Part in red I think is very
funny....outrageous....
http://wooq.blogspot.com/2006/04/defending-sola-scriptura.html
Monday, April 17, 2006
Defending Sola Scriptura
Where in the Bible is the principle or concept of Sola Scriptura
(By Scripture alone) espoused?
To answer this question, I believe the doctrine of Sola Scriptura
must be defined first. I would define it to mean the Scriptures,
the sixty-six canonical books of the Bible, are the only
authoritative and infallible rule for the Christian faith. The
Scriptures reveal all that is necessary for salvation. No other
revelation outside the Scriptures is necessary for the Church. The
Scriptures are the sole and supreme written norm by which God binds
the conscience, and the authority of the Church, which includes its
traditions, confessions and creeds, is subordinate to the Word of
God.
What the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not: it is not a claim that
the Scriptures contain all knowledge of human wisdom. It does not
reject traditions, confessions and creeds; it means that any
tradition, creed or confession must be tested through the Word of
God. It is not a claim that the Scriptures record every single
exhaustive detail of religious knowledge, for instance, an account
of every thing that Jesus Christ has ever done on earth. It does
not deny the authority of the Church to teach divine truths; that
the Church has the duty to uphold divine truths found within the
Word of God, while remaining subservient to the Scriptures.
Sola Scriptura was one of the five important doctrines in the 16th
century Protestant Reformation, along with Sola Fide, Sola Gratia,
Solus Christus and Soli deo Gloria. Even today, the divide between
Protestants and Roman Catholics still exist, with the Vatican
maintaining the infallible authority of its traditions, councils
and the Pope.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read:
As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation
of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about
all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture
and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments
of devotion and reverence.
While Roman Catholicism contains many extra-biblical doctrines such
as purgatory, the sacramental system, the immaculate conception and
bodily assumption of Mary, the veneration of graven images, papal
primacy and infallibility, and transubstantiation etc, many
proponents of the Charismatic Movement hold in high regard
extra-biblical revelations such as dreams, visions, and spectacular
prophecies.
Here are two examples of outrageous extra-biblical revelations from
two prominent personalities in the Charismatic Movement, Benny Hinn
and Kenneth Copeland:
Adam allegedly flew into space
Adam was a super-being when God created him. I don't know whether
people know this, but he was the first superman that really ever
lived. First of all, the Scriptures declare clearly that he had
dominion over the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea--which
means he used to fly. Of course, how can he have dominion over the
birds and not be able to do what they do? The word 'dominion' in
the Hebrew clearly declares that if you have dominion over a
subject, that you do everything that subject does. In other words,
that subject, if it does something you cannot do, you don't have
dominion over it. 1'll prove it further. Adam not only flew, he
flew to space. He was--with one thought he would be on the moon.
Benny Hinn (Praise the Lord program on TBN, 26 December
1991)
Jesus was allegedly raped by Roman soldiers
Let me tell you something folks. Anybody in here that's ever been
sexually abused, listen to me right now. Listen to me very
carefully. The bible's very careful about the way it says these
things. But down there in that dungeon, Romans, ungodly men,
ungodly men, put him (Jesus) to every kind of abuse that you can
think of. There is no sin that Jesus didn't bare. There is no
thing, there is no such thing as a sexual abuse on somebody that
Jesus doesn't know firsthand what it's all about. He's been where
you are, I don't care what you've been through, Jesus has been
through it. And everything's done to him that we couldn't even
speak of. Kenneth Copeland (The Resurrection Truth)
The above cited excerpts show us how far these men deviate from the
doctrine of Sola Scriptura. It is even more saddening that many
Christians would defend these men and often times falsely accused
discerning Christians of hypocritical judgments and causing
unnecessary divisions.
However, I believe the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which was once
and still used to defend the essentials of the Christian faith
against Roman Catholicism, has to be firmly defended against
extreme proponents of the Charismatic movement, especially those of
the word-faith movement, who advocates special extra-biblical
revelations apart from the Scriptures.
For if the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is compromised, it will lead
to a denial of the rest of the Solas, which would eventually
destroy the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can observe throughout the
history of the Christian Church, there are many false prophets who
claim that the teachings of the Bible are abrogated by introducing
some holy books or teachings. These false teachings pervert the
gospel, most often denying the Trinity and the deity, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
