Individual
Interpretation
Of The
Bible Is
Prohibited
In Holy Scripture...
It was a sad day when I read that the
internet was being used with avid interest by those who are scrambling to form
their own churches. These people comb the internet searching for the beliefs of
these various sects, just so they can find a nitch to make theirs different from
all the others. They completely disregard the teaching of Our Lord when He said,
"...and there shall be ONE FOLD and
ONE SHEPHERD." John 10:16
There are over
28,000 individual protestant churches in the world now, with more being added
every day. With the advent of millions of potential 'customers' who are easily
reached on-line, that number is expected to increase at an accelerated rate.
This hurts the Christian cause, as it is satan's way to divide and conquer, and
it is GOD's way to unite into one Church with one Shepherd. It is making
protestantism even more and more impotent.
The primary root cause of this is the false belief of individual
interpretation of the Bible. Protestant churches cannot teach that they are the
'One True Church' which Jesus Christ founded because none of them can trace
their founding back to Jesus Christ when He founded His Church in Matt 16:18. If
all protestantism was united in the Holy Spirit, then how can you explain that
Calvanists believe Baptism is a Sacrament, but Baptists do not? How do you
explain that Lutherans say that Mary is the Mother of GOD, but Evangelicals say
she is not? How do you explain that Episcopalians believe man has free will, yet
Presbyterians deny it? You can go on and on through all 28,000 plus protestant
sects and see differences as presented in this sampling.
If all Christian
Churches taught the same thing then there would be only one Church, as there was
for the first 1500 years of Christianity.
In all of the above examples, the one side interprets the
Bible this way, and the other side interprets it that way. "The simple fact
of the matter is, that it is not possible to put together any selection of words
in which some ingenious person may not find a meaning not meant by the writer of
the verse." Frank Sheed.
"Only a public
authority, divinely guided, can spell out without error, a public message
divinely revealed." Fr. Pere Benoit...
The
Pope, in accordance with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, is the public
authority of which Fr. Benoit refers.
There are many Bible verses which tell
us that individual interpretation of the Bible simply cannot be done without
divine assistance...
Luke 24:45, "Then He
opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures."
So it took Jesus Christ to open the minds of the
Apostles so that they could teach others in the truth.
Do you believe
likewise that Jesus Christ opened the minds of each of the leaders of all those
28,000 protestant churches? If so, why is there so much disagreement between
them?
Acts 8:27-40, the eunuch was trying to read Isaiah when Philip
asked him, "Do you understand what you are
reading?" But he said, "Why, how can I, unless someone shows
me?"
Since Philip had been filled by the
Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4, he was able to explain the truth of Isaiah to the
eunuch.
2Pet 1:20, St. Peter said, "This
then you must understand first of all, that NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE IS MADE BY
PRIVATE INTERPRETATION." I do not see how
Paul could have said it any plainer than he did here. Why do protestants
ignore verses such as this one?
2Pet 3:16-17, St. Peter said, "...In these Epistles there are certain things difficult to
understand, WHICH THE UNLEARNED AND UNSTABLE DISTORT, JUST AS THEY
DO THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES ALSO, TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION. YOU
THEREFORE, BRETHREN, SINCE YOU KNOW THIS BEFOREHAND, BE ON YOUR GUARD
LEST, CARRIED AWAY BY THE ERROR OF THE FOOLISH, YOU FALL AWAY FROM YOUR
STEADFASTNESS."
Here is a very clear
warning that it is easy to fall into error by private interpretation of
Scripture.
Who would you prefer to believe...
A group of learned men with impeccable
qualifications, and the Holy Spirit to guide them?
Or some individuals
interpretation of the Bible, who has questionable qualifications, and who does
not have the truth of the Holy Spirit to guide him?
Written by Bob Stanley, January 21, 1998