Withholding Scripture from the Pew

Here is a question that I was asked to respond to in my Church History class and I thought some of you that might read this might find the question and then my response enlightening. 

Question
 I am looking for whether or not you see any validity in the argument of the Roman Catholic Church in its withholding Scripture from the laity in order to preserve the Sanctity of Scripture. Do you see any places in your reading of church history which show that allowing people access to Scripture is detrimental to the body of Christ? Or was this simply a power game by the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer
I do not honestly see any good that will come from the Church withholding Scripture from the Pew. I understand that the parishioner on average do not understand the depth and width of what is said in the Bible but even the newest or youngest person can understand something from the Bible. I believe that a simple plan of Salvation and a life of a Christian could be understood from a simple reading of the Bible.  The Romans road or the Gospel of John as a whole is good examples of this.

I do believe that withholding the Bible from the pew is in part a power game but not totally. Yes, if the leadership in the Church is the only ones who know the Bible and what it says, then it keeps them holding the keys so to speak. If the Pope and other Church clergy are the only ones that understand what the Bible is about then it keeps them in the spotlight and it will have the people coming to them for understanding. This part is defiantly a power game and is what I believed is designed to keep leadership intact and pure from corruption. I also believe that tradition has a lot to do with this outside, of the power and position issue. I find that the Catholic and Orthodox Church sticks close to church tradition. So what the church did in the past that worked then is to be done even today. This I think plays a factor in keeping the Bible out of the pew and withholding it from the average person.

I can understand why the Catholic Church does this and I can see some of their arguments for their position. The normal average person in the pew could do great injustice and bad interpretation of what the Bible says. Yes, some passage are easy to understand and easy to interpret and even apply to life. But there are also hard passages of Scripture, parts that are deep in meaning or parts that are wide in certain applications, to understand and a lot of Scripture passages that could be misinterpreted. I honestly do not know enough of Church history to give good concrete examples of this happening in a large scale but I believe this happened and is still happening today. Without the knowledge, education, and wisdom that leadership and Pastors could bring the Bible could be used very badly and even heretically by people in the church.

That is why God calls certain men and women into ministry, to equip others to a better understanding of God and His word. Rather than withholding the Bible from the people saying it is their fault that they do not have or could understand the Bible, put the blame on the leaders for not equipping their people to truly understanding the Bible and what it says. This is a great argument for why I believe expositional preaching is a must in the church. Tear open the Bible and show the average people in the pew that the Bible is deep and wide and our God is amazingly beautiful in His creative word, rather than withholding the Bible from them.  Show them what it says on their laps rather than keeping the Bible off their laps.