overwhelmed by darkness and evil and the crazy headlines that we see and the silly things that people say in the news or what's happening that isn't silly but really is scary and devastating.

[30] We can get overwhelmed and instead of letting the darkness overwhelm us to simply tune our lives to making atonement, making reparation, because every sin is an offense against God.

[31] It offends our Lord.

[32] We know in just a couple of weeks during Holy Week, beginning with Passion Sunday, and then again on Good Friday, we'll really focus on that Passion Gospel, where the Lord of the universe talk about making atonement and reparation.

[33] He offered literally his body and blood, and divinity, his whole being, he poured out in reparation for the sins against the truth, the sins against his father.

[34] So we as his disciples, just like he tells us to take up our cross, we really need to enter into that idea of making reparation.

[35] Christ has done it for us, really.

[36] but there's a great spiritual benefit for us joining in in the small ways that we can.

[37] Bishop Strickland, you make me think of the little flower because she was big on that.

[38] She said, to pick up a pen for love can convert a soul.

[39] It is Jesus alone who can give such a value to our actions.

[40] She said, let us then love him, our Lord, with all our heart.

[41] And that refers to what Fulton Sheen used to say.

[42] every action is like a blank check if christ's name is on it it has infinite value and i think of praying a rosary for somebody praying a rosary for world peace our lady of fatima talks about that implementing the five first saturdays what a great idea our visits to the blessed sacrament all of these actions can be given to god and there's a you know eternal value and everything we do and i i was just telling the bishop off the air when i was a young man I want to say 14 or 15, they taught me that.

[43] I was taught about that and with schoolwork, with playing baseball, a reaction is like a blank check.

[44] I thought, wow, that means I can give it all to God.

[45] And I think that it's really like an illumination for anyone to realize that because now life is exciting.

[46] You know, I have a line, Father, or Bishop Strickland, I tell people that life without God is boring.

[47] And what do I mean by that?

[48] okay you get a job you get married okay you have a family okay then what you don't have anything then what at the end it's like well what did i do all that for there's got to be a supernatural outlook in life to make it exciting because it's very boring if you if me myself and i are the only ones that i'm I'm reminded of that old song that probably a lot of people have never heard, but is that all there is?

[49] Yeah, that's right.

[50] Is that all there is?

[51] And no, that's not all there is.

[52] This world is just a mere shadow of what awaits us if we follow God's plan.

[53] Yeah.

[54] That's what the message is.

[55] And that's what the world needs to hear.

[56] Because right now, and I'm just saying after this last year of COVID -19 and the scare.

[57] people who are so scared about dying of COVID -19, when I think about it, I go, man, if only we were scared about mortal sin like that, we would be really, you know, well -adjusted human beings.

[58] So, okay, let's move to your next tweet.

[59] It says on the fourth, you said, today's office of readings, which is the bravery that priests, bishops, and deacons, and a lot of lay people are praying.

[60] It's the official prayer of the church.

[61] St. Hillary, Bishop, reflecting on what fear of the Lord really means for us.

[62] He points out that scripture speaks of learning to fear the Lord.

[63] This signals that fear of the Lord is different from human terror.

[64] Fear of the Lord is deeper and full of.

[65] Here's the key.

[66] Explain it because I think that people don't understand.

[67] Why should I fear God?

[68] Well, let's talk about that.

[69] Well, I think St. Hillary made a great point that we don't have to learn how to be afraid.

[70] A little kid is naturally afraid of a lot of things and older people.

[71] I mean, we don't have to learn that.

[72] But I think when St. Hillary points out that the Word of God says, learn to fear the Lord, it reminds us, it really is a spiritual stance where we simply know who God is.

[73] It's fear, not in the sense of being terrible.

[74] terrified, but really of being in awe of the power.

[75] God is all powerful.

[76] God is timeless.

[77] God is infinite.

[78] That's what fear of the Lord is getting at to be, you might say in other language, to be deeply aware of the Lord, to have, when we can't understand God, really, in our human frailty, God's beyond us, but fear of the Lord is about knowing that God is beyond us.

[79] And embracing that, really, to me, it ties in Terry with what you were saying earlier.

[80] Knowing God is wondrous joy and truth.

