Jon,
You wrote:
You...have forgotten, like many others, that you cannot interpret the Bible and Tradition on your own - it only leads down the wrong path. It is a sin of pride that the Devil loves to use to lead people away from the Church.
You don't seem to realize that you and I have both done exactly the same thing—namely, each of us has examined various religious options, examined the scriptures, and reached our own personal conclusions as to which system to embrace. It is clear that, in confronting the claims of Catholicism, Mormonism, Protestantism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventism, etc., you have concluded that the evidence supports the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, and I have concluded that the evidence does not support them. You have made your own independent decision, just as I have. You only call it the sin of pride on my part because I, by my personal interpretation of scripture and tradition, did not reach the same conclusion as you reached by your personal interpretation of scripture and tradition.
The difference between you and those who embrace other viewpoints is not that they have made an independent decision and you have not. You have done so just as much as has anyone else. That is why Catholic apologists appeal to the conscience and judgment of their listeners—they hope thereby to convince them to make a personal decision to embrace the Catholic interpretations of passages like Matthew 16:18; Luke 1:28; John 6:53; and John 20:23. You have personally decided to agree with their interpretation. I have personally decided to agree with another.
The phenomenon of making an independent decision as to which interpretation is correct is identical in your case and in mine. Jehovah's Witnesses have chosen to trust the Watchtower Society. Mormons trust Joseph Smith. You have chosen to believe Catholicism and I have decided to trust no one except God. Your decision is a result of your interpreting scriptures differently from the way others have interpreted them (a personal interpretive decision on your part). It would be disingenuous for you to pretend otherwise.
Does this mean that you, because you made this personal interpretative decision, are guilty of the sin of pride? Maybe, but not necessarily. People are commanded by scripture to be discerning, not simply trusting what any spiritual teacher says (1 John 4:1; 1 Thes.5:21; 1 Cor.14:29). We are commanded to be taught, ultimately, by God, not by any human (1 John 2:27). To follow such a practice is not pride, but obedience to God.
At your final judgement, you will be responsible for having led everyone who comes to this website and listens to your programs down the wrong path. It's a great responsibility to be the leader of souls to their final destination.
I appreciate this fact, and am ever mindful of it. That is why I always direct my listeners to take personal responsibility for their beliefs, and to only accept what God has said as necessarily true. I am confident that God will not find fault with such direction.
Whether or not you convert before your judgement, I pray that God is merciful to you.
Thank you. I don't think you need to worry on that score. According to Vatican II, I will only be judged for not being a Catholic if I reject Catholicism while knowing in my heart that it is the true faith. Since I do not know this, Vatican II says that I can be saved without being in your church.