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Sola Scriptura is the claim that the Bible is the only final authority on all major religious issues.
Congratulations. You have just repudiated the biblical doctrine of conversion (see post 33) and, along with it, the very notion of evangelism. Suppose you are preaching to some agnostics. Convicted by the Spirit and thus pierced to the heart, they cry out, 'We are convinced! We feel certain of the gospel! What shall we do next?"So you base your authority and assurance on feelings with no confirmation other than from within yourself, making the assumption that it is from God. This is a sure recipe to disaster in it's own due time... Seen it many times, it's similar to the idea that we are all little gods with the true and living God in the background someplace. You need a means of justifying those feelings, we always need to test the spirit that is feeding into us. So happens we have a manual.
You'd have to show me an example where conscience isn't authoritative. Faced with two choices A and B, where you feel certain that A is evil and B is good, won't you always go with B? I see no exceptions to the rule.I think we have all lost track of how many people come to this forum "thinking" they had the Holy Spirit because of feelings they had going on inside, that now have faded. Their conclusion is they lost the Holy Spirit. The question is, did they ever have it ? That's running ones spiritual life by the seat of the pants with no knowledge of how God even works. Anything can be feeding into your feelings and gut instinct, God, an agent of Satan, the world or yourself. Feelings are useful but not reliable, the word of God is true, tested and cuts like a two edged sword to the truth.
I'm not questioning God's Word. I'm questioning our fallible interpretations of it, and aspiring to a potentially infallible alternative (the prophetic gift).How can the ALMIGHTY GOD be so Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent to oversee HIS Word?
To question GOD almighty is the absurdity!
Yes it is rather assured because I've already attested to experiencing 99% certainty. Personally I haven't experienced 100% certainty.Before I do that, I must note a couple of problems with the argument(s) you've presented thus far as a whole.
A. To claim Sola Scriptura is nonsense is a rather assured claim (you have stated we can't be sure of everything).
This is not circular reasoning (I already addressed this issue). The premise is tentative (as I don't have it 100% certainty) and for purposes of this discussion, it doesn't matter where I got it from. My argumentation takes the form, 'If you agree with premise-A, then I think you should accept conclusion-A'. If you can't accept the premise, the argument doesn't apply to you. Ignore it.B. Your OP starts with presupposing the authority of scripture. Your very first sentence is "God is holy" and you build things from there. How do you know God is Holy? Where did you get that idea from? Where did you get the words or the concept from? (Hint: the Bible)
I don't think that's really what I said?
Sure, but you'll need to be more specific. How do I know when I'm being 'guided'? Just assume it when I feel like it? What's the criteria?
Um..incorrect. Two points here.C. In post #15 you speak about how the prophetic experience may be infallible, but you use scripture to try prove such a point. That automatically makes scripture a higher authority, even in your own argument.
You're not making any sense. You're confusing the chicken with the egg. Prophets knew about God's holiness and love, by direct revelation, before the Bible existed. Direct revelation had to come first and, based on that authoritative knowledge, they wrote the Bible.In all of this, it's a bit like the post-modern liberal who wants to claim that we should ditch the Bible's moral authority because "God is love" but yet forgets that the very idea of "God is love" comes from the very Bible they want to ditch. Without the Bible they want to ditch, where would they have ever even come up with the idea that God is love?
We guide people to believe, so I reject your assertion all together. We don't ask if they feel but if they believe.Congratulations. You have just repudiated the biblical doctrine of conversion (see post 33) and, along with it, the very notion of evangelism. Suppose you are preaching to some agnostics. Convicted by the Spirit and thus pierced to the heart, they cry out, 'We are convinced! We feel certain of the gospel! What shall we do next?"
What will you tell them?
(1) "Don't rely on feelings of certainty. That's a recipe for disaster. You need to goto seminary for 4 years mastering Hebrew and Greek. Don't draw any major religious conclusions until then. Sola Scriptura is the only way to behave.
(2) OR, you could say with Peter, 'Repent IMMEDIATELY and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins".
You'd have to show me an example where conscience isn't authoritative. Faced with two choices A and B, where you feel certain that A is evil and B is good, won't you always go with B? I see no exceptions to the rule.
Hey bro, nice man-made tradition you got there.If Scripture isn't our highest authority to appeal to, then it is no longer God's word, whose word should be supreme above all human institutions.