[81] God is infinite love, infinite goodness, infinite beauty, infinite, all the things that we can point to, that we just have a shadow of the goodness.

[82] The most beautiful scene in nature is only a shadow of the beauty of God.

[83] And so when we have that awe, that fear of the Lord in that sense, then life becomes a great adventure, a great celebration of look at little me and little you in every person, but we have that spark.

[84] of the divine life of God in us, and he wants us.

[85] He longs for us to share everlasting life with him.

[86] It's something I'm sure all of us reflect on, but it's amazing how in human nature we resist the call of God so much.

[87] I do.

[88] I'm a sinner.

[89] All of us do.

[90] Some resist it in an extreme ways and denies God's even existence.

[91] But all of us, to one degree or another, resist God.

[92] It's just a quirk of how God has made us.

[93] And part of the mystery is growing wise enough, learning the fear of the Lord deeply enough, the awe of the Lord, you could say, that we begin to see the wonder of who God is and his wondrous love for each of us.

[94] Well said.

[95] Well said.

[96] And you know, Bishop Strickland, I like your tweets that you use the scriptures, which you do all the time, because this is what's going to give people hope in God's word.

[97] I love your, I call it a world biblical view.

[98] Everything is done because of revelation that we know that God loves us and that if God stopped thinking about us, we would cease to exist.

[99] When we really believe that life does change, because now we're not living for ourselves, we're living for God.

[100] When we come back, get your Bible's open.

[101] It's going to be 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 25.

[102] It's a quote that we've often used because it is a beautiful quote.

[103] This might be the quote you look at each day, one biblical view every day.

[104] What a great idea.

[105] I think we'll come right back with the bishop's power after a quick break on Burton's Coast Powerful Radio.

[106] Welcome back to the bishop's section hour.

[107] We're going for this to script this tweet.

[108] And we're on this next one that's from the Bible, the first Corinthians chapter 1, verse 125.

[109] And the quote is, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.

[110] That's for sure.

[111] And the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

[112] I think that's a good thing to think about that we are not God.

[113] as much as our culture thinks they want to play God.

[114] Go ahead, Bishop.

[115] Well, playing God is probably our biggest problem.

[116] I agree.

[117] You know, we're in a time where the readings are different if you have people in the Christian initiation process.

[118] But the readings that I had from Cycle B last Sunday had the Ten Commandments.

[119] And the First Commandment, as I shared with the people, I believe that's the really where it all starts, obviously, with the first one, that shall not have strange gods before me. And that's our problem in the world.

[120] Money is a God, power is a God, pleasure is a God.

[121] There's a long list of variations of that that.

[122] People really treat as their God, as their purpose for living, as the center of everything they're about.

[123] Many people in various walks of life, certainly politicians, but also business people, they want to amass wealth, but really the hunger for power is a huge addiction that people have.

[124] And that really becomes their God.

[125] God should, like we were saying earlier, and what the Saints model for us is God in his will motivating everything we do, even something as simple as picking up a pencil.

[126] But for people that have substituted the true God for something else, wealth, power, money, you know, pleasure.

[127] then every little thing they do is about making more money or about gaining more power or getting more pleasure, just hedonism.

[128] So really the root of it is, and kind of with your question and talking about the tweet, we begin to act as if we're God and we're in control and we're in charge of everything.

[129] That's probably one of the good side effects of this COVID year.

[130] It's reminded the atheist or the devout Catholic, devout Christian.

[131] It's reminded all of us whether we like it or not, whether we think it's logical or agree, we're not in charge.

[132] we don't have as much control as we thought we had we like to think we can control everything and there's so much we do control just in modern life um we flip a switch and the lights come on we turn a dial and it gets cooler or warmer um and this year has reminded us sometimes in very drastic ways that we don't have as much control as we thought god is in control thank goodness well said to that Bishop Strickland I don't think we can ever do a show without talking about the little ones the babies in the mother's wombs that our country and our culture have forgotten you said this in a tweet by majority vote the abortion culture is sweeping the globe but the truth of Jesus Christ is everlasting he is the Lord of life and when we destroy the lives of the unborn children, we ignore him and put our eternal souls in danger.

[133] Loving the unborn is the path to a life for all.

[134] There you go again, hitting the drum.

[135] Bishop Strickland, I just want to thank you.

