More Misconceptions From The Jungle

Regarding the Word of God, Tim Rohr stated: 

The Word of God is not “a book.” The Word of God is the word “proclaimed.”

http://www.junglewatch.info/2015/10/where-we-got-bible.html#more

The Word of God is not only the word "proclaimed" but ALSO Sacred Scripture.  In short the Holy Bible is the word of God.  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

CCC 123  Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).

CCC 135  "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24).

CCC 140  The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God. 

 From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we can conclude that the jungle teaches a false doctrine when they preach that the Holy Bible, which contain the Old and New Testament books is not the Word of God.  Furthermore, the jungle teaches the following: 


Jesus never instructed anyone to read anything, nor did he ever instruct anyone to write anything (except for John in Revelation to describe the events he saw in heaven). If Jesus wanted us to follow a book he would have left us one. He didn’t. One can argue all day long that the bible is the Word of God, but nowhere does Jesus tell anyone to put his words in a book. 

Tim Rohr teaches that Jesus never instructed anyone to read or write anything.  This is false.  Christ has always challenged people if they have read the scriptures.  By scripture, Christ meant the Old Testament writings because the New Testament was not yet written.  According to the Holy Bible: 


Matthew 21:42  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

Furthermore, Christ breathed on the Apostles to open their eyes so they can understand the scriptures.  According to the Holy Bible: 

Luke 24:44-45  He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

Christ opened their minds so that they can understand the scriptures that was written about Him.  In the Old Testament, God had always commanded His people to read the Law and the Covenant.  In the New Testament, Christ did tell His Apostles to read the Old Testament Scriptures and He opened their minds so they can understand the scriptures better.  The fact that Sacred Scripture was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is evidence that God has commanded them to write His words down.

Furthermore, the Apostle Paul who had the Holy Spirit in him instructed Timothy to read the scriptures. The teachings and sayings of St. Paul comes from the Holy Spirit.  According to the Holy Bible:

1 Timothy 4:13  Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

Tim Rohr stated: "If Jesus wanted us to follow a book he would have left us one.

God did leave us a book.  The first books He left were the Old Testament writings, which they find to be inspired and were read in the synagogues.  In fact, Jesus Himself read from those books.  In the Old Testament, God gave the Law to Moses, and this book was called the "Word of God (See 2 Chronicles 34:14-21).  Later, He gave us the New Testament books, which was canonized by the Church.  God is the author of Sacred Scripture because everything in Sacred Scripture is "God breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16).  Again, bear in mind that whenever the Apostles spoke of "scripture" they were referring to the books of the Old Testament in the Septuagint Bible.  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

CCC 105   God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "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."

CCC 136   God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11). 

Tim Rohr stated:  One can argue all day long that the bible is the Word of God, but nowhere does Jesus tell anyone to put his words in a book. 

The Holy Bible tells us that there were things that Jesus did that were not written down (John 21:25), so how does Tim Rohr know that Christ never told His Apostles to write it down especially in light of the fact that He challenges the Pharisees and scribes whether they read the scriptures and the fact that He opened the mind of His Apostles to understand scripture?  Contrary to what Tim Rohr teaches, the Catholic Church does teach that the Holy Bible IS the word of God as shown in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Catholic Encyclopedia.  According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (the bold is mine): 

"The Bible not only contains the word of God; it is the word of God. The primary author is the Holy Ghost, or, as it is commonly expressed, the human authors wrote under the influence of Divine inspiration." It was declared by the Vatican Council (Sess. III, c. ii) that the sacred and canonical character of Scripture would not be sufficiently explained by saying that the books were composed by human diligence and then approved by the Church, or that they contained revelation without error. They are sacred and canonical "because, having been written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that have God for their author, and as such have been handed down to the Church". The inerrancy of the Bible follows as a consequence of this Divine authorship. Wherever the sacred writer makes a statement as his own, that statement is the word of God and infallibly true, whatever be the subject-matter of the statement.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02543a.htm

In summary, God wrote down His words in a book using human beings, and handed it down to His Church.  

According to Tim Rohr:  What came first, the Church or the Book? Since Jesus didn’t leave us a bible, how did the first 4 centuries of Christians get by without it?

The first 4 centuries of Christians were able to get by with the Old Testament writings, which they found inspired by God.  While it is true that the Bible  did not exist until the end of the fourth century, the Apostles of Christ DID use the writings of the Old Testament TOGETHER with what the Holy Spirit inspired them to teach.  Before the Church was born, written scripture was ALREADY in use to correct, teach, and train in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).   In fact, the Septuagint, which is the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament of the Bible was used by the Apostles and the Early Christians of the first 4 centuries.   
 
The one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church also teaches that the center of our faith is not ONLY on the Bible alone.  It is not ONLY on a book, but on a living Word who is a person. The Catholic Church teaches that the "Word of God" (the person) precedes and surpasses the Holy Bible.  The "Word of God" is a person and has a name.  His name is Jesus Christ.....the Word made flesh and dwelt among men.