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What Every Christian Should Understand About the Bible

While browsing through a website that someone had suggested to me, an article entitled "The most important thing Roman Catholics must understand!" caught my attention. It caught my attention because, aside from a few small errors, it was correct, and really did present some important points that not only Roman Catholics should understand, but all Christians should understand. I will now present this article, correcting its few errors, and emphasising its truths. The indented text is quoted directly from the article, while the normal text contains my comments.

The first two errors in this article are in its title. First: although this article does present some important points, it does not present "the most important thing" Catholics must understand. And second: the audience of this article in not just Roman Catholics but all Catholics. This would include Coptic Catholics, Ethiopian Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Maronite Catholics, Malankarese Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Chaldean Catholics, Syro-Malabarese Catholics, Albanian Catholics, Belarussian Catholics, Bulgarian Catholics, Croatian Catholics, Georgian Catholics, Greek Catholics, Hungarian Catholics, Italo-Albanian Catholics, Melkite Catholics, Romanian Catholics, Russian Catholics, Ruthenian Catholics, Slovackian Catholics, Serbian Catholics, Ukrainian Catholic, Ambrosian Catholics, Mozarabic Catholic, as well as Roman Catholics. All of these churches are united in doctrine and recognise the Pope as the Vicar of Christ.

First Point:

1. Catholics believe that the theocratic organization of the church determines what doctrine will be taught and practiced. The Bible is just one of many sources of religious authority. The truth is that the church itself has no authority at all, but gets all its directives from the Bible alone.

Catholics do believe that the theocratic organisation of the Church defines all Christian doctrines and practices (the word theocratic is defined as a system of governance with God as its head). There are not "many sources of religious authority" in the Catholic Church, but only one. This authority is the Church herself, which is referred to as Sacred Magisterium. The teaching of the Sacred Magisterium is found in two places: Sacred Scripture (i.e. the Bible), and Sacred Tradition. It should be understood that everything found in Sacred Scripture was at one time Sacred Tradition before being elevated as Sacred Scripture.

The real truth is that the Bible has no authority in itself, but derives all of its authority from the Catholic Church.

Second Point:

2. For a non-Catholic to charge the Roman Catholic church with false teaching is uncomprehendable, for to a Catholic, doctrine is defined by the Organization. It is like telling God, He is wrong. God is the standard of right and wrong! To a Catholic, the Roman Catholic organization is the earthly standard of right and wrong and doctrine. Yet the truth is that the Bible, not the church, is the ultimate standard on earth of right and wrong. Jesus said that our standard of judgment would be his word, not what the pope says. John 12:48

Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the divine organisation of the Catholic Church infallibly defines Christian doctrines. To say that this divine organisation is wrong is the to say that the Holy Spirit is wrong. God is the standard of right and wrong, and it is through the Sacred Magisterium of the Catholic Church that this standard is made known to mankind.

The real truth is that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church reveals the Word of Jesus Christ (Cf. John 14:15-18; John 14:26; John 16:13-15), which "is the ultimate standard on earth of right and wrong."

Comparison Table:

This table quite correctly sums up the differences in approach to the Bible between Catholics and most Protestants and Fundamentalists. The normal text in this table is quoted directly from the article, while the text in Italics contains my comments.

While this table does sum up the differences in approach to the Bible between Catholics and most Protestants and Fundamentalists, it does not argue which approach is the correct one. The main question is whether the New Testament Church is based on the New Testament Bible or whether the New Testament Bible is based on the New Testament Church. It is obvious that which ever came first is the basis of the other, as it would be impossible to base one thing on another that did not yet exist.

The following historical facts clearly demonstrate whether the New Testament Church or the New Testament Bible came first:

• The New Testament Church existed for around 20 years before the writing of the earliest fragments of the New Testament Bible.
• The New Testament Church existed for around 120 years before the concept of a New Testament Bible.
• The New Testament Church existed for around 350 years before our present catalogue of the New Testament Bible.
• The New Testament Church existed for around 385 years before our present catalogue of the New Testament Bible was universally accepted.

The real truth is that the Bible is based on the Catholic Church; therefore, only the Catholic Church can infallible interpret the Bible.

† Addition Note:

The idea that "anyone can understand the Bible, depending upon the time they spend trying" is the reason why there are more than 28,000 different Protestant and Fundamentalist Christian sects. Click here for more information.