[aleph_minus_one]

> That’s why the Bible and Quran are against usury.

Now let's biblical exegesis to define what is legitimate interest and usury.

The "good" (or "bad"?) thing about these holy scriptures is that they can be interpreted quite freely to fit a personal or institutional agenda.

[eru]

That's why you have the Pope or the Supreme Court to tell you what the holy scriptures mean.

[huijzer]

There are many Christians very fervent opponents of listening to such authorities and stick to the Bible itself. Nowhere in the Bible for example it is written that one can pay off sins by giving money to some authority. But someone had to pay for the Saint Peter’s Basilica so there was an incentive to adjust scripture.

[eru]

Well, that's about as valid as listening to sovereign citizens' interpretation of the US constitution. (At least from the Catholic point of view as far as I can tell.)

> Nowhere in the Bible for example it is written that one can pay off sins by giving money to some authority.

I'm no expert but doesn't James 2:26 says "Faith without works is dead."?

Surely giving some money (that you had to work hard for!) to the greatest charity in the world (the Catholic church) should count as a good work?

(But I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I don't know what their official reasoning is.)

[aleph_minus_one]

> Well, that's about as valid as listening to sovereign citizens' interpretation of the US constitution. (At least from the Catholic point of view as far as I can tell.)

From an "axiomatic perspective" this means accepting much more encompassing axioms than the holy scripture; such a "proof" requires much more than "the Bible/Quran says" as huijzer implicitly used in his argument "That’s why the Bible and Quran are against usury.", but more like "the Bible says and we additionally accept the following axioms that imply that the Pope's interpretation of the Bible is the correct one".

[eru]

Nah, you can start from the Pope, and you only care about the Bible insofar as the Pope says you should care about it. Very simple 'axiom'.

[aleph_minus_one]

But then you should not argue that the Bible says something, but that the Pope does. :-)