Apologetics for the Scripturally Challenged

by John S. Martignon

Whenever Catholics talk about our faith with Protestants, the most frequently asked question is "Where is that in the Bible?" We are told over and over that this or that teaching of our faith isn’t in the Bible. These folks don’t care what the Pope says or what the Catechism says or what Vatican II says: They want to know what the Bible says—period. So if you as a Catholic are not prepared to answer the question "Where is that in the Bible?" you may not get very far when it comes to religious dialogue.

From my experience, many a Catholic holds the mistaken notion that nearly every Protestant knows the Bible better than he does. Protestants may have memorized more passages than you, but that is not the same thing as knowing the Bible better. Catholics are more familiar with the Bible than they might think they are, because they have heard it throughout countless Masses without necessarily realizing that they were hearing Scripture.

As Catholics, we have the magisterium of the Church as our guide when we open the Bible. Non-Catholic Christians have no such authentic guide for interpreting Scripture. They have their own personal, fallible interpretations to rely on. They have no authority, other than their own imagination, within which to interpret Scripture properly.

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