Apologetics for the Masses #357 - Isn't that just your opinion?

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Isn't That Just Your Opinion?

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General Comments

Hey folks,

The following link is to a story that I came across last week (although it was originally printed in 2009) which may be the best thing I have ever personally read on the internet. It is a beautiful story of a Catholic mother and her paralyzed son. It is a story of love, sacrifice, hope, endurance, and perseverance. Personally, I think it is the story of one or two, maybe even three, people who should be considered for sainthood. It's a bit long, but it is well worth every second. You will be greatly edified by reading it, at least, I was.

Amazing Story

Introduction

Okay, after last week's newsletter went out, I received the email below - which had also been sent to me many weeks earlier (but, as with most emails I get, went unanswered for want of time) - from Robert. Robert is Catholic, but had a very valid question. So, I thought I would answer his question in this newsletter.

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Email from Robert

John,

Thank you for you fantastic Bible Christian Society. I really look forward to all your emails and I continue to support your ministry whenever I can. I did have a question. I asked once before, but never heard back, so I thought I would try again:

How do we know your opinion on the Church's authority is true? How do we know the Catholic church is infallible? Can't I just argue that it is your fallible opinion that the verses you quote mean what you think they mean? You constantly argue against the Protestant view because it is strictly their opinion and carries no more weight than my opinion, but can't the same be said about the claims of the Catholic church being infallible just be your opinion and your interpretation of those verses in the bible?

Your last email regarding binding and losing, isn't it just your opinion that when Jesus gave the apostles the authority to bind and lose that it meant:

"The power to 'bind and loose' connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church."

Who says the power to bind and loose connotes that authority? Isn't that just your (or the Catholic Church's) opinion and is no more valid than my opinion?

Like I said, I love your letter and your ministry and I fully support you, I am just trying to better understand my own faith in the Church.

Thank you and God Bless,

Robert

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My Response

First, please note that I am going to answer this question within a Christian context. I will be answering as I would answer any non-Catholic Christian. If I were talking to an atheist, or some other kind of non-Christian, there would be some extra steps involved as I would not be able to make the assumptions that I am going to make here at the beginning.

Assumption 1: We can agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, 2nd Person of the Trinity, and that He walked the Earth 2000-years ago.

Assumption 2: We can agree that Jesus started a church (Matt 16:16-19).

Assumption 3: We can also agree that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God.

Okay, assuming those common areas of agreement, I will answer the questions posed by Robert's email. And the first thing that I am going to do is agree with what he said: My opinions/interpretations of what Scripture does or doesn't say, and the Catholic Church's opinions/interpretations of what Scripture does or doesn't say, are no more valid than the opinions/interpretations of any Protestant in any pew in any church on the face of this planet. I say that, however, with one caveat - what I just said is true, if and only if, Protestant theology is true.

In Protestant theology, my opinion/interpretation holds no more weight than any other person's opinion/interpretation or that of any church's opinion/interpretation. I say that all the time. That is a Catholic's "ace-in-the-hole" when it comes to any discussion of theology with a Protestant. In Protestant theology, as I stated most recently in last week's newsletter, there is no claim, by anyone, to infallibility. Not only is there no claim to infallibility, but it is generally taught throughout Protestantism that there is no such thing as infallibility in regards to human beings.

So, in Protestant theology, it is my fallible, non-authoritative, non-binding, personal opinion as to what this or that passage of Scripture means vs. your fallible, non-authoritative, non-binding, personal opinion as to what this or that passage of Scripture means. That's the best a Protestant can do in a discussion of Scripture with a Catholic...is to pit their fallible opinion vs. your fallible opinion and to try and bully you into believing their opinion is more valid than your opinion. But it's not! And this fact about Protestant theology is why we have tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of Protestant denominations and non-denominations - because every one's fallible opinion holds the same weight as everyone else's fallible opinion. The opinion of the scholar holds the same weight as the opinion of the fool. The opinion of the pastor holds the same weight as the opinion of the lay person. This is the Achilles heel of Protestantism.

Which means Robert's question is in fact the reality...when we are talking Protestant theology. Not so, though, when it comes to Catholic theology. Remember our assumptions. Jesus - God - started a church. Every Christian I know of believes that. Also, the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God. Most folks who call themselves "Christian" believe that - the exception being a number of people in some of the mainline Protestant denominations who don't.

