No Christian would deny that all things necessary for salvation are to be found in the Bible; but that is not the same as saying that one’s own reading of the Bible should be the sole guide to religious truth. We are all sheep that have gone astray, and if we guide ourselves, we are liable, through the effects of Original Sin, to fall into the ditch. The texts we accept as Scripture are so because the early Church said they were, so even at this first stage, Tradition is important. Without it, there would no agreement on what Scripture was. The texts were addressed to Christians who were not converted by reading them, but who had been converted by the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of the first Apostles and their disciples; they were never intended to be systematic expositions of doctrine – or to be understood away from the common faith of the Church – hence St Paul’s exhortations to be faithful to the traditions, written and oral, of which he was the inheritor and evangelist. The Bible proves what the Church teaches, but was not used as a teaching tool by the early Church, and, left to itself, it cannot teach us – because by ourselves, we cannot fully understand it.
Our faith does not come from applying our reason to the critical study of the Bible, but by having apprehended, through the power of the Spirit, that it is God’s word; faith precedes our prayerful reading of Scripture. The Church cannot teach what is not in Scripture, but the individual cannot fully comprehend what is in Scripture solely by his or her own unaided efforts, and for the individual, who only knows what Scripture is through the tradition of the Church, to take onto him or herself the task of telling the Church they understand it better than they do, is a form of spiritual pride from which decency ought to cause us to shrink in horror; it is a sign of our fallen state that so many do not. By sharing in the life of a Christian community, by partaking of the sacraments and allowing the grace of God to sanctify us, we can expect to grow in our spiritual life and to better understand the Scriptures.
In understanding the Bible it is indispensable to have some knowledge of the tradition of the Church. The Church not only put the Bible before us (and pace Bosco, it forbade not the reading of Scripture, but the reading and individual interpretation of inaccurate texts, taking the view, which Bosco shows was right, that unaided, the individual would fall into grave error and spiritual pride), it prepares our minds to read it aright and to apprehend its truths. It arranges the doctrines to be found in the Bible for us, it distinguishes the inessentials from the essentials and, by the rich treasury of its interpretations, it helps expand our understanding of the word of God.
We are not the first Christians, and, unless He comes again soon, we shall not be the last. We can elect to proceed as no early Christian ever did – that is to read a book they did not have, decide we know what it means, and go our own way, confident in our personal infallibility; or we can do as they did – listen to Scripture in the body of the Church and grow in our understanding of it through the life of the Church.
Thank you for this insight. I am enjoying your page.
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Without it, there would no agreement on what Scripture was.
The Holy Ghost knows what books he wanted me to have….and he gave them to me.
” all things necessary for salvation ”
There is one thing needed for salvation, and that is to call on the Lord to reveal himself to you.
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No, he didn’t. You are telling us that before your new spirit you had no idea what books were in the Bible? Really?
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bEFOR MY NEW SPIRIT, I DIDNT KNOW WHAT BOOKS WERE IN THE BIBLE. I heard of genesis and exodus, but that was it. So what? The holy ghost gave mankind a reliable book.
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We were given it via the Church Bosco. You were not told the list, you got that from the Bible we all have – via the Church. Sad you don’t understand it.
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Remind me to thank the catholic church.
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That’s the sub-text of a lot of what I say to you 😏
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because by ourselves, we cannot fully understand it.
I believe it was Jesus who said that the Comforter will guide us in all things.
“Us” meaning the born again. The unsaved rely on men.
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You prove daily that you don’t understand the Bible.
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That’s because my brain was stolen. I didn’t notice it gone until I went to dry my ears after a bath. The towel went into one ear and came out the other side. That’s when I noticed someone had made off with my brain.
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It’s been missing for far longer 🙂
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I resemble that remark.
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The Church cannot teach what is not in Scripture
Um, pardon me…which church are you referring to? Thanks in advance.
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The one founded by Jesus – in there in St Matthew’s Gospel – perhaps missing from your Bosco-Bible?
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The Church cannot teach what is not in Scripture
Ive been told by you and others that the CC teaches all kinds of things not in the bible. And they are proud of that. That’s why I wanted to know what Church you meant.
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You miss the point – as always. The Bible does not tell us what liturgy ought to be practised, just that the bread and wine are HIs body and blood.
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Well, im not going to dwell on it. Suffice it to say that the CC teaches more things that are not in the bible than are in the bible. You know…saintology and Maryology, and toms more. You jokers even need canon lawyers to sift through canon catholic law. I get chills every time I think of the term Catholic Law. Brings up images of people screaming in pain.
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Since you owe the Bible to the Church, it is odd you think you understand it better than the Church.
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Whats there to understand? Everything is in black and white. Theres only a few things that need prior knowledge, like eye of needle and a few small things. I keep forgetting that the carnal man someone to tell him whats up, and then its another carnal person trying to help another carnal person. Blind leading blind…if you will. I went from not caring about the bible, to having it jump out at me like a major motion picture. The unsaved religious think that the guys in the fish hats have the answers.
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You constantly get it wrong – the full list would include most of your points.
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Hey Bosco, can you point to the book, chapter, and verse where it says everything I need to know is in the Bible?
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Speaking of Maryology, I cant wait to see how good brother Patrick denies scripture. Its most likely to be the same worn out things I always hear.
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I’d be surprised if he did that. Your understanding is so poor that you don’t get it.
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Good brother Phillip, off the top of my head, without checking, I think its Timothy 3;16. If im wrong ill correct it later. Im not in a frame of mind to do anything that takes thinking. My brain was stolen.
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This is obviously a very thorny issue between Protestants and Catholics. I like to distinguish between devotional reading and theological reading. In devotional reading the Spirit may direct our attention to a verse and cause it to speak into our personal circumstances. We would be wrong in many cases to try and extract universal rules from the sense imparted in such illuminations. The theologian on the other hand tries to do just that, to extract the “big picture” from the Scriptures. As for what is and is not Scripture – consider the case of a book like 1 Enoch. Read in a naïve fashion it could be dangerous, but that is not to say it has no value whatsoever.
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I don’t know if it does, really, Nicholas. It’s always seemed to me to depend on the definition of Catholic Church. Roman Catholics interpret that as their physical church, and I can understand their reasoning. Most of the rest of us interpret that as pretty much any church that holds to Nicea. The Pope gets a fair amount of deference, he is, after all, the senior bishop, and the last of the ancient patriarchs (although Alexandria could contest that, I suppose). But in the same way that Americans will group us in amongst the Anglo-Saxons because that is our political heritage, and how our reactions work, we often refer to ourselves as catholics, because that is our religious heritage.
Although, I suppose that may be more of an Anglican/Lutheran construct, that doesn’t work as well for others that deviated farther from our heritage.
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