Its comments like these that make me wonder how Catholics get through their every day lives. You apparently can't see a blatant contradiction when one appears. Do you really have to be told what to do every single second of the day?
No. But then again, you are characterizing my argument. My point is not that I need the Church to hold my hand as I read Scripture and tell me what every single verse means, because I am too stupid to understand. Taken GENERALLY, one can read Scripture and figure it out.
However, Scripture is NOT my personal property. Scripture belongs to the Body of Christ. Thus, if I want to truly understand it--then I read it--through my union with the larger Body of Christ and not in isolation of that larger community. I submit my personal judgement to that of the Church and I submit to the authority of the Church to teach me. Does a student read their text book in isolation from their teacher and the tradition in which that text book was authored and written?
Besides--need I point out the irony of you saying "You don't need the Church to tell you what Scripture means" while--then attempting to explain to me what Scripture means? If I do not need Rome, I do not need YOU either.
Or do you possess the mental capabilities to function on your own?
My Faith is individual, but my Faith is not private. My Faith is individual, but my Faith is not isolated. In other words--I live my Faith as part of a larger body. My Faith is exercised as part of a larger body.
Its called context. There is also something called discernment. Which Catholics struggle with here on a daily basis.
Only if one believes the Protestant caricatures.
Hmm, did i say 'the usa is the church'? No, i simply meant that after 200 years a lot has changed in the usa. What'll it look like in another 200? Your argument is after Augustine things were pretty set as far as infant baptism. That's 400 years after the birth of the church. A lot has changed in church history. Who cares if infant baptism was the majority? It wasn't in the first century or the bible.
And yet--people who were a lot closer to the time of the Apostles and early Church, and a lot smarter than you or I thought it WAS. I would say---their teaching is a lot more relevant--than some anonymous Protestant fundamentalist on a website.
Put another way--I should dismiss the teaching of the ECF on the subject of infant Baptism.......but.......accept YOUR teaching--becasue---some anonymous Protestant fundamentalist on a website-----is a more credible witness as to what the Scriptures teach and mean, WHY EXACTLY?
Put yet another way---"You don't need Rome to tell you what the Scriptures mean. You can read and understand Scriptures for yourself.....now listen to me tell you why you are wrong about infant Baptism and why the Scriptures don't teach it..."
If you have to employ eisegesis in scripture to get to you teaching, then yes, its not only not implicit but its not explicit either.
Again---the irony: "'You don't need the Church to tell you what Scripture means. You can read Scripture for yourself and understand them. Now listen to me explain to you why you need me to show you how to properly 'exegete' the Scriptures, becasue if you don't listen to me, you might fall in to eisegesis...'" Again, if I don't need Rome, I do not need you either.
See, when Protestants use that stupid "You don't need Rome" bit--they prove too much. Fine. I don't need "Rome." But I don't need YOU either.
So in your view something that is implicit in the bible can after time become explicit? I don't buy that at all. You are saying for instance; The bible says a lot about prayer and no one in the bible prays to anyone other than God. But wait a second, hundreds or even thousands of years later BAM prayer to the dead is explicit! Is that how it works?
That is a bit of a caricature, but----yeah, sort of!
What I am saying is that the light gets brighter through the centuries, not darker. Not everything the Scriptures teach, or implications of other things that ARE in the Scriptures was immediately apparent to the infant Church. The Spirit guides the Church into ALL TRUTH. Thus, as the Church reflects on and meditates on the Scriptures---and what the Scriptures teach, the Church is lead to an even deeper understanding of the Truths, as well as the implications of the Truths that are in Scripture. Hence, that which was implicit in the Scriptures, as time progresses is made more explicit.