Sola Scriptura

[Aloysius]

hmm so the Scriptures are "infallible rule of faith"

what is included in "scriptures"?

so it perfectly completes man... but it can be transformed from one kind of document to another depending on interpretation. if someone interprets scripture one way, the scripture is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than the same scripture if it is interpretted another way.

therefore, the Scripture is the infallible rule of faith when interpretted correctly

it completes the man of God when interpretted correctly

does this make sense? i'm sure someone else can provide a better explanation than I.

[Katholikos]

Since Protestants cannot show us the "inspired table of contents" for their "scriptures," their claim of Sola Scriptura is futile. They cannot demonstrate what Scripture is (the inspired Word of God), or what is Scripture (the "inspired" list from God telling us which writings belong in the Bible). The Bible, which is a collection of writings made at different times by different writers for different reasons, cannot authenticate itself. No book can. An inanimate object requires a human agency to speak for it. The Catholic Church wrote the NT and formed the Bible -- she alone can vouch for it.

St. Paul is writing only to an individual -- Timothy. Acts, written by St. Luke -- a history of the nascent Catholic Church -- speaks of the writings available to the Bereans. Acts also was written to an individual. In both cases, Sts. Paul and Luke were referring to their own Scriptures -- the Greek Septuagint -- which Protestants reject. Neither Tim nor Acts nor any other biblical passage refers to the entire collection of Scriptures as we know them -- the Bible collected, canonized, and formed by the nearly 400-year-old Catholic Church.

With St. Augustine, I affirm: "For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church." (Letter to Mani)

Ave Cor Mariae.

[Katholikos]

hmm so the Scriptures are "infallible rule of faith"

what is included in "scriptures"?

so it perfectly completes man... but it can be transformed from one kind of document to another depending on interpretation.  if  someone interprets scripture one way, the scripture is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than the same scripture if it is interpretted another way.

therefore, the Scripture is the infallible rule of faith when interpretted correctly

it completes the man of God when interpretted correctly

does this make sense?  i'm sure someone else can provide a better explanation than I.

Right on, Al. You said it well.

A comment on your first point: "Bible" means an entirely different book to a Catholic and a Protestant. The Protestant believes that when Martin Luther said "those writings are not scripture" and desecrated the Bible, he was speaking for God -- although the books he discarded had been part of the Bible for 16 centuries.

A comment on your second point: The only valid interpretation is the one the sacred writers intended to convey. The only way to know what they intended to convey is to examine the teachings of the early Church, who was teaching what the Apostles taught while some of them were still living. The early Church was the Catholic Church, and one can examine the teachings that are taught today and learn that they are the same as the Apostles taught. John Henry Newman found that out through a careful study of history, wrote his masterpiece, "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," and became a Catholic. (He was formerly an Anglican clergyman.)

And: The Church considered around 200 writings and chose 27 for the New Testament. Among the criteria for the canon was that the writings had to conform to the teaching of the Church! So those who interpret the scriptures any other way (which is every Protestant) are WRONG.

It is not Scripture Alone. There was no Bible as we know it until the beginning of the fifth century. Revelation is found in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Apostolic Tradition. The Catholic Church wrote the New Testament, which contains part of what she learned from the Apostles. The whole truth and nothing but the truth is contained in the teachings of the Catholic Church, founded by Christ for the salvation of the world.

Ave Cor Mariae.