In talking to many people over the years, people keep telling me that all you need is the Bible and to ask the holy spirit to help you understand the Bible. Nothing else.
Couple of problematic questions with this line of reasoning:
If you were to rely on your own understanding, would you not have many different sects teaching tons of different understandings of the Bible?
If everybody had the holy spirit guiding them, would they not all have come to the same conclusions regarding what the Bible actually teaches?
Everybody who is searching for truth of the Bible are all sincere in their search. Why do they not all believe the same thing if they all asked the holy spirit to guide them?
So, can you understand the Bible without a human to teach you?
If you go to a university to learn the Bible, is the teaching from that school lead by the holy spirit?