“One of the most flagrant denials of freedom in the
Roman Church is the Index of Forbidden Books, a device
which deprives the people of freedom of judgment as to
what they may read. This restriction is imposed on the
pretense of shielding them from error; its real purpose is
to isolate them from liberal and Protestant ideas, to
maintain control over them, and so to hold them in the
Roman Church.” (p. 417).
In response to these paragraphs Catholics should point out the following:
The Bible was never officially forbidden to the people, only
doctored versions produced by heretical sects as stated above.
There was no Index in 1229 to include the Bible in any case.
If Catholics should be free to read Protestant versions of the Bible
indiscrimately, just which version should they ultimately follow?
And why not read the New World Version of the Jehovah’s
Witnesses or even the Book of Mormon?
What is inherently wrong with producing Bibles with explanatory
notes? The Presbyterian Schofield-Darby version of the Bible was
the first of now many Protestant Bibles to include explanatory
notes. Explanatory notes are a safeguard against the “ignorant and
unstable” who “twist” the Scriptures “to their own destruction” (2
Pet. 3:16).
Would Loraine Boettner or any other anti-Catholic Protestant
indiscriminately recommend Catholic literature? Would they hand
out Bibles produced by Catholic editors and commentators without
warning?
Do not Protestant churches warn their members against
pornography, immorality or other forms of obscene material? And
if they do what would be the problem if they listed objectionable
material in writing for their members?
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