On the contrary. Quite the opposite is the case. Look in this mirror and see your reflection:
"...engaging [in] what I will call from here on "trailer park scholarship" .... Who are these people trying to kid? Their scholarship, as a whole, is reckless and pitiable; what they know, they have learned from reading a few popular books with no conception of the broader issues and fields at hand. .. "Why did God make the Bible so hard to understand, then?" It isn't -- none of this keeps a person from grasping the message of the Bible to the extent required to be saved; where the line is to be drawn is upon those who gratuitously assume that such base knowledge allows them to be competent critics [or commentators] of the text, and make that assumption in absolute ignorance of their own lack of knowledge -- what I have elsewhere spoken of in terms of being "Unskilled and Unaware of it: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments" ["It is one of the essential features of such incompetence that the person so afflicted is incapable of knowing that he is incompetent. To have such knowledge would already be to remedy a good portion of the offense. .....Incompetent individuals will suffer from deficient metacognitive skills, in that they will be less able than their more competent peers to recognize competence when they see it-be it their own or anyone else's. ...] If they would at least admit that it might be a possibility that they are incompetent, then it is possible for them to educate themselves so as to be able to recognize incompetence in those they look to as "Bible teachers":
For instance, they could go here: Apologetics Index, notice some alphabet letters, and click on the L and that will link them to the Left Behind Series (Note: Due to its faulty theology, these books are not recommended by Apologetics Index).
And they could realize that there were people promoting variations of those same sorts of ideas long before Darby, LaHaye, et.al., came along.-LOL bttt
Quite an interesting post, and link...I find it fascinating that your church teaches it's members that the average Catholic can not understand the Bible...The average Catholic can not know God thru the Bible...
Superior intelligence and education are required to understand what God has to say to his people...
But the very same Bible that you claim I can't possibly understand says that Jesus provides the understanding...
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures,...
Now you're likely to tell me that in that context, the understaning was only given to apostles, bishops and popes...
But Paul however has something else to say about it...
1Co 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Looks like grace has something to do with knowledge for the average Christian...
1Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Now Paul didn't waste 10 seconds trying to prove how smart he was by going to the original Hebrew...
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Paul, as a Christian got his knowledge from the Holy Spirit...
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God...
God reveals to us by his Spirit...Doesn't say anything about a chuch...
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
And we as saved Christians have received THAT Spirit...
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
But we have the mind of Christ...
And one more verse that you won't find in a Catholic Bible as it's written here...
2Ti 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Study, and rightly divide the word of truth...
If you have an 8th grade education, you can know what God has to say as well as anyone whith a PHd...God did not reserve 'any' of the Bible for popes, bishops or apostles...
Study, rightly divide the word of truth, believe what you are reading (don't worry about understanding, God will provide that) and tons of prayer...
Have a nice day...