Just thought someone should point out that the major Protestant denominations in the USA, with the exception of the Southern Baptist Convention, are not sola scriptura.
There is a valid reason for that. Sola scriptura does not work. But sola scriptura was the basis for early protestantism. It was a denial of authority, especially authority of the Church. Authority, any authority, was the big bugaboo with Luther. He was the victim of parental abuse so he ran away from parental authority to the Augustinians. He found no refuge there as he was then subject to the Augustinian order and also to the Church. So He ran again. He found solace in the one area where he could control the authority and that was sola scriptura. There Luther was the authority behind the scripture. Luther said what this scripture verse meant and what it did not mean. And if his interpretation differed from that of the Church it didn’t matter for he had already denied Church authority. Later in his life Luther would fly into a rage when someone else would interpret scripture differently than he did.
Roy5;7075631:
I come from a mixed Catholic/Protestant background, and all my life I have been interested in the differences. Here are two conclusions I have come to.
Code:
1. The mainline denominations - Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, UCC, etc - are not sola scriptura. They have a wide range of belief within their churches, but the dominant strain is 'big tent'. That is to say, they are very tolerant of divergent views. When in a Bible study group, for example, you will hear vigorous debate about what this or that verse means. Neither the minister nor anyone else present is likely to say: "No, that's not right!" The overwhelming ethos is one of "think and let think' (in the words of John Wesley).
2. These same denominations also tend to be very ecumenical toward one another and even toward Catholicism. They are generally tolerant toward other expressions of faith, including non-Christian faiths. They admire many things about Catholicism, such as its work with the poor, its hospitals, etc. What its members cannot accept are in two principal areas: (a) they view various doctrines of Catholicism as traditions from ancient times that have been infected by superstitions believable then but not today; and (2) they disagree with Catholicism on such matters as marriage of clergy, ordination of women, and artificial birth control.
There is also a valid reason for them being “big tent” and “ecumenical toward one another and even toward Catholicism”. None of the protestant denominations claim to have any authority so Lutherans can’t say to Baptists that they are wrong about adult only Baptism. No one has the authority to say someone else is wrong so everyone can claim to be “led by the Spirit” and there is no one to say what is true doctrine and what is not. There are no heretics and there are no heresies in protestantism. All there is is one denomination after another, after another, after another, etc. . That is where being “big tent” takes you. It takes you away from the unity that Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples. But ecumenicalism with the Catholic Church is another matter. Don’t expect us to go “big tent” and adopt the “I’m okay, you’re okay” brand of ecumenicalism. The way we see ecumenicalism is, “you left us now you come back to us” but we ain’t stopping. You got 500 years of catching up to do. Now that may seem harsh but we won’t compromise on Truth. The Holy Spirit will not allow it.
Code:
Even some modern events trouble them. Did St. Padre Pio really levitate, bilocate, perform miracles, and such? They would be very skeptical. This sort of skepticism leads them to feel that Catholicism in its traditional form is too much a relic of medievalism. They would even view Catholicism as they might view Protestant fundamentalism - too narrow, demanding too much gullibility. But they do applaud those within Catholicism who seek reform and broaden its perspective.
That is because protestants do not understand the extensive investigation that goes into a cause for sainthood. And yes Padre Pio did levitate. There are eyewitnesses still living who can attest to it. Yes he did bilocate. That has been proven by people who have seen him in one place while others in a different locale saw him at the same time. But those events are not why he was canonized for sainthood. Padre Pio received the stigmata [the five wounds of Christ on the cross] He bore these wounds for over 50 years during which time the wounds were investigated extensively by medical experts. Yet several days before he died in 1968, all evidence of the wounds disappeared. And by the way Catholicism is not a “relic of medievalism” That moniker can be chiseled on the tombstone of protestantism. Catholicism is a “relic” of the Books of Acts. If you look up Acts 9:31:
“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” [Acts 9:31 KJV]
Then look up the underlined words ‘churches’ and ‘throughout all’ in a Greek lexicon you will find that those words in Greek are “
ecclesia kata holos”. Those are the same words that Ignatius, third bishop of Antioch after Peter and Elvodius, used in his writings first in 107 AD and which by 150 AD became the name of the Church established by Jesus. And *Ecclesia kata holos * is the Catholic Church.
