Does The Bible Do Much Harm? The Catholic Church occupies a very difficult position which makes it necessary to contradict itself continually. For the benefit of Protestantism, it presents the image of lover and defender of the Bible, for she knows that Protestants whom she hopes to convert into her fold, will not take seriously a religious body that scorns the Bible. Yet, at the same time, lest people are converted to the position of the Bible only and leave the Catholic Church, it presents the image of skepticism, antagonism, and contempt for the Bible. Please notice the following quotes from Catholic sources: "Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular (in the common language of the people, D.R.) there will by reasons of the boldness of men arise therefrom more harm than good..." (Cannons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, p. 274). "As it has been clearly shown by experience that, if the holy Bible in the vernacular is generally permitted without any distinction, more harm than utility is thereby caused..." (Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, pp. 412-413). "In early times the Bible was read freely by the lay people...New dangers came in during the Middle Ages...To meet those evils, the Council of Toulouse (1229) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons leave to read even Catholic versions of Scripture unless their confessors or parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial." (Catholic Dictionary, p. 82). Our reply to the above is that the reading of the Bible does more harm than good to the Catholic Church! When men begin to study the Bible, they will come to respect it as God's only guide to heaven as it claims for itself (2 Tim. 3:15-17). This, naturally, puts them in direct opposition to the Catholic Church. No institution on earth has as much to fear from reading the Bible as does the Catholic Church. When men read it, they begin to see that Catholicism is not in the Bible, and that the Catholic Church has discarded many things taught in the Bible. Following is a list of twenty-one passages which condemn various teaching and practices of the Catholic Church. 1. Exodus 20:4-5 (Images). 2. Ezekiel 18:20 (Original sin). 3. Matthew 20:20-28 (Hierarchy). 4. Matthew 23:5-6 (Clerical dress). 5. Matthew 23:9 ("Father"). 6. Matthew 28:19 (Infant baptism). 7. Mark 7:8,13 (Tradition). 8. Luke 11:27-28 (Adoration of Mary). 9. Luke 16:26 (Purgatory) 10. Luke 22:24-27 (Primacy of Peter). 11. Romans 6:4 (Pouring). 12. 1 Corinthians 1:2 ("Saints"). 13. Galatians 4:9-11 (Special days). 14. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (Pope has place of God). 15. 1 Timothy 2:5 (Many Mediators) 16. 1 Timothy 3:2 (Unmarried bishops). 17. 1 Timothy 4:3 (Forbid marriage). 18. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (Many authorities). 19. Hebrews 8:12 (Indulgences). 20. James 5:16 (Confess to priest). 21. 1 Pet. 2:5,9 ("Priesthood"). As we said, no religious institution on earth has as much to fear about its members reading the Bible as the Catholic Church. When Catholics study the Bible they learn that in order to please God, they must discard the many false doctrines which their church has accumulated over the centuries. Following is an excerpt from an address given by the Cardinals to Pope Pius III, and is preserved in the National Library in Paris, Folio No. 1068, Vol. 2, pp. 650-651: "Of all the advice that we can offer your holiness we must open your eyes well and use all possible force in the matter, namely to permit the reading the reading of the gospel as little as possible in all the countries under your jurisdiction. Let the very little part of the gospel suffice which is usually read in mass, and let no one be permitted to read more. So long as people will be content with the small amount, your interest will prosper; but as soon as the people want to read more, your interest will fail. The Bible is a book, which more than any other, has raised against us the tumults and tempests by which we have almost perished. In fact, if one compares the teaching of the Bible with what takes place in our churches, he will soon find discord, and will realize that our teachings are often different from the Bible, and oftener still, contrary to it." Notice, again, the following quotes from Catholic sources: "The hundreds of sects, with their divisions and subdivisions, which the Religious Census of the United States Government lists in our own country, offer grim evidence of the ceaseless dissension and havoc which the principle of the private interpretation of Scripture has wrought in our own day." (The Faith of Millions, p. 153). "In sharp contrast with the sorry spectacle of Protestantism with its hundreds of warring sects and creeds, agreeing with one another only in their disagreement with all others, there is the Catholic Church with its 431,000,000 members--more than twice the total of all the sects of Protestantism combined--speaking every tongue and in every land under the heavens, all united in the strong bonds of a common faith." (Ibid., p. 156). "The reformation produced indeed an exaggerated individualism, which by declaring every man equally competent to find out the doctrine of the Savior from his own private reading of the Scriptures, has led millions to the utter denial of Christ." (Question Box, p. 131; there is a similar statement from Archbishop Spalding in his book entitled, Miscellanea, p. 392). What the Catholic writer above really means by the statement that "private interpretation has led millions to utter denial of Christ" is that Bible study has led millions to utter denial of the Catholic Church. Private interpretation of the Scriptures is not the cause of religious division. The word "interpretation" means "1. to explain the meaning of 2. to conceive in the light of individual belief, judgment, or circumstance." (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary). The inspired writers taught that men could privately interpret or understand the Scriptures. "Therefore do not become foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." (Eph. 5:17). "For we write nothing to you that you do not read and understand." (2 Cor. 1:13). "...The mystery has been made know to me, as I have written above in few words; as you reading my understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." (Eph. 3:3-4 Rheims Trans.) Thus, God requires a private interpretation of the Scriptures. Catholic officials would like men to believe that the Catholic Church has unity, whereas those who hold to the Bible have had utter division. However, the truth of the mater is that the Catholic Church is the mother of division. Every major division that is in Christianity originated with and came out of the Catholic Church. In 1050 the Catholic Church split and there was the great schism between the West and the East. A few hundred years later, there was a split and the Anglican Church was started. It claimed to honor many of the very same bishops and trace its lineage back to the apostles over much the same route. A division occurred in Catholicism when the Lutheran Church broke away; it was another branch or division within Catholicism. The bulk of Protestant denominations today are branches and sects of groups which originally broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Even today those who have knowledge of the current trends know that the Catholic Church is not united. The great disrespect that the Catholic Church has toward the Bible is the prime cause of division in the Religious world. The many charges the Catholic Church makes against the Bible lead people away from the Bible and causes them to distrust it as the only rule of faith. It does this even in so-called Protestantism because many of the same charges are repeated by Protestants. Very few Protestants today truly respect the Bible as God's sole authority in religion. In fact, most of their doctrines originated in the Catholic Church rather than in the Bible, e.g., infant baptism, instrumental music in worship, observance of Christmas and Easter. The only authority they have for these and many others is the Catholic Church. Holding to the Bible alone does not cause division, but to the contrary, is the only true means of unity. The solution for overcoming division among us is to reject all the unscriptural practices which have been introduced by men and go back to the Bible. We must completely denounce all the decrees, doctrines, and traditions of men and fully return to the written word of Christ, the New Testament. This is the only way to please God and to be united in His name. |