[136] I appreciate you talking about that because, you know, I'm just going to, before I let you give your answer, I was at the gas station, and we, you know, I'm a friendly guy, so I get into conversations with everybody.

[137] And the guy was talking to was an African -American guy about 40 years old.

[138] And as you probably know, Bishop, abortion kills more black babies and Hispanic babies than all the white babies.

[139] I mean, this is a racist thing.

[140] And so I brought that up to him just because of the conversation.

[141] And he said to me, oh, we're always going to have abortion.

[142] You can't stop it.

[143] It's just going to happen.

[144] so obviously I didn't agree with him but you see that said so what it's just you know abortion what are they and I tried to share with them but those are human beings and you're telling me that you're just going to discard them and it was like yeah so what so your tweet today regarding you know the majority of people say it's just sweep it under the okay no problem um how do you do we light that fire to people to realize that all life is sacred?

[145] Well, if I had the real answer to that, Terry, I would, it would be amazing.

[146] But really, I do think that all of the, and that's what I tried to get at in that tweet, all the threats to life trace back to the basic.

[147] disrespect for life that abortion symbolizes.

[148] If we don't respect the weakest neighbor, the most powerless neighbor, then we're not going to respect anyone.

[149] And in the tragedies that happen to children, to teenagers, to young adults, to elderly people, to disabled people, to anyone who doesn't have the power.

[150] I mean, what power does an unborn child have?

[151] None.

[152] And what do we see happen to people, whatever their age, that find themselves powerless?

[153] I mean, the things going on at the Texas border, I haven't heard much about California or Arizona, but the Texas border, from what I've seen, is a tragedy.

[154] And there are people suffering and lives being threatened and people taking advantage of that because the ones without power are going to be harmed sadly in a world where the the power structure is so lopsided we Christ says all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him but many people operate as if They've grabbed all the power.

[155] And the way the world operates, they can, for a time, they can exercise that power.

[156] One thing that people of faith, we always need to remember, any power in this world is really very temporary.

[157] In comparison to the all -powerful God, yes, an evil person, sadly, can change.

[158] choose evil and they can exercise a lot of power that does a lot of harm.

[159] But the greatest power, like the scriptures say, is to destroy the soul for everlasting death.

[160] So that's what we need to speak against most powerfully is those things that threaten the moral fabric of people's lives.

[161] The human body can be eliminated fairly easily.

[162] We're pretty fragile, really, and it doesn't take that much power to eliminate a whole lot of people, but we really have to guard against those threats in our society today where people use power to really threaten the spiritual life and to threaten people's everlasting salvation.

[163] And so we really, I mean, I've wondered a long way from, you know, talking about unborn children, but I think it's, we always have to realize it's a power struggle in many ways.

[164] Yeah.

[165] And I feel obligated to speak up for the little ones who have zero power.

[166] They are extremely weak and fragile, really.

[167] I agree.

[168] And it kind of ties into your next tweet about the beauty of reverence.

[169] Human beings, the Eucharist, the reverence, these things.

[170] You said, we must seek profound reverence for God's presence in his house and in each of us.

[171] I love it.

[172] This article from Crisis Magazine, you recommend, is going in the right direction, titled The Beauty of Reverence.

[173] and I like that you would talk about that because you also talk about the Unborn but you're always talking about the Eucharist too I've noticed that about you it's one of the reasons I like you also our Blessed Mother I'm just saying the angels all these things that are just supernatural thank you because that's what I'm expecting out of my bishop or a bishop to talk about not you know things that about the World Series I don't care I want to get to heaven So my question to you is, why are you calling us to have the reverence for God's presence in the house?

[174] I assume you're talking about the Eucharist, but also reverence for each of us as being, you know, baptized, we're in the image and likeness of God.

[175] You think that, I personally think that if we understood what you just said, Bolton Sheen said, you know, a lack of when we don't understand what sin is, we're turning to verse.

[176] violence.

[177] So your comment about reverence for God and reverence for each of us, I imagine that would also stop a lot of the violence that's going on in the world today.

[178] Absolutely.

[179] We've talked about it before.

[180] We are vessels of the Holy Spirit.

[181] And if you, if we all just, even many of, I mean, I'm a sinner and as a believing man, I can forget that.

