The Roman Catholic Church declares (The Documents of Vatican II, ed. waiter M. Abbott [New York: Herden and Herden, 1966] p. 116. Dei Verbum, 8.):

“It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred Scriptures and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.”

Compare the statement above with the statement below by one of the leading Protestant authorities, Pastor James White:

“The Scriptures are not in need of any supplement.  Their authority comes from their nature as God-breathed revelation.  Their authority is not dependent upon man, Church or council.  The Scriptures are self-consistent, self-interpreting, and self-authenticating.”

I would have to humbly say that Rome’s definition is much more logical. White’s definition amounts to a near idolatry of the written text, as if the text speaks audibly. One will say that it does indeed speak audibly “through the Spirit.” If this is the case, then why have pastors and teachers? Why not just let the Spirit do all the teaching? through the Bible? The statement that the authority of the Scripture is not dependent on the Church is absolutely ridiculous.

True Sola Scriptura is the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek and Aramaic New Testament. Try reading and digesting that. That is the Bible without the Church (actually the Bible without the Church is just an empty set of pages, but this is another argument)! You see, we could not even begin to understand the Bible without the help of the Church. Minds of the Church must come together to determine just what each passage says and means, which laws are to be obeyed and which are to be dismissed, which people of the Bible were godly and which were not, etc.

The difference between Catholic revelation and Protestant revelation is that Catholic revelation involves the minds of the leadership, which has been ordained by God and set forth in Scripture; and Protestant revelation involves the minds of each individual as each sees fit (where is this in the Bible?), which is why there are so many Protestant denominations that refuse to return to their Mother. The Protestant version is nothing but moral relativism, which is what this country is plagued with today - every man seeing what is right in his own eyes. Nothing can even be deemed as absolute truth since every man has his own personal shot at interpretation. This is why you will find the Obama types of Christians dialoguing with liberals and heretics: they cannot turn any interpretation down. They neither have the authority nor the faith to do so, and as James says, they succumb to every wind of doctrine - in hopes of a revival that will never come.