Expert: Griff Ruby - 7/16/2007

Question
Hello, my first question is: Hypothetically, if there is a verse in the Bible which directly conflicts with Catholic dogma, and there is no other verse in the Bible to refute the first verse, who wins, the church or the Bible?

My second question is a bit personal if you don't mind.  Have you ever doubted the existance of God, or the fact that Catholocism is the true religion?  If so, what did you do to deal with those doubts?

If you don't feel comfortable answering the second question I understand.
Thank you.

Answer
Sorry for the delay but I am never quite sure what to do with questions of this kind.  "What if God can't make up His mind?  What if God lied? ..."  - all sorts of terrible what ifs.
All of these things come under the heading of what the Church calls "negative doubts," which correspond closely to what the Law of the Land calls "unreasonable doubts."  Whenever trying to establish any finding as yea verily true we are often limited to having to establish it "beyond any reasonable doubt."  Needless to say that always leaves room for unreasonable doubts, unlikely in the extreme, but who can truly rule them out under all circumstances.
A person wants to cross the street.  He looks this way; he looks that way, and the coast is clear.  It is safe beyond any reasonable doubt for him to cross the street, so he rightly does.  But can one absolutely guarantee that a flying saucer (i. e. UFO) won't fall out of the sky and crash directly on top of him?  Not that that's ever happened, but hey, there's always a first time, who knows?  Would the same God who inspired the Bible and also founded and promised to protect and guide His Church somehow fail to give both the same doctrine?  In nearly 2,000 years of existence never has any such thing been found (and believe me, many people have looked, to a degree you or I could never imagine).  It just isn't there.  And why would it be?
That doesn't mean that some people haven't at least tried to read some passages out of context to try to make them sound contradictory to the doctrine, but the falsity of such readings is always easy to prove and never convinces anyone who doesn't really really want to be convinced.
And what if there isn't a God?  Again, so many zillions of tiny evidences have all consistently lined up with the existence of God as to make mere coincidence fully as unlikely as the chances of such a God just spontaneously springing up out of nothing.
What does one properly do with such negative doubts?  Simply ignore them.  Such doubts are by their very nature "unworthy of refutation."
If you think you have some such scripture in mind, then why not just ask about it.