My question is that it’s a Catholic’s fallible choice to follow the Bible under the guidance of the Church, and it’s a Protestant’s fallible choice to follow the bible under their own guidance. So aren’t both making a decision based on what they each believe to be right?
Hi, This is a good question.
I will offer my story just as a way to express how I feel about this question as a starting off point.
My father is Christian, he read the bible, studied it, then I came along, my dad gave me his old bible with a cool little personal note, basically I love you, may you find the LORD and may He guide you in life, it was cool. Anyway…
So we use to go to church, Christian church, as a way to praise God, with like minded people, to give a donation in support of our local congregation, and to participate in being near Christ. I think alot of us are brought in this way, with a parent who believes, then teaches their children, then are exposed to church.
I was baptized, I can recall being an infant and being baptized. We have pictures to prove it.
and then I got older, met a girl, a Catholic girl, and fell in love. There was no difference to me. I was only happy to tell my parents that I met an awesome girl, and she goes to church too. She invited me along with her parents, I was so happy to go and be with her and to be at church also praising God with the girl I loved.
So I started to go to Catholic church. It was awesome. It was like the churches I went with my Dad, only it was more… i dont know, Regal, more authentic, more Holy I guess. Everything was the same. The communion, a tithe, the preacher was now a priest, but he gave the same sermon basically. It was fine in my book. There were some prayers that everybody seem to know as they stood up, me next to my girl, and they all prayed in unison without looking into a book for the words. I always felt nervous, cause I would close my eyes in prayer, yet not be able to say the words, except for amen. Nobody said anything to me though. So I guess it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t know that words yet.
I met another girl, A Mormon, like three years later, She was beautiful, I loved her deeply and I was happy to go to church with her. I went with her and her family, and everything seemed just the same, yet at the same time it seemed more… i dont know, humble, more associated with certain Scripture. Then I was told about the book of Mormon, I didn’t understand why i never heard of the book of Mormon, but the way they explained it, it seemed as if this was a hidden secret and why didn’t the world know about this. Why doesn’t everybody know that once Jesus left the Apostles in Acts 1 that He actually didn’t ascend into heaven, but that He actually flew to America to leave plates with scripture on them. So I was fascinated and was with the girl at the church for over a year. I was all ready to be baptised.
Let me hurry this up…
There have been many churches. Mostly Catholic. For the most part, a church is a church, [excluding Mormons, because they preach a false gospel, the book of Mormon, I think we all can agree on that.] and the Catholic Church is by far my church of choice.
Then… I started to have some questions postulate in my head. I was fascinated with Hell, and what it was. About purgatory, about what this meant when Jesus said this, and what does this mean, and this mean, and this mean. I am curious, you know, It’s the scientific obsessive organized approach, and I am built that way. That is how I fully grasp something.
The answers I got were ambiguous at best, Never concrete, NEVER NEVER CONCRETE. But many answer, indeed most answers, were straight from scripture, and explained so it made perfect sense, it was read to me, and explained for what it was. Exactly how it was worded, was how it was explained to me. There was never NEVER NEVER NEVER any spiritual answers given, NEVER did a priest tell me that Christ spoke in parables. and so when A parable was explained to me, it was ALWAYS A MORAL lesson that apparently it taught. MORAL LESSONS. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA My DAD TEACHES ME MORALS AND VALUES, derived from the bible. Basic Basic stuff we all get from the 10 commandments,
I Never knew there was a spiritual meaning to the bible. never never never. I never was told, that there is a deeper meaning, that just what the story says on its surface. That is why It was always taught as a MORAL LESSON.
So I started to read the bible for REALS on my own. And I noticed certain words used over and over and over. I wrote those down and the verse, and then looked at my sheet of paper, and saw a pattern. Something different from Moral Lessons, But a Spiritual Lesson. That infact, the Book is a Spiritual book about How to obtain Salvation, Not about how to live a Moral Life. Let me rephrase that. I learned that the whole Book is a Parable. I learned that a Parable is a earthly story with a spiritual meaning. The earthy story I learned, is how to live a moral life, the spiritual meaning however is something entirely different.
That is why a protestant, though i would not associate with any denomination, but that is why a person who reads the bible alone, in THE ONLY WAY to discern, and finally understand TRUTH.
), but without guidance and assimilizing by the Holy Spirit of the meaning of the Scriptures, we can read them until the cows come home and they won’t mean a thing.