The Roman Catholic Church proclaimed itself the ultimate authority on Earth. The cry of the Reformation was sola scriptura, which is a Latin phrase meaning “scripture alone.” That was used to mean that the Bible alone was the ultimate authority for the Protestant.
But Gnostic Christians proclaim sola Deo, which is a Latin phrase meaning “God alone.” By that, we mean that God alone is the ultimate authority. The scriptures are a secondary authority. To put the Bible in the place of God is bibliolatry (from the Latin biblio, “book” and the suffix -latry, “worship”).
Gnostic Christians hold general revelation and special revelation as complementary ways of understanding God and his relationship with us. When nature and scripture contradict one another, One of those interpretations must be wrong.
One of the major difficulties that most Christians have is that they take the Bible. Literally. The Bible is not historical facts or literally true. It is a religious book filled with myths, metaphors, and parables that are to be interpreted allegorically.
The Bible is not an answer book, it is a guidebook. It records people’s relationship and dealings. With God, we can help us in developing our own personal relationship with God. The Bible is not supposed to be a substitute for a personal relationship with God, but a guidebook to lead us to that relationship.
