The problem that I see with objecting to reading the Bible ‘on your own authority’ is thus:
What happens when the ‘church authority’ has become corrupted? There is good evidence that’s happened now, in part at least.
How are you supposed to defend against that? I know that in my own non-Catholic experience, pastors and congregations are supposed to work together to keep each other in line on the words of God. But apparently there’s no such check or balance in Rome, far as I can tell.
>> I know that in my own non-Catholic experience, pastors and congregations are supposed to work together to keep each other in line on the words of God. But apparently there’s no such check or balance in Rome, far as I can tell.
Actually your understanding of the matter is a bit backward. It is historical fact that the segment of Christianity generally referred to as Protestant has been dividing into countless distinct denominations teaching their own biblical interpretations ever since the Reformation. The Catholic and the Orthodox segments of Christianity on the other hand adhere to the doctrines of the faith based on the scriptural teachings of the holy apostles and ordained fathers of first centuries of the Church. That is why people who equate the current Pope (or anti-Pope) with the Catholic Church itself or with the Catholic Faith, are in error. In other words, the Pope, a sinner like everyone else, must adhere to the doctrines of the faith. And if he does not, he thereby reveals that he is not only a sinner but possibly a heretic.