Are you telling me that “Saul went into a cave to relieve himself” speaks to you that this is the inspired Word of God?
What about “My breath is offensive to my wife”?
If I give you a list of religious texts–some from the Bible, some not, would you be able to tell me which ones are inspired, and which ones are not (without consulting an outside source)?
Let’s not forget the Jews, who pre-dated Catholicism. It was the Jews who determined that the Torah was the Word of God; it was the Jews who quoted authoritatively from the book of Psalms, or Proverbs. They knew all of these things, before the Roman Catholic Church existed; in fact, the Roman Catholic Church is indebted to the Jews for these texts.
Regarding the New Testament, a Protestant has a couple of different possible responses. One is that the early Church got Scripture right, but then – at some point – the Church fell into apostasy, at which point the torch was passed to the Protestant Reformers.
This is not dissimilar to Catholics who say that, at one time, the Jews were the primary guardians of the faith; they were the ones who, independently of Roman Catholic help or (name removed by moderator)ut, determined that the Torah was the Word of God. Moses did not need the Roman Catholic Church to determine this; he received confirmation on Mount Sinai.
Yet Catholics say, “at one time, Jews were the guardians of the faith, and much of our Scripture is
their Scripture; yet the torch has been passed, Jews are no longer the primary guardians of the truth.” Protestants are saying the same thing – that the torch has been passed. They don’t need to deny that,
at one time, Catholics (or the early Church) were the primary guardians of the faith,* just as Catholics can say this about Jews, * and not feel compelled to convert to Judaism.
So, at the very least, Protestants owe Roman Catholics
respect for their historical role – just as Roman Catholics owe respect for the Jews. Roman Catholics can respect Judaism, yet still believe that
they have insight into truths that Judaism lacks.
The other argument the Protestant has, is the historical one – as I believe you’ve argued, reason alone can determine that the Gospels are historically accurate, thus that Jesus was exactly who he said he was. I’m assuming that, per this argument, non-inspired books of the Bible will not, and cannot, be shown to be “historically accurate” in their claims?
