Subject: God love the senner but hate the sin |
Bible Note: Hi Doc. As I understand, Sola Scriptura was a Latin term adopted by Protestant Reformers around the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, when brave clergymen openly protested the Catholic Church's stance on certain practices and beliefs. Their banner (or battle cry, if you will) became "Sola Scriptura!" which means, "Scripture Only!" As I recall, these "Protestor's" believed the Bible was the final word on doctrine and not the Pope; and they ascribed all moral and religious authority to the Bible, instead of the Church. As a result, many of these brave souls lost their lives for protesting the Church. QUESTIONS FOR OUR DAY The question we should ask ourselves today is... how could so many different Christian belief systems arise from the one political banner of "Scripture Alone" (such as Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Mennonite, and Adventist, to only name a few)? How could so many doctrinal views, many of them diametrically opposed, spring from the one slogan, "sola Scriptura"? If all these different religious factions held to the same belief ("Scripture Only"), then how was it possible for them to develop such divergent doctrinal views? Is it because "Scripture Alone" was not enough? Or, is it because Scripture can be taken out of context and used to "prove" what we believe? And, if "Scripture Alone" was not enough to ensure spiritual harmony among Christian believers throughout the centuries, then what makes us believe it is enough to ensure it now on a world-wide Internet website? |