Now, I do not want to be
accused of Protestant bashing, so Protestants should take note that I have a
healthy respect for scripture and admire them for their love on scripture. So, here we go.
Sola Scriptura, this one
is the easiest to disprove, as it is not taught anywhere in the Bible. Seriously, some folks like to quotes this:
(From the Douay Rheims, as that’s the version I have on
hand) “All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
correct in justice,
That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every
good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But, with everything, let’s read it in
context:
“But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life,
purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience,
Persecutions,
afflictions: Such as came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra: what
persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me
And
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.
But
evil men and seducers shall grow worse: erring and driving into error.
But
continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast
learned them;
And
because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures, which can
instruct thee to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All
Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct in
justice,
That
the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work. (2 Timothy
2:10-17).
Useful and true, but it does not teach Sola
Scriptura. In fact, it isn’t even
implied in the text. That’s not to say
The Bible isn’t important, it is, it is THE most important book of all times (actually,
books, but still). I feel like this is
a really common thing amongst Protestants, they see a verse in the Bible and
say “see, that proves it, because they use the Bible”. It’s almost like they think Catholics don’t
really the Bible.
Also, if he knew it “from infancy”, or “childhood” as
some newer versions of The Bible say, and it really did teach Sola Scriptura,
then Protestants would have a logical problem, as it would have to be the Old
Testament. Seriously, the New Testament
was still being writing. The Bible is
important and useful for instruction, but does not teach that it alone is authoritative.
Sola Scriptura is impossible anyway, because a Protestant
cannot safely answer which books are in scripture. Why is it those 66 books and only those 66
books? Can they point to a verse in
scripture that says it is those 66 books?
No, because there isn’t one.
Faith
alone is another one that is certainly unbiblical, so, instead of using the
common argument from James (James 2:14-26), I am going to use Paul
himself. After all, if Paul so clearly
taught salvation by “faith alone”, we should be able to find it in the
Bible. So, let’s start with the verse
Martin Luther added the word “alone” to, remember, all quotes are from the
Douay Rheims:
“For
we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law”.(Romans 3:28) Notice something? Nowhere in there does it say “alone”. In fact, read it IN CONTEXT. In fact, the entire chapter is about gentiles
and Jews in the context of Old Testament law and how it applies to
Christians. Seriously y’all, go read
it.
What
is really interesting to me, is Romans 6:1-4:
“What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in
sin, that grace may about?
God
forbid. For we that are dead to sin, how
shall we live any longer therein?
Know
you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his
death?
For
we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen
from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of
life”.
Sounds
like to me there is some kind of law we’re supposed to follow. Sounds to me a lot different than being saved
by “faith alone”. Our baptism seems to
imply that following Jesus means to actually do something. I’ll give you another.
Ephesians
2:8-9
“For
by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the
gift of God;
Not
of works, that no man may glory”
Now,
that sounds fine and dandy. We’re saved
by faith, so works have no role, right?
Wrong. In fact, it always amazes
me that people don’t seem to know there is an Ephesians 2:10.
“For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath
prepared that we should walk in them”.
You
and I are quite literally made for good works.
How then can we say that faith alone is what justifies us? There is no way we can earn our salvation, we
can do good works, through grace, in faith.
Faith and works go together like hand-in-glove, Paul even talks about
the obedience of faith in Romans 1:5.
Okay,
so now we turn to Sola gratia. (See
Council of Orange, 529)
Actually,
Catholics believe this, so no problem there.
Christ
alone, okay, only Christ can save us, but this does not eliminate the need for
an ordained priesthood. In fact, for a
proper celebration of the Eucharist, we would need one. Remember, Jesus uses sacrificial language at
the last supper, Matthew 26:27-28:
“And
taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of
this.
For
this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto the
remission of sins.
And,
if you remember your Old Testament, you will know that blood is shed in the Old
Testament offerings. St. Matthew would
not have rendered this with sacrificial language if it was not supposed to be a
sacrifice. And not only that, it is
supposed to be a perpetual sacrifice, if Malachi 1:11 is anything to go by, and
this is what Jesus intended, going by Luke 22:19
“And
taking the bread, he gave thanks, and brake: and gave to them, saying: This is
my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me”.
Now,
don’t be put off by the language. Some
modern Bibles do indeed say “memorial” or “in remembrance”. That isn’t the point. Jesus used sacrificial language, and told us
to do it. Since he used sacrificial language,
we can surmise it is a sacrifice. Now,
what class of people offers sacrifices?
Priests.
So,
we can infer from that, the Luther’s idea that the Eucharist must be a
sacrament or a sacrifice and can’t be both, is absurd.
Now,
with Soli Deo Gloria, most of what I can find is just insults towards Catholics
for venerating Saints. I guess
Protestants are unaware that Martin Luther held the Virgin Mary in high regard
(Personal Prayer Book, 1522), although he had a problem with intercession of
the Saints, Augsburg Confession of 1530 (Article 21).
But,
I can prove from the Bible, that intercessory prayers of Saints in Heaven and
angels are quite biblical.
First
of all, angels are probably the easiest.
Angels watch over children. Jesus
says this:
“See
not that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their
angels in heaven always see the face of my father who is in heaven”. (Matthew 18:10)
Seriously,
if you know what the angels are doing before the throne of God, you would be
asking for their intercession.
Seriously, the Bible says this
“And
I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to
them seven trumpets
And
another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and
there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all
the saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God.
And
the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God
from the hand of the angel”. (Revelation 8:2-4)
Catch
that? It’s the angels that bring
Christian prayers to the throne of God.
Sounds like an intercessor to me.
So, what about people in Heaven?
Aren’t they dead? How could they
possibly hear all those prayers? Okay,
one, bad argument, that’s not what we’re saying, two, so what if they don’t
know what we’re saying? It’s ultimately
God that grants the prayer.
If
I say to my friend “hey, please pray for me”, do I really need to be specific
on WHAT I need prayer for? I think those
in Heaven may possibly be the same. I
should probably point out that there ARE humans in Heaven that are worshiping
the Lamb, seriously, read Revelation 5, but especially Revelation 5:8
“And
when he had opened the book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty
ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden
vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Now,
there is much more (seriously, read the Book of Revelation), but I just wanted
to get to the point.
No comments:
Post a Comment