"Individual interpretation of the Bible—the most sublime but also the most difficult Book ever penned—can never bring satisfaction, can never give infallible certainty, can never place a man in possession of that great objective body of truth which Our Blessed Lord taught, and which it is necessary to salvation that all should believe. The experience of many centuries proves it. It can not do so because it was never meant to do so. It produces not unity, but division; not peace, but strife. Only listening to those to whom Jesus Christ said, 'He that heareth you heareth Me,' only sinking his own fads and fancies and submitting with childlike confidence to those whom the Redeemer sent out to teach in His Name and with His authority—only this, I say, will satisfy a man, and give to his intellect repose, and to his soul a 'peace that surpasseth all understanding'. Then no longer will he be tormented with contentious disputings about this passage of the Bible and that, no longer racked and rent and 'tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine', changing with the changing years. He will, on the contrary, experience a joy and comfort and certainty that nothing can shake in being able to say, 'O my God, I believe whatever Thy Holy Catholic Church believes and teaches, because Thou hast revealed it Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.' God grant that many Bible-readers and Bible-lovers may obtain the grace to make this act of faith, and pass from an unreasoning subservience to a Book to reasonable obedience and submission to its maker and defender—the Catholic and Roman Church." -Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church
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God grant that many Bible-readers and Bible-lovers may obtain the grace to make this act of faith, and pass from an unreasoning subservience to a Book to reasonable obedience and submission to its maker and defender—the Catholic and Roman Church."
Here's irony for you...Monday, about 20 minutes from my residence, Gerry Matatics is going to lecture on how the current pope is a pretender and the current teachings of Rome are in error.
I wanted to comment on your recent post over at AOmin.
Your last line said, "Disunity is not the issue. Rather, the issue is whether God's Word or an alleged infallible interpreter is the ultimate authority."
This is a false 'either/or' premise which you built your whole post upon. It is like saying is it a 100% fuel efficient car that we need or a professional driver. There is no conflict here between car and driver, the car needs a driver otherwise it just sits there. Likewise the Scriptures need to be interpreted authoritatively (Acts 15; 16:4).
Your whole post failed to realize this distinction and you end up misrepresenting the Catholic position. We are not putting the Bible against the Interpreter and forcing you to pick one or the other.
The reason why Sola Scriptura causes disunity because it fails to do one thing - address the issue of interpretation. Disunity very much is the issue, and without an authoritative interpreter steps in there will still be disunity.
That Sungenis quote was saying unity doesnt depend on how many people are agreeing with an interpretation, and it especially doesnt mean that once someone disagrees there is all of the sudden disunity. Unity in the context of Christian doctrine depends on those claiming to be faithful followers of the Church adhering to the doctrines which the Church leadership (interpreters) proclaim.
In Catholicism the Magisterium (Pope and Bishops in communion) are the Interpreter, and anyone who accepts their teaching is in union with the Catholic Church. Anyone who calls them self Catholic but disagrees with the Magisterium is embracing heresy.
Protestants have semi-magisterial documents in the form of the Westminster Confession, London Baptist Confession, Book of Concord, etc. The problem is Protestants fail to realize the magisterial nature of these documents which issue their interpretations and condemn those opposing them. The various groups who adhere to those respective documents are each in their own pseudo-unity. The problem however is that none of those groups claims their own documents are free of all error (infallible) and thus these documents fail to rise above the level of opinion. You cant have people claiming to be in unity when the document is mere opinion because disagreement with an opinion is allowed. Yet, if a group claims their document's interpretation of Scripture is infallible (and thus must be adhered to under pain of heresy) they end up looking like the Catholic Church's Magisterium.
Funny, that same book convinced me of the folly of Sola Scriptura. For, indeed, it was the Catholic Church which made the Bible and defended it for over a thousand years before the first future Protestant was ever born.
Sincerely in Christ,
Hidden One
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