God had given men brains before He came to teach them Himself, and He came to teach them precisely because their brains could not succeed in finding out the things which were to their peace. If you say that His revealed teachings in the Scriptures together with our brains are enough, those very revealed teachings tell you that they are not. Even in the Old Law God said, “The lips of the Priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth.” Mai. II., 7. In the New Law Christ sent His Church to teach men, transferring to His Church that authority of God once possessed by the Priests of the Old Law. In the New Testament itself we find Philip the Deacon saying to the Ethiopian, who was reading the Scriptures, “Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?” and the Ethiopian replying, “And how can I unless some man show me?” Act VIII., 30. St. Peter, too, explicitly refutes your ideas. “No prophecy of Scripture,” he writes, “is of any private interpretation.” II. Pet. I., 20.
Radio Replies Volume 1 by Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble MSC and Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
Historical language and viewpoints in the original collection are preserved. For current official teaching, consult the Catechism and the Holy See.
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