'Jesus was not God': Priest sparks Catholic controversy [Excerpts]
Jesus Christ was not God, and Mary was not a virgin, according to a controversial new book written by an Australian Catholic priest.
In the booklet, ‘God is Big. Real Big’, which has gone on sale for $20 in several churches, Bathurst priest Peter Dresser argues Jesus could not have been God.
“This whole matter regarding Jesus being God ... not only does violence to my own intelligence, but must be a sticking point,” he says.
“For millions of people trying to make some kind of sense of the Christian religion ... No human being can ever be God, and Jesus was a human being. It is as simple as that.”
The booklet has angered conservative Catholics, such as Sydney priest Anthony Robbie.
“What a breathtaking know-all, to claim he knows the mind of Christ contrary to scripture and tradition. His words rob Christianity entirely of its meaning and purpose,” Father Robbie told News Ltd.
http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/29/Jesus_was_not_God_priest_sparks_Catholic_controversy
[TBC: The mix of “Scripture and Tradition” will always provide room for individuals such as Dresser. Unlike God's immutable laws, Catholicism's extrabiblical [“traditions”] legalities are arbitrary and variable yet carry eternally damning consequences. For example, eating meat on Friday was once a mortal sin; today, it's not. Formerly, a divorced Catholic who remarried was excommunicated; that's not the case today where changes in the laws seem to have been made in order to accommodate changes in our culture. While it is claimed that these are rules ordained by God, would our Lord make hell the penalty for generations of people, and then remove the penalty for a subsequent generation committing the same act? Not the God of the Bible. http://www.thebereancall.org/node/5800 .]
