Dear Billy:

I would ask this person how he can know he is interpreting the Bible correctly when he is interpreting privately. This is the conundrum of Protestantism -- they all believe they interpret correctly, yet they disagree in many doctrinal teachings. This cannot be. Either we have a correct interpretation or we don't; there are not many "truths" but one Truth.

There are two other Scripture passages that speak to this issue:

Acts 8:30: So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "How can I, unless some one guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32  Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this: "As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth." 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, "About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about some one else?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus."

2 Peter 3:16b: There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

Private Interpretation (and by private is meant interpretation of an single individual or a group of individuals) by its very nature cannot be accepted. The Truth of God is not dependent upon the "opinion" (and that is all private interpretation is) of men. Truth is Truth and is true for everyone regardless of their individual opinions.

In addition, God is not so cruel as to leave His Church without a way to definitively know what the truth is. God left us a "supreme court" (Magisterium) to settle disputes over doctrine. How cruel would it be if God did not leave us a "supreme court" and we could thus never know for sure which interpretations and teachings were truly True and which were not?

God has always had a Magisterium to be a "supreme court". He has always had a Pope (spiritual father) to lead His people. All this did not start with the Catholic Church. God's economy has always had this since the Garden of Eden. The first "pope and Magisterium" was Adam. It was the "Chair of Adam" that represented God and His Covenant to Adam before His people until a new covenant was made. The second Chair of authority was appointed to Noah. The Chair of Noah then represented God and the Covenant promises made to Noah. Then came the Chair of Abraham, then the Chair of Moses (which Jesus specifically mentions in Matt 23:2), and then with the New Covenant of Jesus, a new chair was installed upon Peter -- the Chair of Peter. He who is in communion with the Chair of Peter is in communion with the True Church in the fullness of the faith that Jesus founded.

If God had done such a thing as to provide His people with a "pope and Magisterium" given the protection of the Holy Spirit and the charism of infallibility, we could then only rely upon scholars' opinions, or our pastor's opinions, of the correct interpretation of things. Which scholars or preachers do we trust? We are left with relying upon whomever we personally like and trust as a scholar or preacher and our own opinions as the only source of authority to determine doctrinal questions. We have seen the result of that economy -- over 30,000 different faith groups all claiming to have the correct interpretation but differing with each other. Such splintering "denominationalism" is condemned in the Bible (1 Corinthians 1):

10 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." 13 Is Christ divided?

To be clear here, the so-called non-denominational churches are also denominations; they have denominated (split) from the rest of the crowd and formed their own denomination of one. They are the ones who St. Paul identifies as those who say "I belong to Christ". This must be understood in its context. St. Paul is talking about dissension and lack of unity. There were those in Corinth who were claiming they belonged to Christ "apart" from the rest of the Christians. In otherwords they were trying to form their own little clique, a non-denominational group, apart from the rest of the brethren.

Christ is not divided! There is only ONE Church. There are not "churches". Those who promote dissension and split the Church into so-called "churches" (denominations and non-denominations) sin against the Body of Christ. They tear the Body into pieces.

Martin Luther's rebellion, and the others who followed him, was the greatest treason against God since Adam and Eve's rebellion in the Garden. It splintered the People of God into what is now 30,000 pieces. Oh what a horror scandal that we have broken the Body of our Lord into more than 30,000 pieces. He allowed Himself, His body, to be broken for us on the Cross, out of love for us, so that we may attain eternal life. We repay Him by tearing apart His Body even more like vultures tearing at the body of a dead animal each trying to grab as much for itself as it can. This lack of unity among Christians is the greatest evil of all. Pray that we may be one once again.

Jesus prays for us (John 17:20-26):

I tear up in writing this because our Lord is One, our Church (His Bride) is One, His Body is One yet in this earth we have torn Him apart and done so far worse than the Romans did when they scourged Him and nailed Him to a Cross. We have torn apart his Body and torn apart each other.

St. Paul warns us in Galatians 5:15: "But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another."

And look at what we have become. There are entire ministries devoted to attacking the Catholic Church (and often all groups other than their own). Entire denominations and "non-denominations" fuel themselves on their fervor to condemn the Catholic Church and others. It is the focus of many a sermon and even courses in their seminaries.

St. Paul's words are true -- in the midst of biting and devouring one another, we have consumed one another. There is no unity in the Body, the Body is torn apart and the pieces consumed by each group apart from all other groups. Jesus did not want this to be so.

Jesus offered His Body, broken on the Cross, so that we could consume Him, not each other (John 6:48-58).

48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."

Thus the question now is which Church is the Church that Jesus entrusted to protect and teach His Gospel? Which is the One, Holy, Universal (catholic), and Apostolic Church that is the Church that Jesus personally founded and gave the authority to interpret, teach, and guard the Faith?

The Church, and the ONLY Church, that fits the definition fully, is the Catholic Church under the Bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church, with its Magisterium appointed by God as the "supreme court" is the Church that Jesus personally founded in Matthew 16 and empowered to represent Him on this earth.

Although the True Church is also split (which is also a scandal) -- into Catholic, Orthodox, Old Catholic, etc. (Churches that have valid Holy Orders) -- it is only the Catholic Church that holds the fullness of the Faith taught by Jesus and the Apostles and the only one that actually meets the test of the One, Holy, Universal (catholic), and Apostolic Church. None of the others are universal. Only the Catholic Church is truly universal (which is why it is called the "Catholic" Church as "catholic" means "universal"). The Orthodox are national and ethnic churches, the Old Catholics are mere splinters. Only the Catholic Church truly is universal.

To finish answering this question how we can know that the Catholic Church is the only one to meet the test of the One, Holy, Universal (catholic), and Apostolic Church, and the only Church in the Fullness of the Faith we must look to history and to the documentary evidence.

The documentary evidence begins in Matthew 16 when Jesus renamed Simon, Peter, and upon that rock of Peter Jesus would build his Church. The documentary evidence continues with the Church Fathers, many of whom were actual disciples of the Apostles. Their writings and sermons proof that the early Church was the Catholic Church under the Bishop of Rome.

In fact, ALL doctrines taught by the Catholic Church were also taught by the Church Fathers in the first three centuries.

When other groups claim doctrines that are contrary to the doctrines of the Catholic Church I always ask them, "Show me any writing or sermon from the early Christians that match your doctrinal position." They can never find any.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, can find truck loads of extant manuscripts of the writings and sermons of the early Christians that match the doctrines of the Catholic Church today.

Just one illustration, the Didache contains an example of an early Mass Liturgy. That description is remarkably similar to the Catholic Mass today. Reading the Church Fathers can lead one only to the Catholic Church under the Pope.

Rather than make this a book, I will now link for you several documents and pamphlets that will back up what I have said here.

Dominus Iesus (On the Unicity and Salvific University of Jesus Christ and the Church). This Vatican document speaks to the nature of the True Church and that which is not the true church properly so called.

Links on the Papacy and Magisterium

Links on Scripture and Tradition

Scripture Catholic Website providing scriptural evidence for the teaching of the Catholic Faith

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism also providing scriptural evidence for the teaching of the Catholic Church. Biblical Evidence for Catholicism

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary