Everything that is in the Bible is true.

Ok, wow....this may not be a big deal to anyone else but reading the following excerpt I really just had one of those moments where you think of something in a different way than you ever have before....I've always heard in my experience as a Christian (protestant) a lot about what is wrong with Catholicism - mainly the reliance on tradition. But, until just now, I guess I had never asked the question - why do they rely on tradition??? Is it legitimate to do so? It had just always been assumed that it's not ok to rely on tradition unless it's in scripture. Anyways read the following excerpt (it's from http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/purgatory.htm) and fascinating to me....

Some Evangelicals say "everything that is true is in the Bible." Catholics say that "everything that is in the Bible is true." There is a subtle distinction. Many Evangelicals would say "if its true its in the Bible, if its not true its not in the Bible." But the early Christians didn't have a Bible. It wasn't written for at least a hundred years and the exact books to include were not formally decided upon until the 300's. So the tradition of the Church is important. Catholics believe there are spiritual truths that are inferred in the Bible but not expressly articulated. The Catholic Church thinks Jesus has given authority to the Church to articulate these things. These are articulated slowly and carefully as the Church marches through time on its "Pilgrimage of Faith." Both Catholics and Evangelicals agree that no spiritual truth will conflict with the Bible. Amen to that.