Is this a contradiction?

Question

I have had many non-Catholics tell me to read teh Bible for myself, without the priest or pope telling me what it means. Do these same people listen to preachers and evangelists who tell them what the Bible means?

Answer 1

Yes they do--In a sense they all become their own little Pope except they do not have a Divine promise that their revelations are real.

Answer 2

I am not a Catholic, & when I do listern to what a preacher or Evangelist say, I always match it up with the word of God, If it don't, I am gone from that place, & the only thing that can really tell us what the scriptures says is the Holy Ghost, Therefore it a True Preacher Has the Holy Ghost & I have the Holy Ghost, then both of us will line up with the scriptures, God will not deny his own word, Therefore I also take my bible & see what is being preached is lining up with the Bible.

Answer 3

if you read it with an open mind God may help you and if you have trouble with some bits you can ask a preacher. but even going to church every Sunday there are bits that are not read or explained if you wont help understanding the bible you need to go to regular bible study or start a house group and invite several preachers. Good luck the new testament is written simple for a child to understand but much of the old testament although truth is also symbolic.

Answer 4

I very well could be wrong so I am sorry if I am but Catholic religion dictates that the mere perisher is not smart enough to understand the Bible and that a priest must translate the "true" meaning for the church people. And other religions believe that the leader of the church is there to help and not dictate. Therefore they offer their opinion as you study the Word yourself.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

This is the whole reason I go to a Uniterian/Universalist Church. Although this church has been criticized for not being "Bible believing," I believe that's a misunderstanding as to our approach to religion and spirituality.

The role of the UU is to give SPIRITUAL SUPPORT rather than scrutenize and judge what you believe. That's really the true function of church!

Notice something interesting about the "figurative vs. literal" argument. It's always a segway into someone pushing a given spin or interpretation on you. The book has basic points that hold true EITHER WAY. Be it in the metaphor or material truth.

Answer 6

We are intelligent beings. You don't need a priest, pope, preacher or evangelist to tell you what the Bible means. You can ask these people what they believe it means, but in the end, it's just their opinion. If you are confused, then pray and ask God to reveal it to you. Yes, I go to church and listen to the preacher, but in my church- a southern Baptist, at the beginning of the sermon, we open our Bibles and read the verses together. He tells us to read it ourselves. He gives us his opinion. We can disagree or agree. God gaves us our own minds to decide. I don't need a pope or a preacher to tell me what to believe. I believe the Bible and what God reveals to me.

Answer 7

Most preachers and evangelists tell people to read their bibles and connect with God themselves. Every time i listen to a preacher he mostly tells people he is not there to answer all their questions. The bible is God's word to us. Preachers and evangelists can not speak for everyone. I agree with what those people are saying. Read it for yourself, make up your own mind. God knows what you need and what you crave. He said he knows your desires for he put them in you.

Answer 8

Ignorance is never a solution to religion. I say read it for yourself and try to imagine what life was like at the time it was written. There were no police back then, just power hungry rulers. The church was a way to keep people in line. There are so many contradictions that you can discover in the bible. like how a "perfect" being can also be vengeful and smite down the non-believer's first born babies. Read and educate yourself to the best of your ability.

Answer 9

A lot of them do, yes. They also do not take into consideration that the Bible the Catholics use is different from the ones protestants use. The one the Catholics use contains the apocryphal books.

In my experience, I've found that most people who go out of their way to tell another to read the Bible are hypocrites. Most people. There are some who are genuine. But most of them can't see the forest for the trees.

Answer 10

The Bible is nothing without the church. It's like being an arm without a body. You can get some great study Bibles that break down the meanings and make it clearer, but you should still be talking and asking questions and making your own mind up within the religion you choose.

Answer 11

A good example of contradiction is this.

For all of its existence up until last year(I think) the Catholic Church's position was that evolution was not real, and did not happen. That God himself was responsible and did in fact create humans, the earth and the universe (remember their last contradiction was that the sun, planets and even the universe itself circled around the Earth which was the center of all things God created.).
Now the Catholic Church 's position is that evolution is real, and we did in fact get our beganing from evolution and that evolution is still at work today. Their position is that all evidence, and education, and records available leaves not doubt of evolution. The Church maintains that to keep the faith going they must insist that God is in charge of evolution.
These two contradictions mark milestones in the Church's position. the truth for once in it';s (the church) creatiion.