I just finished listening to the debate series between Tim Staples of Catholic Answers and Steve Gregg, protestant radio host of The Narrow path.

This series of debates or conversations between these two men has been really exciting to listen to. Both men know their bibles inside out, so it was exciting to hear their interpretation of the common issues of contention between Catholics and Protestants. The issues covered included, Mary, The Eucharist, The Authority and others. Tim Staples did a great job defending the Catholic position on all these issues by just using the bible.

What these conversations show really well is how important is the issue of Authority in determining what is the true interpretation of the bible. Both men clearly know their bibles, both men disagree about what it says. This series has been a great insight into the mind of protestant and how they view Christianity. It also exposes some of the serious flaws in protestant teaching on sola scriptura.

Catholic Answers offers the debate on CD's for you to listen and own Get the CD's of the Debate here, you can also download the series from Steve Gregg's website. The talks took place between December 18 to December 22, 2006.

The bus is an interesting place. I often find that when I'm reading a Christian book, people notice me and sometimes start talking to me. One time I've been reading "Salvation is from the Jews" by Roy H. Schoeman and several people started talking to me and asking me questions about the book and its contents.

I often get asked if I am a Christian and what my book is about. Sometimes people tell me to watch what I'm reading, they do this as they hand me a little pamphlet which tells me what to do to be a good Christian. It's interesting to see what these pamphlets contain. Each denomination has its own idea of what is required to be "saved". I sometimes wonder what would happen if two Christians of different denominations met on a bus and exchanged each other's pamphlets. Which one is right? Will they both point to the same bible and try to argue their case?

The question of authority has always been an important one for me in my faith journey. Very early on I realized that the doctrine of "bible alone" does not make any sense at all, and is in fact not found anywhere in the bible. The bible doesn't tell us what books belong in it. (Not counting the index, of course, since that is not part of the bible. heh.) Why do we include books like Gospel of St. John and not Gospel of St. Thomas? Questions like that cannot be truly answered by any "bible only" Christian. The answer, however, is very simple and biblical. It is not the bible that is the pillar and foundation of truth is it the Church of God, just like St. Paul says in 1 Tim. 3:15.

It was the Church which is guided by the Holy Spirit who decided which books of the bible are inspired and which are not. This is an extremely important point, because if anyone accepts the authority of the bible, they must accept the authority of the Church, and to accept that is to stop being a "bible only" Christian. The Church was entrusted the mission to evangelize the entire world. It does this by its sacraments and its teachings found both in the bible and its living Tradition (2 Thess. 2:15, 1 Cor. 11:2).

Perhaps next time I'm handed a little pamphlet I will in return give the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a bit bigger, it has more content, all of it food for the soul. The biggest reason why I am Catholic is because it is the only Church who has the authority from Christ. Authority I believe before I believe anything in the bible. With St. Augustine I say If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, ‘I do not believe’? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so