Dear Anonymous Friend

A friend wrote me this email:

Darren  please read dear catholic friend at the like below.

I hope it helps

you.  a friend



http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/dear_catholi



c_friend_john_rice.htm





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The link goes to an online book called "Dear Catholic Friend," by Dr. John R. Rice, a self-professed fundamentalist Baptist. Interested in what my friend sent, I read it in one sitting.

I won't offer a full review of the why-you-shouldn't-be-Catholic book here (although it's tempting to do it one day), but for now I will offer just a few thoughts.

In so many words, Dr. Rice begins by saying that if you don't agree with his main views of what true Christianity is, then you don't have God's Spirit:

If in the heart you know Christ as Saviour, and if God's Spirit dwells in you, then God's Spirit will bear witness to you of the truth. And if there is no such witness, then I will conclude, of course, that you are in spiritual darkness. For we are told, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Cor. 2:14). [Emphasis mine.]

He emphasizes that the reader doesn't have to agree with him in every detail, but only "the truth as it is in the Word of God, simple and plain, on major matters." I presume that, in his own authority, he decides what are the simple, plain, and major matters. So already we're led to follow his own rules.

Dr. Rice continues later:

You pretend to be for the Bible, to accept its authority. You even claim that you accept the authority of the church on the authority of the Bible. Then you must accept what Jesus said on the matter or accept His brand as a hypocrite on certain matters.

Again, the implication is that if we don't accept Dr. Rice's interpretation of "what Jesus said on the matter," then we're hypocrites. It is noble-sounding to say we should "accept what Jesus said" (who would argue against that?), but what if I think Dr. Rice is misunderstanding Jesus' words, "which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:16)?

Citizens of our country dispute the meaning of important sections of the clearly written Constitution, and it was written much more recently than any book of the Bible. It was even originally composed in English, and we have the original manuscript!

How can anyone claim that the essential teachings of Scripture are so plain to any honest seeker when so many honest seekers offer so many contradictory teachings?

The all-important, agreed-upon question in this matter is this: What is your authority? Basically there are two possible answers for the Christian:

1. I am my own interpretive authority. With the Spirit's guidance, I interpret (fallibly) the books that the Church in history has preserved and collated--the Bible. I will accept no one else's exposition of the Bible unless it agrees with my own interpretation (i.e., the explanation of its meaning), lest I be deceived. If I am wrong, the Spirit will correct me.
   
2. I believe in the divinely established teaching authority of the Church, whose teachings uphold and complement those certain books for which she claims divine inspiration and infallibility--the Bible. Her teachings are safeguarded and preserved by the Spirit, and are thus binding. This follows the pattern recorded in the Bible itself.

I'm not going to get involved in the sola Scriptura ("Bible alone") argument tonight, but I will refer the reader to a well-written, concise article by Catholic Answers on this subject entitled "Scripture and Tradition."

The most authoritative official document of the Catholic Church on divine revelation is entitled, simply, "Divine Revelation," or "Dei Verbum." You can read it here. It, especially, is well worth the read if you are to understand the Church's view of Scripture.

Dr. Rice may not realize the inherent practical difficulties of his Bible-alone stance, but he ought to know that his accusation of hypocrisy can just as easily be turned against him when he has to reason around (i.e., "receiveth not") all the "plain" Catholic-sounding verses of Scripture.