"BIBLE ONLY" Is Wrong!

    Today, we discuss an interesting phenomenon in Christianity: the mistaken notion, outside the Catholic Church, that the ONLY way to understand God and Jesus Christ is the Bible.

    This idea arose out of the Protestant Reformation, and really gained steam in the late 19th and 20th Centuries, especially among the two Christian groups we often refer to as, "fundamentalist," and "independent."
Today, it has become the generally accepted, "modus operandi" among nearly all non-Catholic groups.
    But to be frank about it, this is fraught with error, and only proves that these, "Bible-only" folks don't really understand the Bible. They read it, but they know little of its background and they tend to select fragments from the Bible which they want to hear - and discard what they don't like. This practice is called, "cherry picking," of verses.
    Along with this error another idea has developed that only THESE PEOPLE can figure out what God wants. This notion, too, arose among Protestants a very long time after the Bible was created.
    Because they literally had nothing else to go on EXCEPT the Bible that preceded them, it became a way to set themselves apart from the Catholic Church. It's as if they believe God waited more than 1500 years for the men of the Protestant Reformation to re-interpret His wishes.
    This undoubtedly made them feel like they had come up with something innovative, even radical, to set themselves apart from the Catholic Church....which sounds more like the pride of human nature than anything divine.
    And it has now extended to the notion that each indivual can interpret the Bible as he deems correct. Out of this self-centered sense of competence also came the odd notion that Catholics don't read, or even, use the Bible.

    This is, of course, ludicrous. Attned one Catholic mass and you will be awash in the Bible.

    Catholics believe in the Bible as the Teaching Word of God. We believe that the Bible is a gift granted by God to humanity, through the Church.
    And if we are honest, all the other so-called, "denominations" had nothing at all to do with producing and making available the Bible – the Catholic Church did it...so She knows a thing or two about it.

    However, there is a distinct difference in how the Bible is viewed by Catholics and non-Catholics.

    Among non-Catholic sects, there is the conviction that the Bible is totality....that there is nothing else. This translates into the idea that whatever Bible one has in his hand is precisely as God intended it to be. Not just the thought comes from God, but every word, with every inflection, every fractional bit of verse and line, every tense of any verb, every number of the noun, and every little particle is regarded as literal, and "God-breathed."
    This is referred to as, "inerrancy."

    For Roman Catholics, the doctrine of inerrancy also exists, but it is understood in a broader sense. It comes as a consequence of biblical inspiration; it has to do more with the contextual truth of the Bible AS A WHOLE, rather than with any theory of fractional, verbal inerrancy.
Thus, the Bible is not wielded with the same sense of literalism as it is among non-Catholics.
    Vatican II says that, "the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation" (Dei Verbum 11).
    The obvious emphasis here is on the full context within the books – the works – of the Bible, and not on cherry-picked fragments plucked from a page. Even when Catholics quote a single passage, it is intended to be taken within the full context of the Bible section where it is found.
    What is important to Catholics is the qualification of "that truth,...for the sake of our salvation...." not to win arguments by flinging Bible verses around.

More Than The Bible
    Catholics regard the Bible as a gift from God and that many of the answers to the most basic questions in life may be found in the Bible.
    BUT,....there are things to know that are not in the Bible. Scripture itself initiates this concept, and it is expressley stated that way within the Bible.
    Catholics, therefore first understand that there also exists sacred Tradition handed down through the Church. In short, we know that God revealed Truth through sacred Tradition as well as through Scripture – yes, through both.

    In saying that, a great agitation will spring up among those who claim that Christians must believe only what is in the Bible and nothing else. However, that perilous claim is based in error, and contradicts the Bible itself.
    This is because Scripture offers a great deal of evidence for the existence of, and adherence to, sacred Tradition.
It accompanies Scripture; it is not something apart from it.
The two are literally as one; a marriage, if you like.  

     For example, John's gospel closes with the statement.... “but there are also many other things that Jesus did if, every one of them were written down I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
- John 21:20-25

    Clearly, this singular ending from the disciple most beloved of Christ tells us that the Bible does not contain all of God's Truth as revealed through Christ. Therefore, if you are going to say that you, "believe in the Bible," then you must also be ready to accept that fact. You cannot just leave it out because you dont want to hear it.
    In fact, we could comfortably end this discussion right there.
    But there is more to know, so we shall press on.

    Sacred Scripture also acknowledges the value of non-Bible traditions handed down by oral teaching - and by action - as much as by the Bible in Word.
    Saint Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Church: “...stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.”

- 2 Thessalonians 2:15

    Jesus, too, promised to continue speaking THROUGH His disciples, as well, “... whoever listens to you listens to me.”

- Luke 10:16

    After Christ's Resurrection and Ascension, the Apostles preached God's Word and others came to teach after them. The New Testament reports this mandate of Paul to Timothy:
“...and what you heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.”

