Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Diego1618; jo kus; NYer; Salvation; Petrosius; seamole; annalex; biblewonk
I find it curious that you fail to respond to my discussion of John 3:13 (post #147), yet you still use this verse as a reference.

As you may (or more likely may not) be aware, there is absolutely no doctrinal foundation for "sola scriptura" anywhere in scripture. In fact it says quite the opposite:
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31, NIV
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
John 21:25, NIV

Clearly this is telling us that everything IS NOT written in the New Testament, and that many other things, which are central to Christian tradition, are not included because they are not necessary to establish the Lord's act of Salvation or Divinity. This does not preclude tradition, in fact John clearly alludes to it.

Perhaps one of the clearest passages AGAINST the notion of "sola scriptura" is this from Peter:
15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:15-16

What is obvious from this is that Peter understood that there is a need for tradition and a church hierarchy for the reading and interpretation of scripture.

On occasion, I will read over evangelical Protestant threads on Free Republic and frankly many of the ideas I see put forth on these I find ridiculous, heretical and ignorant; however, I do not presume to insult other Christians by intruding upon their dialog to tell them that they are wrong. Yet invariably, every single Catholic thread which pertains to any matter which Protestants find disagreeable is hijacked and rather than Catholics having the opportunity to partake in the same dialog as other Christians, we invariably have to defend our beliefs. Most of us do not have any problems defending our faith, but the arrogance with which the anti-Catholics refuse to even acknowledge what we are saying is damnably insulting. Bear in mind that the Catholic Church has survived intact and flourished for over 2000 years and yes, there have been mistakes, but we have learned from them repented and moved forward. In contrast Protestanism has been around for slightly less than 500 years. And what has become of the Reformation? There are a handful of "mainstream" denominations which are basically on the verge of collapse over issues such as homosexuality, the ordination of women and even Christ's Divinity; then there are hundreds of splinter groups with no cohesive teachings whatsoever; and it would seem to me, THAT NONE OF THESE GROUPS CAN AGREE ON ANYTHING! If the Bible is so simple to interpret, then surely there should be one interpretation upon which all Protestants can agree, yet they cannot even all agree on which translation of the Bible is valid! And this leaves me with just one final verse to quote (which interestingly enough, Jonathan Edwards used as the theme for one of the most famous sermons ever preached), and I will quote from the King James Version (I find it useful to try to use Protestant tranlations when speaking to Protestants, that way it is more difficult for them to claim that the Catholics have changed scripture):
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
Deuteronomy 32:35

153 posted on 08/15/2005 7:49:29 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 148 | View Replies ]


To: wagglebee
If the Bible is so simple to interpret, then surely there should be one interpretation upon which all Protestants can agree, yet they cannot even all agree on which translation of the Bible is valid!

AMEN!

155 posted on 08/15/2005 8:01:45 PM PDT by Petrosius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 153 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson