I did not mean that at all. I have never said such a thing. I am not claiming any sort of "infallible reading ability" and I am Catholic. We as Catholics have a wide lattitude in reading the Scriptures. I have tried to explain this - saying is that when there is a disagreement on an article of faith - for example, is Jesus God (Arianism of the fourth century), we are to turn to our leaders and the Tradition once given. Otherwise, the Church would split and fracture into many denominations. The Church doesn't have a guide book on individual verses!
Also, I do not find where the Bible says that the Spirit leads individuals, even Roman Catholics, to understand the Bible SEPERATELY from the community. We see this in Acts 8, for example. We see this in the mere appointment of leaders to protect the once-given faith. Now, if you can point to me where the Bible says otherwise, I am listening. But if you intend on repeating the same mantra that the Catholic Church teaches "x" when she doesn't, then all I can do is explain our teachings. It is up to you to accept them or not. All I ask is you be honest with yourself and try to understand what I am actually saying, not what you think I say based on what your pastor told you about the evils of Catholicism.
My contention was that the Spirit leads ALL believers in faith to take in God's word, and you were disagreeing with that.
There is a huge difference in "taking in God's Word" and fully understanding every verse to the point of disagreeing with what the Church teaches. Faith comes from HEARING the Word proclaimed - seeing it in action, not from reading.
Regards
OK, then my mistake and I'm sorry.
We as Catholics have a wide latitude in reading the Scriptures. I have tried to explain this ...
I remember. I think you said something along the lines that there were really only a few specific verses that MUST be read as "x". I countered that those readings, though, necessarily affect the interpretation of many other verses, thus affecting their "allowed" interpretations indirectly. But the bigger issue is the decrees by Councils and Popes. Those decrees affect MANY verses all at the same time.
Quick example, while I'm sure there is no direct edict on how to read Rom. 3:23, you are not free to interpret it as you wish because it must comply with the dogma (doctrine?) that Mary was sinless. Another example would be all the abortion verses. Now YOU and I would fully agree on those, but the same issue arises. I do know that on the little stuff good Catholics are free to take very different stands. I just don't see a lot of wiggle room on anything of great importance. AND, that is a principle that I see Catholicism standing on! So, I don't understand how one can say simultaneously that Catholicism is good because it is a monolithic faith of unity and surety, and yet Catholicism is also good because you are allowed to freely read the Bible with a wide latitude. To me, those conflict.
But in any event, the topic we were discussing was whether the Holy Spirit leads people to read the Bible, and to what level reading the Bible is helpful to the Christian. I simply believe that the Holy Spirit leads all believers to come closer to Him. One of a few different ways to do that is by learning His word. And, there might be a wide scale on the usefulness of reading scriptures to different believers, but I think that the more faith one has, the more useful they are. We don't need to flash a library card to get into Heaven, but I can report that learning God's word has made a tremendous difference in my life.
Also, I do not find where the Bible says that the Spirit leads individuals, even Roman Catholics, to understand the Bible SEPERATELY from the community.
When you first said "community" I took that to mean RCC, and that's how it all started (yada yada). If you mean community of all believers, then I would agree with you. If we took all the things that you, I, the Orthodox, and anyone else we all agree are Christians, all believe in, then the Spirit would not lead anyone to believe outside of THAT. Are we getting better? :)
There is a huge difference in "taking in God's Word" and fully understanding every verse to the point of disagreeing with what the Church teaches.
I do disagree with much of the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, but I don't claim to have any sort of global understanding of every verse. Not even close.
Faith comes from HEARING the Word proclaimed - seeing it in action, not from reading.
I would say that faith itself is a gift of God via grace, but my faith has certainly grown by witnessing the word in action by others. There can be no doubt. We are all commanded to "walk the walk" and live an outward faith as well as have it inside. By "HEARING" do you mean watching others act in every day life? I thought you meant oral preaching, and didn't understand how that was so different from reading the same thing, just on the level of the "word" itself.