[182] When faced with a, an individual that's aggravating me or that I totally disagree with or that's saying something blasphemous, we can all forget that's, if it's a human being, it's a vessel of the Holy Spirit.

[183] And we believe that through the sacraments, that presence is unlocked in a sense and the grace allows us to really live as that presence of God.

[184] And it really is a, tragedy to see the lack of reverence for human life across the board.

[185] It's not just the unborn, but in so many different dimensions of the human journey, people are not reverenced.

[186] When we come back, Strickland, I want to tell a story about a priest who burst into tears during Mass. And the reason he burst into tears because of the lack of reverence for the Eucharist, and he just had enough of it.

[187] And to me, this story, when I share with you this story, I think it should give all of us inspiration in regards to having our own reverence for the blessed sacrament.

[188] And then we're going to get into the Catechism Paragraph 105 titled Inspiration and the Truth of Sacred Scripture.

[189] Then you're going to find out today to reaffirm your understanding of what the Catholic Church teaches about scripture.

[190] This is not Bishop Strickland's idea.

[191] This is the official church teachings We'll be right back with that story about the priest who burst into tears during Mass. Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[192] My name is Terry Bark.

[193] I want to recommend that you take an article from Church Pop.

[194] Priest burst into tears during mass over the lack of reverence for the Eucharist, and it went viral.

[195] And Bishop Strickland, this is a priest in Colombia.

[196] It's out in South America.

[197] You can watch the video, and he just, he was.

[198] was copiously weeping and said to the people, hey, we need to have reverence for who we're receiving.

[199] His life says, we're unaware of who he is when we receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

[200] And Bishop Strickland, I don't believe that this is just limited to South America.

[201] I think especially in America, at least I've seen it up and down the country for 40 years.

[202] And excuse me, but Bishop Strickland, I recorded a three -hour interview with Abbott Boniface, and he was one of the fathers of Vatican II, before, during, and after, he was friends with Bungini, at least at the beginning, but not at the end.

[203] And I asked him that question, was things like communion in the hand, standing for communion, was that part of Vatican II?

[204] And he said, no, we never had any intention of any of that taking place.

[205] Now, I wasn't there.

[206] I was a little boy when Vatican II was going on, and so were you.

[207] But this priest was so moved by the lack of reverence that he just weeped.

[208] And I think he made a strong statement to all of us.

[209] Would you agree that this priest was spot on in the sense of calling people to a greater love for who Jesus Christ is in the Holy Eucharist?

[210] Absolutely.

[211] That is probably one of the key issues in the liturgy and in the life of the church now.

[212] is to really call people, as the priest said, to simply know who you're receiving, to know who you're in the presence of.

[213] We were talking about fear of the Lord.

[214] Right.

[215] We need a dose of that for all of us.

[216] And really, Terry, I can testify personally that I've always had a reverence, I've always had the belief in the real presence.

[217] presence.

[218] But that is deepened in my life.

[219] And the way I celebrate Mass, the way I approach the church even is, and as a bishop, I have a responsibility to model that reverence the way it should be.

[220] But it's very personal to me. I'm blessed as a bishop to have a small, it's just a corner of the room, basically, but I have a small chapel set up with the blessing.

[221] sacrament.

[222] And I genuflect basically every time I pass by.

[223] And in a small house, that happens pretty often.

[224] But that, to me, if I'm going to allow myself to have that privilege of the presence of the Lord there in a small tabernacle right there in my home chapel, then I need to genuflect when I pass through pass in front of his presence and just to remind myself and that's what we all need to do I I've really tried to emphasize that in my work as bishop of the diocese and thankfully a lot of people I think there is a hunger for that reverence it all ties together what we were talking about awe and fear of the Lord to remember in the great mystery that the Eucharist is and it takes faith and it takes focus for us as busy human beings.

[225] We need to slow down and we need to really, as we're approaching the church, I would encourage parents and individuals to just really get in the habit of as you're approaching the church to really remind yourself, you're approaching the temple.

[226] of the Lord, you're approaching a place where the Lord of the universe is physically present in the form of consecrated bread.

[227] All of us need to fan those flames of love and reverence for his presence.

[228] And that's one thing that's beautiful about adoration of his presence in the adoration of the blessed sacrament.

