Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
Mike claimed nobody can approach the Bible without “glasses,” and he critiqued both Catholic appeals to church authority (“guided into all truth”) and Protestant appeals to private illumination (“my God time will arrive at truth”); in your experience, how do those two errors actually show up, and what alternative way of knowing truth is Mike trying to build toward?
Another way to ask: How have you seen people rely too much on church authority on one side, or on “just me and my Bible” on the other? What different way of finding truth do you think Mike is pointing to?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
He says both systems can misuse “guided into all truth”—Catholics by locating it in changing church authority, Protestants by locating it in isolated individuals—resulting in conflicting “proof texts.” His alternative is a “right prescription” anchored in the apostles and the unified faith they handed down.
- Mike responds to “just the Bible is all we need” by saying nobody approaches Scripture “apart from glasses or some kind of bias.”
- He notes every church claims “we’re going by the Bible,” yet “there’s so many different denominations.”
- Catholic error (as he describes it): John’s promise is applied to “the church in general… church authority… and that’s why different traditions change.”
- Protestant error (as he describes it): people apply it “directly to themselves” thinking private “God time” guarantees truth.
- Result: debates become “their proof text versus your proof text… almost like the Holy Spirit versus himself.”
- He then proposes a path: “the key… is in three different areas… the apostles… the unified church… the faith… once for all delivered… charged the church to guard.”