This is a well expressed post to which I would like to make jsut a couple of comments.
The fact that people who claim to have no need of a teacher (even though the Apostles were commissioned to teach everyone) believe contradictory things means they aren’t really being inspired by God–contradiction is incompatible with inspiration. Likewise, no such person claims infallibility anyway, which is an admission right there that they don’t know if they are being inspired by God.
This is precisely why I have a problem with the idea of the Bible being the only necessary or desirable authority, or even that the Bible is the primary authority. Those who hold to the “rock” of the Bible tend to see different rocks, or to see the rock in different ways.
To some it is the “only Rock”, to others it is the “best of several rocks”. Some study it to understand it, to measure its size, or weight, or content. Yet all only wind up seeing a portion of the rock, and miss it’s actual purpose.
The Bible is not an authority, but a compass. It is the way we are able to check our course. It allows us to correct ourselves when we begin to go astray. But a compass is is of little use if there is no helmsman; no one to chart the course; no one with the knowledge to use that compass. That is where the learned of the “teaching authority” comes in. It is the well trained navigator that provides us with the right course at the right time.
It is easy to navigate when the waters are wide and the skies are soft and blue, it is quite another when the times are stormy and the waters full of shoals, reefs and sandbars. When the storm comes do you want just a compass, or do you want a trained navigator, helmsman, and captain to help you navigate the treacherous waters.
God’s revelation has always come through some humans and then given to others. Whether it was Moses, the Prophets, or the Apostles God always taught His people through other humans. Holy Scripture is a perfect example of this. As has been said, the exception is when Jesus walked the earth Himself (but even then He often sent out the Apostles to preach)–but before He Ascended, He made the Apostles teachers of all that He had taught (and since He promised to be with them in this task to the end of time, it follows that the promise extends to those who succeed the Apostles).
As an aside, we do believe Jesus is the Supreme Teacher and Head of His Church, which is His Body–which is why we believe in the charism of infallibility. But, of course, not all members partake of this charism the same way–to different members, different gifts are given for the building up of the Body.
Agreed. Even in the Church there have been relatively few with a truly clear understanding of God’s will, and they might just as easily be a poor shepard as a learned scholar.
I won’t gos so far as to say the church is totally infallible, since she is made up of so many imperfect parts, but I will say that she is unlikely to stray far from the path, or for very long, for the “teaching authority”, the magesterium is a remarkable instrument for self correction.
Peace
James
