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Show M CONTROVERSY ON THE BIBLE The Catholic Side Presented Charge of Subj ctlon to Human Authority i ; ( Refuted. (Written for the Intermountain Catholic.) The Catholic Church teaches and- has always taught that the Bible is the inspired word of God. That is an article of faith. Therefore it is an essential es-sential condition for every member,' or those who v M; to become members of the Catholic Church. I ft.-on Catholics and orthodox Protestants, now I liplniiig the higher critics on the question of in- ; tpiraiion, there is no difference, except on two I pints, namely, first, what books constitute the I cam'n of scriptures, and second, the arguments that I jsre adduced to prove that the Bible is the inspired 1 word of God. In the canon of scriptures as de- fined by the Catholic Church are certain books, de-I de-I !n rod to be inspired, which are eliminated from I the King James version. Waiving, for the present, ; the arguments in favor of the canonical book's, to- pcthcr with the arguments adduced by the Catholic I CI lurch to prove the inspiration of the Bible, the j writer will confine himself to the question, "Which church. Catholic or protestant, does the Bible favor?"' ; The reformers, after withdrawing their alleg- ; ihik-c from the Catholic church, strove to justify j their protest on the graunds that the church con-j con-j ceded the Bible and gave to the people as a eubsti-l eubsti-l tnte the traditions of men thus making Void the divine authority of the Bible. If as alleged, and : believed by the masses of Protestants, they have in j their Bible the words of God, therefore His 'authority, 'au-thority, whilst Catholics have only the words and j Authority of the church or of men; the boast, that ' they, bound only by the' authority of God, were ' truly freemen, would bo true.. '"Because there" is j 310 power but from God.' But why could not a Catholic have the authority of God through ,the teachings of the church? Could not God give His I words and authority through a teaching body duly commissioned by Him? Xo, say they. Then we retort re-tort by saying that the Bible itself was given through men. The Xcw Testament, like the deca-( deca-( logur. whs not written by the finger of God, but by men. God could then, if He so willed, transmit His authority -in-tire-Bible, through the teachings , cf rVie church'.' Wc come to the question of .men-" 11 fiwdom. which they claim a monopoly. They are not free to disbelieve the Bible, as their atti- tude towards the higher critics clearly show. They I iv not free to believe anything contrary to the ' , t-liing of the Bible. Bound down by the authority j i of 'he Bible the" enjoy no more mental freedom tl'aii the Catholic who obeys the divine authority ff the church. Released from church authority, flnd freedom to follow one's own opinion, say they, hive hern the advance vanguards of independent thought, and the glorious inheritance of the re-f'-niiers. Not at all. Luther and Calvin never luiide such concessions. The modern doctrine of private judgment they would and did repudiate. I ellowing the principles of their protest against the church, they asserted the authority of their own j private judgment against that of popes or general councils. Their claim was simply to set aside the I .Miihnrity of the church by a higher authority to which their followers were as strictly bound, as I were Catholics to the divine authority of the ; church when she defined articles of faith. Was ; !Mi-hneI Servctus, who, by order of Calvin, -was burned to death, because he was a heretic, free? henry and practice are two very different things. I he denial of the authority of the church's teach- ! ings merely gives the individual who is bound by I thf authority of the Bible, the privilege of select- i'ig any one of the multifarious interpretations given by the secti to which he may henceforth give j l is allegiance. In becoming a member of that church, it exercises as much authority over him, n the Catholic Church does over its member. But the authority which they exercise is . confessedly human,- and to submit to human authority is men-t.'d men-t.'d .-da very in matters of faith.- As far as the, j C.Tilirdic-and Protestant rule apply to. the Bible, j tne inrmer. at the very worst, enjoys as much free- !oni as the lalter, is chewing the freedom of Pro-t' Pro-t' stiuit higher critics, who reject the Bible as the inspired word of God. ' To justify their protest the reformers main-i main-i imedihat the authoritative-teaching of the Cath- .- clh- church openly contradicts the teaching of the , Ihble. A serious charge, and if substantiated h t ' v,,uld l.e unanswerable. Because all Catholics ad- - 1,i!t that the Bible contains the written word of ("id. and are bound to believe what it teaches. To be certain that Catholic teaching contradicts Bihlieal teaching two things are needed, first, to knew the exact meaning and true sense of the eripture, and ,seoond to know the exact meaning "'id true sense of that particular dogmatic church -t( celling that is supposed to conflict with the ie. As to the first, the Protestant has no infal-'Ji'je infal-'Ji'je means of ascertaining, and as to the second -R:-iencc teaches that he is grossly ignorant. 3bw then establish the charge, that the Catholic I church, in her teaching, contradicts the teaching r,f the Bible. It can not be done. A accuses B of' vi"l;iiing the law. B denies the charge- A produces ; the law, and says, "now you see how you have vio- d this law according to my interpretation. B answers, "Very true, but how do you know that .eur meaning. is the true meaning? I give an en-' i tiiely different meaning to that statute." A and B r"nsult their lawyers, and strange enough the law- 'f-i's agree, each with his own-client on the mean-, ing. though contradictory, they put on the statute. J-gan knowledge can not settle the difBculy, nor reach a compromise. Then it goes before the court end the judge, who interprets the law, decides who pave the true meaning to the supposed violated F'atute. Does this settle the difficulty? Xo. The , judges knowledge of the law is questioned, and an f,Ppcal from his decision is taken to a higher court. his court of last appeal decides, and the decision s s finaL But it would not be if there was one still - 1 higher, to which the de-feated lawyer and his cli-j cli-j f nt could appeal. Without judge, jury, or a Jaw-' Jaw-' " lTr to. present her case, the Protestant says the -uiolio Church violates or contradicts the law of M God which is to be found in the Bible. Without knowing, for he is confessedly fallible, the true meaning he pronounces judgment on the meaning given by the Catholic Church. Their interpretation interpreta-tion of a certain text of Scripture, for example, "This is my body,' is diametrically opposed fo hers. The Protestant says, "you are wrong," and she answers, "no1 1 am right." At the very lowest her assertion is of equal weight with theirs. The English Eng-lish Parliament decides against the Catholic Church, but she objects to the decision on the ! ground of incompetency or lack of . jurisdiction. So it goes, the farce ends where, it began'.. Since the birth cif Protestantism in the sixteenth century i ,., 7 , ; . ... there is not one instance where the church contradicts contra-dicts the Bible, nor prior to that period, as the supposed instances depend solely on the interpretation interpre-tation placed on texts of Scriptures by '. fallible men, or women who are more arrogant in their claims than the great Catholic Church. Take, for example, Mrs. Eddy's pretensions in remodelling religion, and finding in the Bibfe a spang new creed. Her say so settles the most abstruse question. The Bible bids us beware of the traditions of men, but the Catholic Church commands that we observe the traditions of faith, i.e.. the apostolic' tradition, like the observance of Saturday; ';vhicTj ; WaV' te'Shb- bath day. This change is not fohnU'lafnc'-written . word. The arguments against the church when . sifted and weighed, will' all be found to be mere sophisms, or as the logicians say "begging the .question." In submitting to the authority of the Bible, the Protestant stands on the same plane as the Catholic whom he accuses of submitting to human authority, because the divine word reaches him only through human agencies. F. D. : 4 |