No one doubts the essential value of the church which is to be the "ground and pillar of the truth". But the church is NOT the creator of the truth, God is and He gave us His divinely-inspired Scriptures, preserved all these thousands of years, for just that reason. The church is to teach what Scripture teaches and if they ignore it in an attempt to supersede God's word with man-made traditions, then they have perverted their authority and God will judge them.
As to your contention that so many non-Catholic Christian churches disagree sharply with each other on major doctrines of the Christian faith, I will answer that, as Dutchboy88 did, there are many denominations that have fallen away from the orthodox doctrines of the faith. There are many reasons why that happens, but blaming the Bible, and the dependence we are to have upon it, as the reason for that divergence is short sighted and wrong. Even in the first century there were heresies that departed from the faith and many of those same errors still exist today, they just pop up under different labels but the lie is still there. Even having a "universal" church so close to the original Apostles did not prevent the error from seeping in. That is the Devil's work - the sowing of the weeds among the wheat. When a church adheres to Scripture and continues to teach what it clearly does, they are right. When a church strays away from Scriptural teachings and goes down the path of "going along to get along", then they will be wrong and will bring judgment upon themselves. The same thing happens even in the so-called "orthodox" churches that claim antiquity. Many of their teachings have gone through a long stage of "development" and only vaguely resemble, or even don't at all, the early church they claim to still be.
So, again, your question about "Bible only" churches and who is and who isn't being deluded, the simple answer is that if they are true to Scripture AND the leading of the Holy Spirit, they will be in unity on the basic tenets of the Christian faith. When Scripture is not clear or where it is silent, then they will have liberty. In all things there should be charity. Jesus said the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another.
well bb, i would think that you should actually read the church fathers and note what they say about the teaching authority of the church, and its sole authority to interpret scripture, not just cherry pick a vague statement as if that was all that has been said.
Christ gave us a teaching church, as you noted, is the pillar and foundation of truth, not a bible, in fact were it not for His church, there would be no bible, which has protected it over the centuries.
It is the authoritative teaching church, that Christ himself built on Peter, and his successors, the Sacred Tradition and the Word itself....LONG BEFORE ANY BIBLE WAS EVER PUT TOGETHER.....
the church fathers knew this then, and we know it now, it would seem it is YOU who chooses to deny the history that is so readily available for review and study.
I did not reproduce your entire post, but it would be worth anyone re-reading in its entirety. Your remarks were eloquent and kind. You probably are gifted in a "merciful" way to provide the gentle encouragements you did in this post. They also seem to me to be completely in accord with the Scriptures. That is, truthful. Thank you for your contributions.