[Alex Murphy]

Of course, this is just one explanation. There are many other possible interpretations. What do you think?

So much for Catholics lecturing Protestants about "private interpretations" of scripture!

[RobbyS]

Because we think that private interpretations are often speculative and are not to be accepted if they conflict with the authority of the Church.

[NYer]

So much for Catholics lecturing Protestants about "private interpretations" of scripture!

Oh, Alex, your comment was expected. The author is referring to this passage:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away … And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna” (Matthew 5:29-30).

You are not a literalist, nor are we. The example he cited comes from his interpretation of that passage. What is yours?

[BlueDragon]

That guy is his own pope, I tell 'ya. ;^)

How dare he go to reading scripture on his own. the nerve of that guy!

In Southern Baptist seminaries, it was once commonly taught to not say, "this is what the bible says, and this is what it means" like closing a door upon possibility of anything further, but rather to say "this is what the bible says, and this is what it means to me".

There is a lot that can be said for that approach...
if we cannot trust the Lord to use His own word to do that work He sent it to do, then all the table pounding and book thumping in the world isn't going to get His message across. His Kingdom is not of this world.