- Jun 13, 2015
- 4,191
- 2,818
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
I find your post confusing and unclear in your purpose.
I don't see holiness equivalent to intellectual honesty. We seem to have different understandings of the meaning. Holiness is separation from sin. Sin is not a matter of intellect, although it can be connected, I suppose. Sin is usually a moral matter. Intellect may be used to justify immorality, but immorality is a choice of behavior.
Please explain what you mean. Sola Scriptura, as I understand it, rejects all other sources of authority. The expression came from the Catholic Priest, Martin Luther, who protested the sales of indulgences in his 95 Theses. As he explored things further, he rejected Catholic church traditions as unequal to Scriptures.
I don't see the premise of Sola Scriptura relevant to conversions. No one gets saved through intellectual debate. People come to Christ with broken hearts, disappointments, frustrations and many other reasons seeking remedy in their lives. Anyone who is talked into salvation can also be talked out of salvation, thus were never saved at all. Salvation is a heart issue, not a mental agreement.
Descartes, who is famous for his statement, I think therefore I am, wrestled with this same doubt. He eliminated every uncertainty which brought him to himself. He knew he existed and he had thoughts. With that certainty, he built upwards into all other certainties.
Your questions are wrestling with doubt. Faith in Christs, which is the foundation of our salvation, is in the heart, not the mind. Can we doubt and believe simultaneously? Yes, of course we can. But if you have had the new birth, the reality of Christ in your heart, remains forever. Doubt, then, comes into our minds first, then our hearts. Stay focused on the Lord in your heart, then you will not doubt.
"Revelation" is a loaded word. God communicates with all born again believers. But the connotation of the word "revelation" carries the idea of something untold by God before. This is where Sola Sciptura connects, although the expression is not Sola Scriptura, but Plenary Inspiration. In other words, while God still communicates, there is nothing more to be added to the Bible. All that God says to us now will always agree with Scriptures. Is this what you are getting at?
God his holy. Therefore, churches built on a platform of intellectual dishonesty are probably distancing themselves from His sanctifying revivals, healing graces and evangelistic unction.
I don't see holiness equivalent to intellectual honesty. We seem to have different understandings of the meaning. Holiness is separation from sin. Sin is not a matter of intellect, although it can be connected, I suppose. Sin is usually a moral matter. Intellect may be used to justify immorality, but immorality is a choice of behavior.
Let us be especially honest about the fact that several popular doctrines are so problematical as to almost certainly be nonsense, case in point Sola Scriptura.
Please explain what you mean. Sola Scriptura, as I understand it, rejects all other sources of authority. The expression came from the Catholic Priest, Martin Luther, who protested the sales of indulgences in his 95 Theses. As he explored things further, he rejected Catholic church traditions as unequal to Scriptures.
Sola Scriptura appears to be a logical absurdity that contradicts common sense and repudiates conversion. Evangelicals conveniently overlook this fact whenever they cite verses supposedly in favor of this 'doctrine' (if we even want to call it that).
I don't see the premise of Sola Scriptura relevant to conversions. No one gets saved through intellectual debate. People come to Christ with broken hearts, disappointments, frustrations and many other reasons seeking remedy in their lives. Anyone who is talked into salvation can also be talked out of salvation, thus were never saved at all. Salvation is a heart issue, not a mental agreement.
CAN we know anything for sure? 100% certainty? Or has God doomed us to uncertainty regarding our salvation, His will for our lives, how to be maximally effective in evangelism, and how to abound in His graces?
Descartes, who is famous for his statement, I think therefore I am, wrestled with this same doubt. He eliminated every uncertainty which brought him to himself. He knew he existed and he had thoughts. With that certainty, he built upwards into all other certainties.
Your questions are wrestling with doubt. Faith in Christs, which is the foundation of our salvation, is in the heart, not the mind. Can we doubt and believe simultaneously? Yes, of course we can. But if you have had the new birth, the reality of Christ in your heart, remains forever. Doubt, then, comes into our minds first, then our hearts. Stay focused on the Lord in your heart, then you will not doubt.
Any Christian who claims that direct revelation does not or cannot work seems to be in conflict with his own history. Under the right conditions, it DOES work, unfortunately the church hasn't made much effort to determine those conditions...
"Revelation" is a loaded word. God communicates with all born again believers. But the connotation of the word "revelation" carries the idea of something untold by God before. This is where Sola Sciptura connects, although the expression is not Sola Scriptura, but Plenary Inspiration. In other words, while God still communicates, there is nothing more to be added to the Bible. All that God says to us now will always agree with Scriptures. Is this what you are getting at?
Upvote
0