My fellow Christians...help????!!!!!?

Question

My Catholic friend "Kelly", asked me this question, and I do NOT know how to get around it, for the life of me! I asked my pastor, and he couldn't answer either.

If the Bible is the sole source of authority for Christians, then where in the Bible is the list of the books/letters that are inspired?

She says (and I did research on it. It's true) that there were hundreds of documents written such as the Gospel of Peter, the letter of Clement, and so forth. The early Christians disputed about which books were inspired until the Catholic Church made an official canon of the Bible in 393 and 397 A.D. in the councils of Hippo and Carthage. She tells me, then, that the Catholic Church alone has the authority to interpret the Bible because the Bible is a Catholic book!

I could not believe my ears, so I researched it, and found her history accurate. I have always been taught that all we need to do is pray to the Holy Spirit to help us interpret the Bible. Help me!

Sorry, I ran out of room. I have always believed that the Bible is the foundation of truth and the sole source of authority.

My friend says the Bible says that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth, and she showed me the verse.

I am beginning to doubt all that I have been taught over this. Please reasure me in my faith!!!!!

Thank you so much!

mortgagegirl101: she actually explained those all very well, using the Bible. Thank you for your advice, but you didn't really answer her question for me.

Answer 1

The Bible is for everyone, not just Catholics, but your friend is correct in saying that not everyone can interpret the Bible. I'm not saying that only Catholics can, but I do think it should be left up to theologians. If everyone tries to interpret the Bible themselves, you're gonna end up with a ton of different meanings. We need people who are devoted to religion to interpret it.

Answer 2

The Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version

With Challoner Revisions 1749-52
1899 Edition of the John Murphy Company

IMPRIMATUR:
James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899.

Pope Damasus assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Roman Council in 382 A.D. He commissioned St. Jerome to translate the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin, which became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible and was declared by the Church to be the only authentic and official version, in 1546.

The DR New Testament was first published by the English College at Rheims in 1582 A.D. The DR Old Testament was first published by the English College at Douay in 1609 A.D. The first King James Version was not published until 1611. This online DRV contains all 73 books, including the seven Deutero-Canonical books (erroneously called Apocrypha by Protestants). These seven books were included in the 1611 KJV, but not in later KJV Bibles.

The whole Douay-Rheims Bible was revised and diligently compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner in 1749-1752 A.D. The notes included in the text were written by Dr. Challoner.

The DR Bible was photographically reproduced from the 1899 edition of the John Murphy Company, Baltimore, Maryland, by Tan Books in 1971. Eventually, this edition was optically scanned to produce a large text file which this publisher used for creating this website, with the aid of text-processing software.

One important goal of this project was to preserve the original text "as is", without making any changes in the wording, because the original text had the Imprimatur of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, dated Sept 1st 1899.

The text file was checked quite thoroughly by software written by the publisher for punctuation errors and verses out of order. The index was humanly checked for misspelled words and the corrections were made to the text. However, some spelling errors may still be present in the text. Many verses were out of order in the original file. These have been corrected.

Every effort was made to ensure that this online version is an exact match to the original printed version. No words were added or ommitted from the text, except for correcting errors caused by the scanning process. No words were rearranged. No verse numbers were changed, except in the case of Psalm 9.

Psalm 9 originally contained 21 verses and there were 2 versions of Psalm 10, numbering 1-18 and 1-8. This obviously caused a conflict, so it was decided to make the first Psalm 10 as the last part of Psalm 9 and renumber the verses 22-39. This retains the same numbering as all the Douay Rheims. Note, in the Protestant Bibles the numbering of Psalms 10 through 146 differs by one.

Answer 3

That not exactly the logic used. Early on there were only Catholic Christians, Coptic (Egyptian) Christians and after the first great schism, orthodox Christians. At that time communication was difficult and so before log 27 or more different Gospels were in use. the councils were convened to determine the authoritative copies. If you ever get a chance to read these others as I have done. It won't cause you so much alarm. The reason for the rejection of these other "gospels" is pretty clear. Where they are not close enough to be the same, they are overtly reactionary and anti-semetic. Others still reject God altogether and place him at the level of a Demon, with Jesus operating as an agent of a Higher God of Light in opposition to god the Father.

But don't let anyone fool, the Catholic church was first and was later split up just as prophesied. Catholics can and are encouraged to read the Bible (One bible christian friend of mine was told by his pastor that Catholics are not allowed to read the Bible!!!).

If you read it for yourself you will find Biblical justification for Intercession and Veneration (not Worship!) of Saints.

Answer 4

Remember, the bible consists of 39 books that predate christianity. ALL of the apostles and disciples followed old testament writings. They themselves began compiling writings of their own, but the authority on scriptures was the old testament. Jesus Himself tells us to search the old testament and it will be a witness of Him.

By 150 AD, there was already a circulating manuscript of the Old and new testaments. the last letter, revelations, was written circa 96AD.

The Holy Spirit ALONE has the authority to teach and interpret scriptures, not ANY man. What we receive is by revelation, not by the catechism. The Bible is not a catholic book. It is the Word of God and belongs to humanity, not just "catholics".

Catholicism has a lot of differences with Christianity. Be careful discussing bible doctrine if you have not read the bible for yourself. Catholics prey on young unsuspecting christians. They do not even bother justifying their beliefs (such as the worship of Mary), just try to get people to believe what they believe through intimidation.

Answer 5

The Word of GOD (Jesus) is Still in the Bible.
GOD is the Most Highest Authority.
Really, there is Truth Everywhere on this Planet.
The Holy Spirit will Lead and Guide you into ALL TRUTH.
I learned Alot through Praying, the First Year I was Saved.
Then GOD told me to Start Reading the Bible!
I didn't even know you were Supposed to Read the Bible, that First Year---Hahahaha.

Answer 6

the bible is the inspired word of God , and the New Testament though written by the Apostles is the inspired word of God, but this is something special here, the Word of God is not a something it is a somebody, and that somebody is Jesus Christ.
,
and this is why the scripture is not just written word but the Living Word Himself.
now I am a Catholic and I will say this with a heart and a half, if the Protestant people came back to the Catholic church it would be the greatest shining example of the world ,and primarly because of your love for the Word of God,which we sadly have neglected .
I suspect that you are getting confused as to your Christian orientation and need to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Answer 7

Instead of panicking, why not sit down with her, let her teach you her view of things, then sit down with the Bible in private and do what you've been taught -- pray and let the Holy Spirit direct you as you study the Bible for yourself. If you feel lead to the Catholic Church, so be it, if not, find the explaination for what she says that supports the view you currently have.

In short, stop passing it off on others. Do your own Bible study and figure out what it says to YOU.

Answer 8

Do a little more research. Go to Everystudent.com, and check out the article, "Why you can believe the Bible"
http://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html

And remember, the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. God would not allow His Word to be corrupted. God bless you.

Answer 9

The catholic church is not the authority and it never will be. Actually NO church has that authority! Authority comes from God above and especially from Jesus Christ. Peter and John were ordinary unschooled men and yet they had authority from God! So do we.
Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

2Timothy 3:15-17
and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is GOD-BREATHED and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Answer 10

The Holy Spirit is your guide,,if you have questions you ask Him and He will show you...There is alot of Legalism going around and you can't get deceived..If you are praying and asking the Lord for wisdom and knowledge He will give to you that..