[229] It's not an it that we are adoring.

[230] It's a who, Who.

[231] Amen.

[232] It's Jesus Christ present.

[233] And we need to, I mean, humanly, it is a challenge because it still looks like a piece of bread, a host, but with faith and with real focus and slowing ourselves down and reminding ourselves using our God -given abilities to focus and to reflect and using that to really be in awe and pay attention it can be truly life -changing for people and not to and really I read something recently that the greatest reverence is to turn from sin to do our best none of us can ever be worthy but we are obligated to be constantly working to be as worthy as possible, to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as worthily as we possibly can.

[234] And if we really start paying attention to that, then we're going to frequently get to confession, frequently make an act of contrition, even on a daily basis.

[235] And we're not to be dragged down by the fact that we're sinners, but to admit the truth so that we can be freed from the burden of our sins.

[236] That's why Christ died.

[237] That's why we have his Eucharistic presence to remind us that his promise is real.

[238] He's with us until the end of the age.

[239] And we just need to talk about that more, teach our children that, remind ourselves, and model that for people.

[240] And I've encouraged families that are troubled sometimes by.

[241] the lack of reverence.

[242] And like this priest that burst into tears.

[243] I wouldn't say I've ever burst into tears, but I've gotten emotional about trying to call people to deeper reverence and recognizing that they really seem to have no idea what they're doing.

[244] And we have to take that as a mission for all of us as Catholics.

[245] That's why.

[246] one of the defining realities of being Catholic.

[247] And that's why it's such a controversy that people that deny the faith and then receive the body of Christ, we've talked about that before, not just for politicians.

[248] I mean, they're in the news, but for anyone.

[249] Amen.

[250] Who is not living a life in communion in relationship with Jesus Christ, then how can we really live how can we receive him if we're not in communion with him in the way we live again acknowledging that none of us can ever if we claim to be worthy we're really off track yeah we have to receive in humility but to know he has chosen to share it with us to share himself with us so that we can truly live Bishop Strickland you remind me of our pastor when he came to our parish, I won't say where, because it's embarrassing.

[251] But at this particular parish I was at, the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist didn't realize this particular one that there was a difference between consecrated hosts and unconsecrated hosts.

[252] So when they needed more hosts to give out at Holy Communion, she went in to the safe and to the refrigerator, got the unconsecrated hosts, and took them out to give out his holy communion.

[253] but the pastor caught the young woman and said no no no that's you need a little teaching he actually helped us get going with perpetual eucharistic adoration and over a thousand families signed up for adoration and today that church still has adoration but i'm only bringing this up because it was such a a challenge and i think st paul the sixth and right after the second vatican council in 1965 wrote a document called Mysterium Fide.

[254] And he really made it clear what we believe about the appearance of bread and wine.

[255] It is actually Jesus Christ.

[256] And I think anybody who wants to read that or go to your catechism under the section on the Eucharist, you'll really understand.

[257] But we need to be able to practice what we teach here.

[258] And a lot of people, especially young people, hasn't had the education and the faith to know.

[259] And that's why what you just said in the last few minutes is just gold to a lot of our listeners.

[260] So thank you for that.

[261] All right, Bishop Strickland, I'm opening up my catechism to paragraph 105.

[262] We'll just get that started.

[263] It talks about the inspiration and the truth of sacred scripture.

[264] Paragraph 105 says God is the author of sacred scripture.

[265] I hope so.

[266] Boy, the divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in the text of sacred scripture have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

[267] So the Catholic Church is teaching us that we really believe this is God's word.

[268] This is not like any other book ever published.

[269] So Bishop Strickland, I'm going to, I know we just have a minute or two before the break, but how clear, I mean, isn't that just beautiful the way the church just says that God is the author of the sacred scriptures?

[270] Absolutely.

[271] and it does need to be emphasized because there are many questions about that and many people who really don't see the Bible as the sacred word of God, but that's part of the deposit of faith that the church clings to.

[272] And if you look at old and New Testament, all of that which has been included in sacred scripture is God's the author.

[273] Certainly, he used human authors to actually have it written down.

[274] And, you know, there's been the scripture study of understanding the culture that it took place in and all.

[275] That can help us to get to the message that God is sharing with us, because especially in the Old Testament, a lot of that is so foreign to us.

