Sola Scriptura?

Catholics.We don't trust only the Bible.

Fundamentalist Christians gasp and say, "All your beliefs should come from the Bible!" "Your church shouldn't be the source of doctrine, only the Bible should!" "Sola Scriptura (by scripture alone)!"

Are they right?

Well, no. They have it the wrong way around.

First off, the Bible wasn't the source of doctrine until the 6th century. Until then, the Biblical Canon was not yet formed. Instead, word was passed down by the Church. The Bible did not create the Church, the Church created the Bible. For this reason alone, if the Church is not deemed credible, the Bible cannot be deemed credible either.

Secondly, the doctrine of "Sola Scriptura" is self-contradictory. If we are truly to trust the Bible only, where in the Bible does it teach "Sola Scriptura?"

Answer? Nowhere. There is not one verse in the Bible that states you must use the Bible as your sole source of doctrine. Actually, the Bible states quite the opposite! "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours (2 Thessalonians 2:15)." The Bible also tells us to hold onto teaching from the Church. "I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you (1 Corinthians 11:2)." From this, we can show that the Bible does not command us to use it as the only source of our doctrine.

Finally, we must ask this question:
"How did the early church create its doctrine?"

Remember, the early church had no printing-presses, meaning that you would need a hand-copied, 1,281 page book for every believer to read and interpret. Is that what actually happened? No.

The reason why the early church grew so fast wasn't because of people that were sitting around reading the Bible (because it didn't exist yet, see above). It was because of the Church, the apostles, preachers, and teachers that came to their communities and taught them what they were taught by Christ himself.

So this is where we end, with this thought.
Can we use the Bible alone to form all our doctrine?