The True Place of Scripture

It's sort of tough for me to admit it, but there was a time when I strongly disliked the Bible. I hated how everyone around me was twisting it to tell me what was true. As a protestant I had no final authority except for Scripture, and whoever had the strongest interpretation was who I believed. Of course, the argument of who's interpretation was strongest is very subjective, and as such my personal beliefs changed often.

At one point, just before discovering the Catholic Church, I even wished for a Christian Church that didn't use the Bible. It sounds sort of silly now, but I was being pulled in all these different directions and the Bible seemed to be at the root of it. In actuality it was men at the root of it, who had formed the Sola Scriptura heresy, but I had never even heard the term 'sola scriptura'. I just wanted to get away from the Bible.

Well I tried too hard I think. To this day I don't like reading Scripture. I love listening to it at Mass, but when I think "you need to knuckle down and start learning this" I turn away. I'm still too prejudiced against it.

See, I think part of me is afraid that I will start to put Scripture back on the pedestal that it doesn't belong on, the one Luther put it on so long ago. Scripture is the only inspired texts of our God, but it's given too much weight that is not counterbalanced by Sacred Tradition in the protestant religions. I am still working my mind around keeping these two Inspired Revelations on equal footing.

It is Catholic to view them as equal. God has not spoken only through Scripture, but through Oral Tradition, and these have both been passed on to us from our ancestors.

Anyway, I think I'm going to start using the Agape Bible Study Online to research more. I may even start with the Old Testament, as I don't have as much of a bias there because not many protestant teachings come from the Old Testament. I need to accept and welcome Scripture back into my life and leave behind the bad taste left by protestant interpretations.

St. Jerome would smack me silly...