[276] If we don't understand the cultural context to some degree, it really is hard for us to make sense.

[277] It's hard for us to get the message of what God is saying.

[278] Other parts of even the Old Testament are really very clear.

[279] And I think that it was, I forget who, but the basic quote is that it's not the part of Scripture that I don't understand.

[280] It's the part that I do understand.

[281] I think it was Will Rogers.

[282] It was Will Rogers who said, that's the part I don't like.

[283] Yeah, the tough part.

[284] Yeah, I love it.

[285] We're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on the Virgin Most Power We're talking about the Bible.

[286] We'll be right now.

[287] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[288] We're reading right out of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[289] And I think it's really important that we're doing this in this time of our church's history because of the lack of catechesis that's gone on in my own lifetime.

[290] and I think Bishop Strickland would agree, and there's a great need to educate the flock and the truths of the faith.

[291] And so what we're covering right now is inspiration and the truth of the sacred scriptures.

[292] Or paragraph 105, the second paragraph says, For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and they've been handed on as such to the church herself.

[293] That's beautifully stated.

[294] Absolutely.

[295] And we were talking earlier about not making ourselves God.

[296] Yeah.

[297] And the word of God is a great way to keep ourselves in place and to know we are creatures.

[298] that's what God is revealed to us.

[299] That's what's recorded in scripture, going back to the book of Genesis.

[300] And we really need to recognize how important that is.

[301] I think there's a tendency in the sort of tolerance and the, you know, kind of go along and get along world that we live in.

[302] to just say, well, if you want to not believe in God, it's okay.

[303] And if you want to just think the Bible is a book of myths, it's okay.

[304] That's your opinion.

[305] But to be too glib about that, to just say, well, that's what they think.

[306] And certainly, God has given us all free will.

[307] But part of that responsibility of having free will is that we're called to know the truth.

[308] and there's a natural hunger in the I mean look at little kids they want to know stuff they want to know how it works I mean I remember when I was a kid I was bad about taking things apart because I always wanted to see how it worked I did a lot of times I couldn't get it back together yeah you know but there's a natural need there that I think ultimately is a answered by recognizing that we are created by an all -powerful, loving God.

[309] And that's how things work.

[310] That's how the universe is put together.

[311] It really is devastating to the human person created in the image and likeness of God when individually or collectively, when we begin to deny God, Because what we don't realize is we're denying ourselves.

[312] We're denying what life really means.

[313] And the Word of God is a great way to counteract that tendency we have to wander from God.

[314] Well, said Bishop Strickland.

[315] Now, paragraph 106, you've mentioned already, that God inspired the human authors of the sacred books to compose the sacred books.

[316] God chose certain men who all the while he employed them in this task made full use of their own faculties and powers so that though he acted in them and by them it was as true authors that they could go sign to writing whenever he wanted written and know more.

[317] Before you answer that question I just want to remind everybody this is something that crossed my mind by Dr. Hahn.

[318] He did a series, Can You Trust the Bible?

[319] And it's a course that he taught at Steubenville.

[320] I have it on audio CD from St. Joe's, but I can download it for anyone who wants that if they call the number 877 -526215 when it's about a 14 -hour course.

[321] But I guarantee you, after you hear Dr. Hahn talk on that, you'll have a very good understanding of what the church teaches about scripture.

[322] So Bishop Strickland, paragraph 106, talks about how God used a human element also in this.

[323] Yes, certain people that spoke certain languages lived in a certain time and culture.

[324] That, what occurs to me as we're talking about this, Terry, is it really enhances the beauty and the gift that Jesus is.

[325] because we know he is the word as St. John's Gospel beautifully speaks.

[326] He is the eternal word become incarnate.

[327] And what occurs to me in this paragraph talking about real human authors that these men that wrote various books of the scriptures, whether it's Paul's letters in the New Testament, or Exodus, Genesis, that Christ became one of us, the word.

[328] So to me, it's just sort of, it's a beautiful reflection to look at the reality that as we read sacred scripture, we're reading, you could say sort of symbolically, it's like you're reading the DNA code of Jesus Christ.

[329] because he is the word incarnate.

[330] He walked among us, but the very essence of his existence is truth.

[331] And that's what the scriptures capture.

