Why don’t Catholics just rely on the Bible and not their traditions?

Why don’t Catholics just rely on the Bible and not their traditions?

Full Question

When will you Catholics realize that the Bible is the only thing needed by Christians? You don’t need man-made traditions.

Answer

Christians who lived during the crucifixion and over 30 years later had to do without the New Testament. And there were at least 80 years with no Book of Revelation, and still, Christians survived okay. You would agree that today, the Book of Revelation is one of the most critical of the Books in the Bible, yet why did those people go so many years without it? Many had died within those times without ever reading the words of the Apostles, and are they denied heaven in consequence? Does God say, “unless you read the words of the Bible, you will have no life in you”?

What about St Stephen, who died before any Pauline epistles were written? Is he therefore condemned? Or Ananias of Damascus, who baptized St Paul, is he condemned too because he had not lived to see St Paul’s or other Apostles’ writings?

Writings were traditional too

The argument is pretty simple: ALL the writings of the Apostles were “traditional” teachings and are true, not because they were written down but because they were speaking in the name of Christ who gave them and their successors the power to teach. He wanted them to speak of what they had seen and heard from him. This is the meaning of “traditional”. St Paul never read the words of Jesus because Our Lord didn’t write anything. Yet, who spoke of Jesus and of Salvation more eloquently than the glorious St Paul?

All they did was listen to the directives of Jesus, who said:

“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Acts 9:6

This is the meaning of “traditional” in the most fundamental sense of the term. From the Latin “tradere,” which means to hand over (not down), which means to pass along from one to another. This was the preferred method of transmission Jesus relied on even while on earth. He would speak and then send others to speak what they had heard. 

So Tradition and the Scriptures come from the same source, just like St John wrote at the end of his Gospel:

 “many other things did Jesus do and say, so many, I think, that if they were all written down the world itself would not be large enough to hold the books that would have to be written to hold them.” 

John 21:25

This clearly shows it is impossible to refute the fact that the Bible is a complete record of the Life and teachings of Jesus. Tradition is simply the unwritten, verbally transmitted portion of God’s word. These do not contradict Scripture but complete it. 

Think about it

So, Do you believe that Jesus gave the Apostles teaching authority, but that authority cannot be passed to another? 

False: They passed this authority when they chose to ordain Judas’ replacement and when they conferred mission on the deacons.

Do you believe that this power died after the death of the last Apostle?

So, are you saying Jesus had no power to sustain his Church as he promised? That somehow, his most prized possession was eclipsed in darkness? Because indeed, every Church as old as the Catholic Church believes and holds Sacred Tradition. So maybe, Jesus skipped several centuries and is just a few hundred years ago resumed saving people? This is a question Fundamentalists cannot possibly answer.

That authority is ‘immortal’

Jesus willed that his Church ministers Salvation to the world and commissioned his Apostles not only to preach but to send others with the same mission. The very mission Jesus received from the Father when he was anointed with the Holy Spirit is the very same He gave to his Apostles in totality. So, the APostles were anointed with the same Holy Spirit and given the same power of Jesus. A power attested to in the early Church by the miracles that proved it to unbelievers. So, the Apostles had the power to teach and also to confer the same power they received without spilling any.

That power is still active in the Church today. That same Apostolic power is what governs the Church to this day, fulfilling Christ’s promise never to leave us orphans. This is a promise we believe that no power on earth or in hell can change; this promise is a solemn vow from the All-powerful Groom to his beloved Bride.

That authority is immortal.

Why don’t Catholics just rely on the Bible and not their traditions?

Read More

• How to make it through the coronavirus health crisis with the Virgin Mary
• Mary – Her Beauty
• Five Questions for the Jehovah’s Witnesses