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To: Campion
By the way, there is no teaching of the Church that says lay people cannot "understand the Scriptures on their own". (Why would we read them at Mass, if they were incomprehensible to the laity?)

It's one thing to call words....but to understand the message of the texts is something else.

The Council of Trent sure seemed to come down against people reading the Scriptures on their own and trying to understand them. Highlights and comments mine.

Furthermore, in order to restrain petulant spirits, It decrees, that no one, relying on his own skill, shall,--in matters of faith, and of morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, --wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold; [Page 20] or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers; even though such interpretations were never (intended) to be at any time published.

[I like this....Rome admits they don't have the positions of the ECFs on the Scriptures as they weren't published!]

Contraveners shall be made known by their Ordinaries, and be punished with the penalties by law established. https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct04.html

As the typical Roman Catholic is no where near versed in the myriad of writings of Rome.....how do you know for sure what you're hearing is correct?

We're back to the original question....how can you, a regular Roman Catholic, not a priest, understand the Scriptures on your own?

25 posted on 08/04/2018 4:02:39 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: ealgeone
wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold

I think that agrees exactly with what I said above.

We're back to the original question....how can you, a regular Roman Catholic, not a priest, understand the Scriptures on your own?

But that wasn't the original question.

I answered your question precisely above: by understanding them in a way consistent with what the Church has taught throughout her history.

I'm not sure why you're setting up a dichotomy between "me, a regular Roman Catholic" and "a priest". A priest isn't any more entitled to interpret the Scriptures "contrary to that sense which holy mother Church ... hath held and doth hold" than a layman is.

27 posted on 08/04/2018 4:10:47 PM PDT by Campion
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To: ealgeone
I think it's rather odd that you seem to assume that "understanding the Scriptures on your own" and "understanding the Scriptures in a way contrary to the traditional teaching of the Church" are automatically one and the same.

I don't accept that equivalence.

28 posted on 08/04/2018 4:12:58 PM PDT by Campion
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