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And right here we see the root of the problem: individual interpretation of Scripture. The doctrine of individual interpretation gives each individual Christian the power to make the Bible say anything they want it to say; instead of one Christian Church, united in doctrine and belief, we now have millions and millions of "churches", each with a congregation of one, each headed by a Papacy of one. All hail Pope B-chan! Long live Pope AlbionGirl!

Obviously, this doctrine is flawed. If every Christian is free to interpret Scripture as they see fit, then there is no one correct interpretation; after all, who is Pastor Bob at my local church to say that his take on a given Scriptural teaching is better than mine? Thinking like this leads to "denomination shopping", as believers leave one congregation to find or create another that better lines up with their own personal doctrinal tastes.

It also leads to splits in congregations; if enough of the members of Pastor Bob's Full Gospel Berean Lighthouse of Faith decide that ol' Bob's full of it, all they have to do is rent out some space in the abandoned strip mall down the block and start their own church, usually centered on some younger and better-looking chaismatic figure from the old church. Presto! Pastor Keith's Universal Full Gospel Berean Citadel of Praise is born!

Western people, who have grown up in a culture that makes gods of individual gratification and democratic values, are people are full of pride. They don't like anybody telling them what to do, how to behave, or what to believe. The thought of submitting like a peasant to anybody's judgements -- parents', cops', politicians', or priests' -- is intolerable to most Westerners. This is why there are so many Protestant denominations, schisms, and splinters of splinters: because people will not submit to any authority, temporal or spiritual, that tends to contradict their own wishes or beliefs. "Nobody's got the right to tell me what to do!" we think.

But what if someone does have that right?

This is why the Catholic Church was instituted by Christ: to serve as the final earthly authority on what is and what is not authentic Christian belief. When Our Lord invested in St. Peter the authority to bind and loose, to forgive or refuse to forgive sins, He did so because He knew that people are full of pride and would quickly develop false doctrines based upon their own thoughts and ideas. "Every man is righetous in his own eyes." . By vesting Peter and his succesors with His own Divine authority, however, Our Lord created a solid rock of unchanging dogma upon which His people could stand while building the City of God. Just as a house built on rock can withstand any storm He tells us, so will the House of God (the Church) stand firmly on the Rock of Peter, and "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." Meanwhile, houses built on the shifing sand of individual interpretation split open, are divided, and crumble. History has proven the truth of that teaching.

Christianity is a family, not a self-help program; the Bible is a textbook and a family album, not a do-it-yourself manual. Just as every family has an earthly head, so too does God's family -- and the head of the family is the final authority in that family. The next time you read the Bible, ask yourself: where did this Bible come from? Who determined which texts were Divinely inpired Scripture and which were not? The answer, of course, is that the successors of St Peter did -- in other words, the Bishop of Rome and the other bishops in union with him. One you realize that, you'll realize that even a "Bible Christian" must eventually rely on the teaching and traditions of the Catholic Church -- because the Church existed before there was a Bible, and because without the Church there would be no Bible.

And since God gave the Church the authority to define Scripture itself, it necessarily follows that He further gave it the authority to definitively interpret Scripture.

Every Christian accepts the authority of some Pope: either the Pope of Rome, Pope Pastor Bob, or "Pope Me". The only question is: in which pope are you going to place your trust?