Dr. Sri spoke about the Protestant Reformation. How would you respond to a friend who states,
“The pope and bishops are not in the Bible”?
Our Lord Jesus didn't write a single sentence in the Bible. He taught and His teachings were orally communicated. Bible was given to the world by the Catholic Church, I believe about 400 years after Jesus' resurrection. If Paul and other Apostles had believed that Bible is the only authority, there would not have been any Christian community because they didn't have Bible.
Bible never mentions the Doctrine of "Trinity" either.
People sometimes have problem allowing others to tell them what to do. Lack of humility is the biggest problem in the unity of the Church.
Also, to the point made in the first response, nowhere in the Bible does it say that only things found explicitly in the Bible are to be believed. If that were the case then we would have no right to oppose based on our faith those things not explicitly addressed in Scripture such as: Abortion, euthanasia, contraception, gender ideology and so on. St. Paul is very clear that instruction in Christian faith is not only and exclusively passed on by written word, but also contains those things that are communicated verbally: "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thes. 2:15). St. Luke also makes this assertion at the beginning of his Gospel, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theoph'ilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed" (Lk. 1:1-4). St. John also ends his Gospel in somewhat the same vein that Luke recognizes in wanting to have a record: "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the whole world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (Jn. 21:25). This makes it quite clear that there is a teaching and an understanding of the meaning of Scripture and of Christian living that is given to the Church in so much as it is the Church that gave us the Scripture we have, it wasn't the Bible that gave us the Church. In this sense the authority of the Church informs the authority of Scripture and the teachings and delegations of the Church are supported - although in some cases not explicitly named by and through Scripture.
