The general populace is stupid. Why do you think that they voted for Obama and McCain, and Communists?
“There are as many sects now and beliefs as there are heads. This fellow has nothing to do with baptism. Another one denies the sacraments. A third believes there is another world between this one and the last day. Some teach that Christ is not God. Some say this, some say that. There is no rustic so rude that if he dreams or fancies anything believes it must be the whisper of the Holy Spirit and that he himself must be a prophet.” (Martin Luther)
If you concede that some men may be holier than others, wiser than others, or have assistance from the Holy Spirit not enjoyed by each individual, or if you concede that generations of men laboring down the centuries may add to and refine our understanding of the Scriptures in a way no single lifetime would allow...
Well, then, it becomes impossible to claim that one’s own understanding is as good as anyone else’s, or that one can open up the Bible on any old day and read any scripture, and understand it completely and correctly.
As G. K. Chesterton wrote, “There is no other case of one continuous intelligent institution that has been thinking about thinking for two thousand years. Its experience naturally covers nearly all experiences; and especially nearly all errors. The result is a map in which all the blind alleys and bad roads are clearly marked, all the ways that have been shown to be worthless by the best of all evidence: the evidence of those who have gone down them.”
To maintain faith in YOPIOS, one must cavalierly dismiss twenty centuries of the spiritual and intellectual work product of history’s greatest minds and holiest men as nothing more than something done by other men.
What did you just say?
Interestingly, Catholics tend to be Democrats and vote Democratic.
To maintain faith in YOPIOS, one must cavalierly dismiss twenty centuries of the spiritual and intellectual work product of history’s greatest minds and holiest men as nothing more than something done by other men.
I'm not even going to get started on the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It's already common knowledge.
That's what you're appealing to.
Well, then, it becomes impossible to claim that one’s own understanding is as good as anyone else’s, or that one can open up the Bible on any old day and read any scripture, and understand it completely and correctly.
Then those you hold up as *holy* or *spiritual* are in just the same situation.