[332] So it's an interplay between, I mean, in that context, isn't it marvelous to reflect on those gospel passages where the incarnate word takes up the word like the scroll of Isaiah and reads it to the assembly gathered there in the synagogue.

[333] That is just sort of mind -blowing, if you really think about, the eternal word is standing there as an incarnate human being.

[334] Wow.

[335] A man of, let's say, at some point, he was 31 years old, just getting into his public ministry of three years, and he's standing there, reading himself to the people.

[336] It's just, to me, all of that reflection just enhances the great gift that the word of God is.

[337] And the gift that God's son is, he's the fullness of revelation.

[338] And that's a point, I think, that is very important in our time to, and it goes back to relating to the Eucharist also.

[339] Like I said, it's a presence of a person.

[340] Yeah.

[341] It's a presence of a being and not just an inanimate thing.

[342] It's not an object.

[343] It's a person.

[344] And the Word of God can help us get in touch with the incarnate Word of God and vice versa.

[345] Bishop Stricken, there's one sentence that just says it all for me in paragraph 107, the beginning of the paragraph.

[346] the inspired books teach the truth and you know remember pilot says what is truth we know what truth is it's jesus christ and the world right now is just going all over the place right now about my truth your truth my reality and we have it right here the church teaches the bible these inspired books teach the truth now go on bishop because i'm going to let you i got excited with that statement that that says it all well it does um and the truth sets us free man without the truth we are enslaved in in every way we can imagine enslaved in sin enslaved in death because death becomes the very end of us without the truth um and once again jesus is truth incarnate So the truth is a living presence that Jesus is with us.

[347] He walked among us, and now he is with us in the life of the church, in the Word of God, in each of us.

[348] And I think we all need to remember the truth that Scripture offers us.

[349] And just in the fact that it's written.

[350] down.

[351] We talk about that all the time, in business or even in the church.

[352] Get it in writing.

[353] Right.

[354] If it's in writing, it's captured.

[355] It's something we can rely on.

[356] The scriptures are the word of God in writing.

[357] We have it in writing.

[358] The truth is written down.

[359] And that doesn't, I mean, as the scriptures themselves say, they don't contain all the truth of God.

[360] But what the church is always taught is God has revealed to us what we need to know for our salvation.

[361] And I think that's a key point for our modern world because we want to know everything.

[362] And people get frustrated that, I mean, there are many things that we deal with in modern society that Jesus Christ didn't directly address.

[363] But as the truth, He does address everything.

[364] We have to look into the scriptures and look into what he's revealed to us to know how we're called to live in the 21st century, but we need to really embrace that fullness of truth that challenges us, but also sets us free.

[365] It seems to me, Bishop Strickland, if we don't have this world, biblical view of life, we seem to worship ourselves and I'm seeing that right now by saying I have my rights Bishop Strickland if I want to be a girl now I can be a girl what you know common sense ain't that common my point to you is without God in your life they're all over the place but it's all about me if you notice all of these or you know groups that are popping up and saying these crazy things I mean even in California we have a law coming in now that says if you're a retailer in selling clothes, you can't have a separate section for the boys or a separate section for the girls.

[366] I mean, come on, Bishop Strickland.

[367] I'm going to use our president's line.

[368] Come on.

[369] What are you thinking?

[370] I mean, how else can you come up with that unless you, I mean, if we know who God is, that's going to be our answer.

[371] But we don't, obviously.

[372] Bishop Strickland, we're down to a minute.

[373] Do you mind giving us your blessing to our our listeners, please.

[374] The Lord be with you.

[375] And with thy spirit.

[376] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for Terry Barbara and all at the radio station and all who are listening and all who may watch the podcast that they may rejoice in the truth and be set free in the love of our God.

[377] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[378] Amen.

[379] Thank you very much, Bishop Strickland.

[380] and I want to remind everybody to go to the website the Bishop Strickland's from Tyler, Texas, and it's a small diocese in the east part of that big state of Texas.

[381] And also, for those who'd like to support Virgin Most Powerful Radio, become a monthly donor, we'll get you all kinds of downloads for free.

[382] Yeah, not really.

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[386] And may God richly bless you and your family and check us out for all the podcasts of the Bishop's Wrecking now.

[387] God love you.