- 2 Timothy 2:2

    So it obviously follows that sacred Tradition is Christ teaching the world through the Church's leaders, which he guides and directs, because Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to lead the church to truth...
"when the spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth."

- John 16:13

    So Protestants didn't invalidate sacred Tradition - they chose then, and now, to ignore it.

    And if we are to apply biblical principles to modern problems, such guidance is critical, too, lest we jump off into our own interpretation of things.
    For example, if you ask those who denounce sacred Tradition, "What is the pillar and bulwark of the Truth," robotically reply... “Well, uh, only the Bible, of course.” 

    But they are wrong – that is not what the Bible says!
    The Bible declares that the Church (which Christ founded with Peter and His Apostles)... “is the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

- 1 Timothy 3:15
   
    This does not mean whatever church came along down the line, 1500 or more years later. Christ meant the ONE Church which He began.

    Of course, The Church (with a capital "C"), came well before the Bible - that is a historical fact. There was NO Bible even available, as we think of it, for many centuries after Christ. Nonetheless, the fact that the Church flourished and grew in the faith of Christ proves that divine revelation WAS happening..., but it happened without the Bible!
    So it is the height of error (or ignorance) to say that all teaching can only be drawn from Scripture. That is just talking in circles.

    Why? Because the early Church would have had nothing to teach if that were the case.
    That is saying that hundreds of thousands, millions, of the Christian faithful lived and died over centuries for nothing ... because they didn't have the “book” you have to tell them what to do?
    How presumptuous is that?!

    And because there was no New Testament scripture, no Bible as we know it, the Church councils within the Catholic Church had to make decisions about which books should be accepted into the Bible.
    And the only way they could do that was by referencing the sacred Tradition that had come BEFORE the Bible. Without that, there would have been no way to determine which books belonged in the Bible in the first place.
    Quite frankly, without sacred Tradition, there would be no Bible. So Tradition is easily as important as the Bible.

Again, I reference 2 Thessalonians 2:15.

    But history provides another proof of the need for sacred Tradition.
    As briefly mentioned already, one of the key concepts taught by the Protestant heretics who abandoned the Church in the 16^th century is a notion usually referred to as, “scripture alone,” aka, “sola scriptura.”
    In case you don't know the term, this is the idea that God conveniently reveals His truth to each individual, without the need for sacred Tradition, or the Church - or essentially anyone but the reader to interpret and clarify what the Bible says.
    In short, each person has his own Bible, his own way of thinking, and he or she interprets the Scripture as they see fit – assuring THEMSELVES that they have it all figured out.
They then select people to reinfirce that interpretation, according to their own notions, and call them. "pastors," "ministers," etc.

    But history has shown that this cannot be the way God acts, for Christ said he would have but ONE Church, and all were to come to Him in that one fold. But here we are, with thousands of “denominations,” each with its own version of the Truth.
    You might as well say that Christ was lying, or didn't really mean what He said about ONE faith.
    Think about it.... if God guided each individual to the Truth in this way, then why do we have so many that think they know best what God intends, and that the others are wrong?
    Instead of a carnival of denominations, wouldn't everyone be led to believe the same Truth if God was guiding them this way?
    Jesus, in fact, NEVER promised that each person could find the Truth on his own, without the aid of the unifying Church which he initiated.
    Instead, Jesus did exactly what was needed – He established the foundation of His ONE teaching Church - the Catholic Church - and promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it.

    Catholics today believe what the first Christians believed about the Eucharist, and other essential doctrines, because they are guided by God's revelation in sacred Tradition, by Scripture, and by Christ's ONE Church... as a whole unified package,..., rather than by the whims of individual interpretation, by some “preacher,” or by the changing currents of a passing world.

    Finally, there is a BIG problem you must face if, "Bible only" is your modus operandi:

There exists no passage in the Bible which says that the Bible is the only source of divine revelation

    This means that anyone who claims that the only thing to believe is what we find in the Bible... is asking us to believe something that is not in the Bible!
    You want to talk about arguing in circles? There it is.

    In summary, sacred Tradition and the Bible are NOT in opposition. Most dogmas of The Church can be found explicitly in the Bible.
    And, all our Catholic beliefs are in harmony with the Bible.
Some, like the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary, were included, implicitly, in the Bible, but were also formed by Tradition from before there was a Bible. They are revealed more clearly by God to the Church through intense study under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
    Catholics, then, depend on BOTH the Bible, and on sacred Tradition... and we do this on the authority of the Bible itself!

References:

"A Catholic Guide To The Bible," by Fr. Oscar Lukefahr, C.M. All credit due the author.

Report on Sacred Scripture, Southern Baptist - Roman Catholic Conversation, September 10, 1999