As I later clarified, my key principle is authoritative conscience and I've challenged several posters to find me even one exception to that principle. Still waiting in vain, as usual. In NO sense is the Bible a higher authority than conscience. It can't be since conscience DICTATED my decision to commit to one book (such as the Bible) over another book (such as the Koran). Clearly conscience is the highest authority, which clearly DOES negate the Sola-Scriptura claim to being the only final authority.Before I do that, I must note a couple of problems with the argument(s) you've presented thus far as a whole...
I still don't see how any of this negates the Bible being the final (or primary) authority in the life of the believer.
A vehicle powered ultimately by conscience, in the final analysis.Firstly, I agree that the Holy Spirit brings direct revelation to the believer, but such revelation is brought through a vehicle at least 99 percent of the time.
And that content is useless if there is no authoritative basis for accepting it. Conscience is that authority which morally obligates to accept content (or reject it).Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word of God (which is referring to the gospel, the message of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that powerfully convicts through the living Word that comes from the spoken / written word). In other words, the content of the revelation usually comes to a person through various means. No one sits in the bath and suddenly gets all four of those points in their heart. Each point may come gradually, or they may come fairly quickly at a revival meeting or something. But the fact is that there is content in those four points that the conscience itself does not simply conjure up for itself without some sort of external means.
Nope it says more than that. It says that Scriptura is the only final authority. Everything must be checked against Scripture, is the claim.All Sola Scriptura is saying is that the purest form of the message is found in the Bible...
Ultimately the visible church (in terms of corporate assemblies) is a body of people with shared beliefs. Those who tout exegesis as the foundation of those beliefs thereby IMPLY that Scripture is the foundation of the church. Yes we all agree that Christ wrote the bible and thus ultimately He is in some sense the foundation, but the evangelical church emphasizes a WRITTEN foundation, often to the disparagement of direct revelation. That's an exact reversal of our proper priorities....not that Scripture is the foundation of the church (negating the relevance of you point (1) above). I've never heard anyone ever preach that scripture is the foundation of the Church. I've only ever heard it preached that Christ is - but incidentally, people usually preach that because the Bible says it and God has spoken to them through the words of the Bible in some way.
So you really think that God planned to flourish unity in the church, as a community, by means of exgetical consensus? Based on a text that wasn't even widely circulated until 500 years ago? And subject to all the faillibility of human intepretation? That was His master plan? Just how stupid do you think God is, anyway? Is it any wonder that the denominations disagree on almost everything - EXCEPT THOSE CONCLUSIONS GIVEN BY DIRECT REVELATION DURING CONVERSION VIA THE INWARD WITNESS. For the most part, that's all they agree on!(2) and (3) above are equally too simplistic. Conscience is certainly authoritative to a certain degree to an individual believer, but what of the community? Or the Church universal? My conscience has no real authority over you, correct? So what is the authority we can all at least agree on?
While I am more or less a fan of existential philosophy, we can't reduce Christianity to merely existential modes of thought (i.e. the conscience being a final authority). There is far more at stake than just me and my own spiritual walk.
Can I prove my position 100% incontrovertibly to you? No. What I'm after on this thread:
(1) Honesty about the fact that Sola Scriptura appears to be logical absurdity.
R.C. Sproul said it best. He rightly claimed that saving faith is a feeling of certainty about the truth of the gospel. He said this in an audio series, which I no longer possess.We guide people to believe, so I reject your assertion all together. We don't ask if they feel but if they believe.
I don't think you've been reading many of my posts...OK, there is the subject then.
Your working from the premise, that your belief is correct, other than Scripture itself, where would you have gotten such a belief?
Therefore put forward your best argument as to why Sola Scriptura is a Logical absurdity.
I've responded to this claim several times and in many ways.God's revelation is the most reliable source of information that we can have.
That's the proposition.
What's so "absurd" about that? If we didn't believe in the existence of a God, then of course your criticism would be reasonable, but since we do....?
When such an 'infallible alternative' shows up, we will be fair enough to take a look. None has appeared yet or been referred to on this thread, however.I'm not questioning God's Word. I'm questioning our fallible interpretations of it, and aspiring to a potentially infallible alternative (the prophetic gift).
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