Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
back
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History


Lily wrote:

Hi, guys —

I am not trying to argue but I feel I have a legitimate question that I would love answered.
It's my understanding you believe in the spoken and written Word of God.

  • If the Bible is the inspired Word of God, why wouldn't all your rules, sacraments, and traditions be in it?

I have nothing against the Catholic Church. I've just come across these questions while doing research.

Lily

  { If the Bible is the inspired Word of God, why aren't your rules, sacraments, and traditions in it? }

Mary Ann replied:

Hi, Lily —

Most of them are in the Bible. A few of the rules are like the rules any society has to have in order to function like:

  • How much to fast before Communion and
  • What you need to do to get married, etc.

All of the teachings are in Scripture or in harmony with Scripture, and were taught by the Apostles and by the first generation of Christian bishops. In the same manner, the Word of Christ was passed on.

Both Christ and Paul talk about hearing the Word of Christ, the Word received from the Lord, and received from His anointed preachers, so even Oral Tradition is Scriptural. If you get a Catechism of the Catholic Church, you will see that every teaching has a Scriptural reference.

Mary Ann

John replied:

Dear Lily,

Thanks for your question.

I would invite you to ponder these questions:

  • If the Bible is the sole rule of faith, shouldn't it say so somewhere in the Bible?
  • If it does Lily, could you please give us the chapter and verse?
  • Also, if the Bible is the sole rule of faith, then shouldn't the Bible tell us what books belong in the Bible?
  • Is there a list of books that should be in the Bible which can be found in any other Bibles themselves?
  • If not Lily, who decided which books belong in the Bible and which books didn't?

If your answer is the Church, then you are correct. So by accepting the list of books, you are accepting an authority outside the Bible, namely the Church.

St. Paul wrote to Timothy, and said the pillar and foundation of the truth is the Church.
(1 Timothy 3:15) We wouldn't have a Bible without the Church. In fact, the Church was up and running, preaching the Gospel and saving souls, for 382 years before she gave us the same list we have today.

The teachings of the Apostles were handed down from bishop to bishop. Each time a letter of Paul, or a Gospel, or any writing was circulated, it had to go to the Bishop first, before it could be read in public. The bishop would weigh the content of the written manuscript against what his predecessor had taught him. If it lined up, then it was accepted. If it didn't it was rejected, so it was only by the Church and by Tradition that we have the Bible that you now believe is the sole rule of faith.

You see once you accept the Bible as the sole rule of faith, you are indeed in an awkward position. The Bible was preserved and canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

If the Church is wrong about her doctrines such as the Sacraments, then it could have been wrong when it gave us the canon of Scripture. The very same process was used to preserve both. If you say the Church is wrong about the Sacraments, than you really have no basis for trusting the Bible.

Ponder this for a while. If you want more specifics about how the Bible was canonized, let me know. I'll be glad to give you more. In the mean time, think about it and pray about it.

If you are honest with yourself, you can only come to one conclusion.

God Bless,

John

Eric replied:

Hi, Lily —

I'm not sure what you mean. As you say, we believe that there is both the spoken Word of God, and the written Word of God. If we believe that some part of the Word of God is oral, this explains why not everything we believe to be revealed by God is found in the inspired Scriptures.

In short, we don't believe that everything needs to be in the Scriptures, because we don't believe that the Word of God is confined to the Scriptures.

That being said, most of what you are referring to has nothing to do with revelation or doctrine, but only with discipline and custom. They wouldn't be part of the Word of God anyway.

For example, not eating meat on Fridays is a discipline, and can be changed. The celibate clergy, while recommended by Jesus and Paul, is also a changeable discipline, and in fact not a few Catholic priests are married.

The existence of the sacraments is found in Scripture (you can inquire for details if you like).
The way the sacraments are celebrated, for the most part, is a matter of changeable tradition.

Some traditions hold divinely revealed truth, such as the Assumption of Mary or the canon of Scripture. Others we are free to change, such as when to celebrate certain feasts. In any case, no church is without its traditions.

I think there is an underlying assumption in your question that somehow everything is supposed to be in Scripture. This is like wondering why Memorial Day is not listed in the Constitution as a Federal holiday. Scripture was never intended to be an exhaustive reference on doctrine and worship. The Jews never saw it that way, and neither do we.

When I was a teenager I once spent a lot of effort trying to find the text of the wedding vows in Scripture. I was sure it had to be there, but after much fruitless searching, I had to conclude that it wasn't. I was ignorant about the purpose of the Scriptures. It's not intended as a ritual or liturgy guide. It's not intended as a work of systematic theology. It's not intended as a Catechism.

  • Some books are historical.
  • Some are addressed to specific communities in specific situations.
  • Some books communicate wisdom.
  • Some are personal letters.

They all vary and have different underlying assumptions, contexts, audiences, and so forth.
If it was intended as an A-Z reference, an exhaustive guide, it wouldn't have been written that way. Plus, if you put in all the rules, rituals, and traditions in there, there would be no room for adjusting for local conditions or needs of the time.

Eric

Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.