But, who wrote the inspired, inerrant, Word of God? Well, logic, as well as history, tells us it had to be people who were in the church founded by Jesus Christ. And, whose witness do we believe when we agree that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God? Well, logic, and history - and the Preface to the King James Bible - tell us it was the church founded by Jesus Christ.

Which means, in order for us to be able to trust that our Bible is indeed inspired by God, and that it is indeed without error, we have to have someone, somewhere, that we can rely on as being absolutely authoritative and trustworthy. In other words, someone who is infallible in their witness to Scripture - infallible in their decision regarding which books are, and are not, to be considered the inspired, inerrant, Word of God. I mean, if the person, or persons, or organization that tells us the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God is prone to error - if they are not infallible in their witness to Scripture - then that means we have no sure way of knowing that the Bible is, in fact, what we believe it to be - the inspired, inerrant, Word of God. Without an infallible witness to Scripture, we are left with the fact that the Bible may not be the Word of God and that it could contain error in any, or all, of its parts.

Where does that leave us? It leaves us with knowing, from logic, that an infallible person or group of persons - given the assumptions we mentioned earlier - had to have given us the Bible. Since Protestantism denies infallibility altogether - on behalf of individuals or of any given church - then we know that Protestants did not give us the Bible and we know that they are relying on the authority of some person, or group of persons, outside of Protestantism in order to have the Bible in the first place and in order to know that it is what they think it is.

Given all of that, let's come back to Robert's question about my opinions vs. Protestant opinions. I don't give you my opinions. I give you what the Catholic Church teaches because - according to Tradition, Tradition backed up by history and logic - I believe the Catholic Church is that Church founded by Jesus Christ and is that group of persons that infallibly gave us the inspired, inerrant, Word of God that we know as the Bible. So, my opinions are not on the table to be disputed. What I give you that is mine, is my logic. Given what the Church founded by Jesus Christ teaches, I draw logical conclusions. Given what the Protestants teach, I draw logical conclusions. Dispute my logic if you will, but do not say I am giving you my opinion.

That leaves us with the Catholic Church's "opinions". Well, since Protestants don't even claim infallibility - and, by the way, neither do the Orthodox churches - then logic dictates that the only possible option for the Church that gave us the Bible, is the Catholic Church. Furthermore, history agrees with that conclusion. So, what I am giving you in my newsletters, are arguments for the Catholic position, and contra the Protestant position, that are based on the teachings of the Church founded by Jesus Christ, which is the Church that infallibly gave us the inspired, inerrant, Word of God and which are also based on sound logic and, dare I say, common sense.

So, my question in response to Robert's question (and, please remember, he is simply playing devil's advocate with his question), is that the authoritative teaching of the infallible Church that Jesus founded and which gave us the Bible as we have it today, regarding any given passage of the Bible, carries a whole lot more weight than the "opinion" of any given Protestant or Protestant church that not only doesn't claim infallibility, but denies it altogether. I.e., they inherently admit that they are just giving you a fallible, non-authoritative opinion whenever they make a statement about the Bible and its meaning and any and all matters pertaining to doctrine and morals.

And, again, my comments are not my opinions, rather they are my arguments that are based on the Catholic Church's teaching and on sound logic. Confute my logic, show me where the Catholic Church is not the Church founded by Jesus, convince me that we can know our Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God without there having to necessarily be an infallible witness to that fact, and then you can call what I write, "Just my opinion." But until then, I will simply say that my arguments carry no more authority than any other person's arguments, but my arguments are based on way more than just my opinion.

In the end, you cannot get around the fact that Protestant theology is flawed at its core. The Bible is the sole authoritative and inerrant source of all teaching on doctrine and morals, according to Protestant theology. Yet, they can't know for sure that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God without an infallible source to tell them so. But, they don't believe there could be an infallible source that could tell them so. Which means, they can't know for certain that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God - it could have error in some, or all, of its parts. Which means, they can't be sure about anything they teach as being true. Yet, they teach it anyway.

Closing Comments

I didn't have time to go back through what I wrote with the kind of scrutiny I usually give these newsletters, so I hope it wasn't too messy.

I hope all of you have a great week!

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