Why John the baptist doubted Jesus?

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As pointed in many posts in this thread ,the direct,clear and literal meaning of the verses is that the query and reply was meant for JBT only. It is the attempt to interpret it differently that we have to look with suspicion.
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Absolutely wrong!

You (and many others in this thread) suppose that if you isolate a verse in the Bible you can understand that verse in isolation. This is NOT Catholic Church teaching. The Bible can only be interpreted in context with the whole remainder of the Bible. No verse of the Bible can be isolated and then categorically stated, oh, this is exactly what this means, as you and others here are doing. In fact this method is PURE Protestantism. They are the true experts in isolating Bible verses and interpreting them in isolation on their “obvious, direct, clear and literal” meaning. :rolleyes:
 
AmbroseSJ said:
Absolutely wrong!

You (and many others in this thread) suppose that if you isolate a verse in the Bible you can understand that verse in isolation. This is NOT Catholic Church teaching. The Bible can only be interpreted in context with the whole remainder of the Bible. No verse of the Bible can be isolated and then categorically stated, oh, this is exactly what this means, as you and others here are doing. In fact this method is PURE Protestantism. They are the true experts in isolating Bible verses and interpreting them in isolation on their “obvious, direct, clear and literal” meaning. :rolleyes:
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  1. In this case not one verse is isolated for arriving at the conclusion .All the relevant verses from start to end were considered. Without beating around the bush ,pl.tell which are the remainder verses here,which, if also considered would have given another meaning than the obvious, direct,clear and literal meaning.
  2. 99% of the verses is meant to convey the obvious literal meaning stated in each verse . Only in cases where the literal meaning is not clear and difficult to understand should we go by the implied meaning taking into account the circumstances also.Bible is meant to be read and understood by ordinary people also.You can’t say that before reading each verse one has to go through all the comments / teachings of church fathers about the verse.This may be necessary in rare cases where the meaning is not clear ,but so far I have not come across any such verses.
 
joseie said:
  1. In this case not one verse is isolated for arriving at the conclusion .All the relevant verses from start to end were considered. Without beating around the bush ,pl.tell which are the remainder verses here,which, if also considered would have given another meaning than the obvious, direct,clear and literal meaning.
  2. 99% of the verses is meant to convey the obvious literal meaning stated in each verse . Only in cases where the literal meaning is not clear and difficult to understand should we go by the implied meaning taking into account the circumstances also.Bible is meant to be read and understood by ordinary people also.You can’t say that before reading each verse one has to go through all the comments / teachings of church fathers about the verse.This may be necessary in rare cases where the meaning is not clear ,but so far I have not come across any such verses.
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So you have gone from wondering why John the Baptist doubted, considering the other texts in scripture where you realized he would have no reason to doubt, to your current position of absolute certainty that John the Baptist doubted, and to hell with all the other passages which contradict the idea that John the Baptist had any doubts, and to hell with the most plausible explanation advocated by any thoughtful reader, which is that John the Baptist (and Jesus) was using a ruse for the benefit of John’s disciples (who were in doubt.) :rolleyes:

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AmbroseSJ said:
So you have gone from wondering why John the Baptist doubted, considering the other texts in scripture where you realized he would have no reason to doubt, to your current position of absolute certainty that John the Baptist doubted, and to hell with all the other passages which contradict the idea that John the Baptist had any doubts, and to hell with the most plausible explanation advocated by any thoughtful reader, which is that John the Baptist (and Jesus) was using a ruse for the benefit of John’s disciples (who were in doubt.) :rolleyes:

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Again I request you to tell about" all other passages which cotradict the idea that…"
 
prodromos said:
You haven’t read St John Chrysostom’s sermon, have you :rolleyes:
You obviously have a much better understanding than one of the greatest bishops the Church has been blessed to be served by.
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Even the greatest bishops can be wrong.
 
***“The glorious St. John the Baptist did not send his disciples to Jesus our Lord to find out whether or not He was the Messiah. He had three reasons: first, to make Him known to the whole world. Second, he wanted to draw disciples only to his Teacher, to whose school he now sends them to be instructed personally by Him. Third, to detach them from himself and let them see Jesus so that they might come to Him in a manner worthy of Him. Therefore, John sent them to this Divine Majesty to be instructed and informed of the truth.” ***
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~St Francis de Sales~
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Peace, Mark
 
I have not previously entered into the discussion on this thread, but have over time worked up an analysis of the question at hand. However, I find my analysis is too long to meet the website rules, so I am prevented from sharing it. If I am to share my reasoning, I need to share it all or else it will have no chance of persuading anybody.

I am a rather new member of CAF, and have not previously encountered this problem so I looked at the Discussion Forum Rules for a solution and have found a couple of intimations that there is somehow a way around my conundrum. The Rules recommend in appropriate circumstances using “the private messaging system” but forbids posting “others’ e-mail addresses or private e-mail sent by them on the public forums.” It also says not to post “personal phone numbers and addresses.”

These Rules seem to leave available the option of posting my own e-mail address (but not those of others, and not my own address or phone number) so that interested individuals may reach me if they so wish, and the Rules also suggest to me that even within this website there may be a private messaging system available if one knows how to use it.

The upshot of all this is that I am choosing to compromise my own privacy by posting my e-mail address for the use of anyone who wishes to contact me to receive my thoughts. It is:

elavery2@comcast.net

I am also soliciting assistance from any knowledgeable member who knows how to use the private messaging system that is mentioned above.

Going to the substance of the discussion, I think that the Gospel of St. Luke offers insights not found in the other Gospels pointing toward the conclusion that John the Baptist did indeed doubt Jesus. If you contact me, I will fill you in on the specifics.
 
I thought the subject was closed.Many said that JBT did not doubt .Few including me believe that he doubted. My belief was based on the unambiguous scipture verses and a quite convincing article which analysed the issue in detail .The’ no doubted 'view is based only on some church writings which itself is seen done without much reasoning but obviously under a belief that it may not look nice if it is considered that JBT doubted.Though it was alleged that the ‘doubted’ view has arisen because of reading the verses in isolation etc. ,no body responded to my challenge to show the Scriptures to prove so.
Anyhow I am glad that there is one more addition to the minority view.(Just above post by taco).But without the need to correspond with you through email etc.why don’t share your findings in brief here itself for the convenience of all viewers?
 
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