For all of you who believe in the man made false doctrine
of Sola Scriptura, or "Bible Only", I offer you this challenge,
but you must play by the rule.
1. First read the file "For Whom the Bell Tolls",
which is found on this website.
Sola Scriptura is a false doctrine dreamed up by the reformers as they
cut themselves off from the authority of the Catholic Church, the Papacy
and the Magisterium. Since they had no legitimate authority, they scrambled
to find a substitute. By then the only thing they had was the Bible, so
they 'invented' the false doctrine of SS. "We get our 'authority'
from Scripture", is what they said.
They rejected Tradition despite what the Bible says in 2Thess 2:15, because
they could no longer claim the traditions of the only Church which Jesus
Christ founded. My Challenge:
1. How could SS have possibly existed before the invention of the printing
press in 1450?
2. Where did Bibles come from before 1450 when the printing press was invented?
a. How much did they cost?
b. How many people had them?
c. How many people were literate enough to read one?
d. What Bibles did the masses have in order to make SS work in 200 A.D
? 500? 700? 1000? 1200?
3. If you lived in the year 1300, to which Church would you go in order
to satisfy the teaching of Jesus Christ in Matt 18:17?
Here is some food for thought for Sola Scriptura believers. I will bet
none of you can answer these questions.
Who, or what, has the authority here?
Is it the Church or is it a book? What does 'the book' say about that question?
"The Church is the Foundation and the Pillar of Truth, 1Tim 3:15."
It does not say 'the book' is the Foundation and the Pillar of Truth does
it?
"He who hears you (the Church) hears Me, and he who rejects you, rejects
Me...Luke 10:16."
"Obey your superiors and be subject to them for they keep watch as
having to render an account of your souls, Heb 13:17."
Did the reformers obey this verse or did they simply ignore it?
Who is the highest authority in our land? It is the Supreme Court. Likewise,
when there is a dispute that needed resolving, did Jesus say to appeal
to the authority of a book?
No, He said, "...Appeal to the Church, but if he refuse to hear even
the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and the publican", Matt
18:17.
"And I went up in consequence of a revelation, and I conferred with
them on the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but separately with
the men of authority (the Church)..." Gal 2:2
I have shown you that 'the book' says the authority lies with the Church.
It is silent on the subject that it is its own authority. Where did Jesus say that the Christian faith should
be based exclusively on a book?
Where in the Bible did Jesus Christ tell His apostles to write the Gospels?
How do we know who wrote the books that we call Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
Acts, Hebrews, and 1, 2, and 3 John?
If all Scripture is inspired, as Sola Scriptura believers interpret from
2Tim 3:16-17, then why aren't the gospels of Peter and Thomas in their
Bible?
Where in the Bible do we find an inspired and infallible list of books
that should belong in the Bible?
How do we know, from the Bible alone, that the individual books of the
New Testament are inspired, even when they make no claim to be inspired?
Where does the Bible claim to be the sole authority for Christians in matters
of faith and morals?
If the books of the New Testament are "selfauthenticating"
through the teaching of the Holy Spirit to each individual, as some say,
then why was there so much confusion in the early Church over which books
were inspired, with some books being rejected by the majority?
If the meaning of the Bible is so clear, so easily interpreted, and if
the Holy Spirit leads every Christian to interpret it infallibly, then
why are there over 33,800* non-Catholic denominations in existence today,
with millions of individual non-Catholics, all interpreting the Bible differently?
*Encyclopedia of Christianity, April 2001, a Protestant publication.
Isn't individual interpretation of Holy Scripture by non-Catholics, in
effect, allowing each one to call himself or herself their own pope?
When a doctrinal dispute arises between non-Catholic denominations, who
has the authority to adjudicate the dispute?
Non-Catholics usually claim that they all agree on the important things.
Who has the authority to decide what doctrine is important in the Christian
faith and what is not?
This claim is in fact not true as there are major doctrinal differences
between non-Catholic Christians. It should be stated that all of them use
the same Bible. Here are just a few examples:
1. The Holy Trinity is three persons in one GOD. No, It is three separate
GOD's. It does not exist.
2. One will say Jesus Christ is a divine person and not a human person.
Another says he is a human person and not a divine person. No, says yet
a third, he is two persons, one human and one divine.
3. The Holy Spirit is a person says one. The Holy Spirit is not a person
says another.
4. Scripture says we must worship on Sunday, states one. No, it says Saturday,
states another.
5. One says GOD is in the Eucharist. No, says another, it is only a symbolic
gesture.
6. The Eucharistic celebration is once a week. No its once a month. No
its quarterly. No its yearly.
7. One will teach that hell exists. Another insists hell does not exist.
Since all interpret from the same book, why then do these major doctrinal
differences exist at all?
How did the early Church evangelize, survive and prosper for almost 350
years, without knowing exactly which books belonged in the canon of Scripture?
Who had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament
canon?
Can just anyone add or remove books from the canon of Scripture as he or
she sees fit? If not, why?
Why do non-Catholic scholars recognize the Catholic Church councils of
Hippo and Carthage as the authoritive source in which the New Testament
canon was officially decided? Why at the same time do these scholars deny
the fact that those same councils, with the same Bishops, approved the
Old Testament canon used by the Catholic Church today but was abandoned
by Protestants at the Reformation?
Why do Protestants follow a Jewish council decision on the canon
of the Old Testament rather than the decision of the Church which was founded
by Jesus Christ?
If Christianity is a Bible only religion, how did it ever survive for the
first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were
illiterate?
Of the 39 Articles of Religion Established by the Bishops, the Clergy,
and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of
America, in Convention, on the twelfth day of September, in the Year of
our Lord, 1801, article # 6 states:
"6. The sufficiency of Holy Scripture for salvation:
Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation. Consequently
whatever is not read in Scripture nor can be proved from Scripture cannot
be demanded from any person to believe it as an article of faith. Nor is
any such thing to be thought necessary or required for salvation. By holy
Scripture is meant those canonical books of the Old and New Testaments
whose authority has never been doubted within the church."
Where in the Bible are the words which state that the Word of GOD is restricted
solely to what is written within Scripture? Where in the Bible is the above
paragraph #6 written? Where in the Bible is the authority given for anyone
to make such a statement?
Compiled by Bob Stanley, February
19, 1999
Updated October 25, 2001
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