Is sola Scriptura Infallible? Protestant says yes!

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Randy_Carson

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In another thread in this forum, a Protestant made the following assertion:
Here is the point. For the Protestant, sola Scriptura is in essence equal to the word of God as the only infallible rule of faith for the church.
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Equal to the Word of God?

Infallible?

Well, folks, what do you think of this claim? Any Protestants want to comment?
 
Hi,

Im sorry the statement confuses me. What is this person saying is equal to the Word of God?
 
Catholics and many non-Catholics agree scripture is infallible.
You just also contend your written traditions, I do not believe that there are any infallible traditions not written anymore, aree infallible as well. Whats the beef?
 
The Bible is the Word of God, but a careful reading of its contents points to the revelation of Christ. It is information about Jesus and His personality and information that He wishes us to have. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is knowledge of the Father as well, as they are unified.

Many non-Catholics have a tendency to emphasize Scripture over Jesus Christ who is what the Scripture is meant to convey. This, I believe is where the error is. For instance, I reviewed a statement of faith for a club and it mentioned that the Supreme Authority is the Bible. I countered that the Supreme Authority is Jesus Christ, who is what the Scriptures are all about. This seemed to confuse them.

I truly believe that there are many Protestants who put the Scriptures ahead of Jesus Himself. That is a serious error that accounts for much of this persistence in separation. I can’t think of a good analogy. It is sort of like loving the autobiography more than the person it is about. I know these people themselves would not see it that way, but it is so true.
 
BrianH said:
Catholics and many non-Catholics agree scripture is infallible.
You just also contend your written traditions, I do not believe that there are any infallible traditions not written anymore, aree infallible as well. Whats the beef?
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I don’t think scripture is infallible. It is inerrant.

Infallibility is a trait of a sentient being capable of action. It means that the being is incapable of committing an error. Of course, the doctrine of Papal Infallibility is more complex than that.

Inerrancy is a state of being, usually of an inanimate object. It means the thing in question contains no errors.

A fine point, but important nonetheless.

I’m sure that there are some Traditions which are not written as a law or rule anywhere. For instance, is there any law which states that Sunday is the day for worship? I think that the laws about worship and its forms, just assume that Sunday is the day. (I may be wrong.)

Anyways, the Traditions of the Church are inerrant. The traditions of the Church may be rampant with error, although that is unlikely. When discussing this subject, it is important to use the capital T, lowercase t distinction to make sure that the same things are being referenced.

The Church affirms that it has faithfully kept the deposit of Faith given to it by the Apostles. The guidance of the Holy Spirit has made the handing down of this deposit from generation to generation possible. This is inerrant Tradition.
 
BrianH said:
Catholics and many non-Catholics agree scripture is infallible.
You just also contend your written traditions, I do not believe that there are any infallible traditions not written anymore, aree infallible as well. Whats the beef?
Click to expand...
The list of scriptural books is a tradition of the Church. Sola scriptura is a tradition of protestantism. To say the doctrine is infallible is contradictory to the scritprures since the scriptures say otherwise.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Does anyone have a scripture to support that?
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Exactly, if you claim sola scriptura then you must either say that sola scriptura is not infallible or you must find it in scripture. It is a self contradiction.
 
Ceil-1 said:
The Bible is the Word of God, but a careful reading of its contents points to the revelation of Christ. It is information about Jesus and His personality and information that He wishes us to have. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is knowledge of the Father as well, as they are unified.

Many non-Catholics have a tendency to emphasize Scripture over Jesus Christ who is what the Scripture is meant to convey. This, I believe is where the error is. For instance, I reviewed a statement of faith for a club and it mentioned that the Supreme Authority is the Bible. I countered that the Supreme Authority is Jesus Christ, who is what the Scriptures are all about. This seemed to confuse them.

I truly believe that there are many Protestants who put the Scriptures ahead of Jesus Himself. That is a serious error that accounts for much of this persistence in separation. I can’t think of a good analogy. It is sort of like loving the autobiography more than the person it is about. I know these people themselves would not see it that way, but it is so true.
Click to expand...
Hi,

I see your point. I am a born again christian who puts Christ first in my life. The only way I can do that is by studying the Scripture. So where as I do not worship the bible I do have to read it, believe it is the Word of God 100% so I can put what is in it to practice in my daily living. IMHO I think that is what most christians(catholic and non-catholic alike)believe to be true. Although I have met a few catholics and protestants who dont believe the bible to be 100% the inerrant Word of God.:eek: I wouldnt consider them christians in the sense of a true follower of Christ.😦
 
ALLFORHIM said:
Hi,

I see your point. I am a born again Christian who puts Christ first in my life. The only way I can do that is by studying the Scripture. So where as I do not worship the bible I do have to read it, believe it is the Word of God 100% so I can put what is in it to practice in my daily living. IMHO I think that is what most Christians(catholic and non-catholic alike)believe to be true. Although I have met a few catholics and protestants who don’t believe the bible to be 100% the inerrant Word of God.:eek: I wouldn’t consider them Christians in the sense of a true follower of Christ.😦
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So if the math or census numbers someplace in the Old Testament is off you would see that as an indicting the inerrancy of the Bible?

What if something said in the OT is contrary to known scientific fact today?

We Catholics believe that the Word of God is inerrant with respect to faith and morals. It is not (and was never meant to be) a math or science book)
 
Church_Militant said:
So if the math or census numbers someplace in the Old Testament is off you would see that as an indicting the inerrancy of the Bible?

What if something said in the OT is contrary to known scientific fact today?

We Catholics believe that the Word of God is inerrant with respect to faith and morals. It is not (and was never meant to be) a math or science book)
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Was it a copyist error or did the Holy Spirit get it wrong?

Inspiration is not limited to any one part of the scriptures, your own Pope Leo XIII said as much.
 
Reformed1 said:
Was it a copyist error or did the Holy Spirit get it wrong?

Inspiration is not limited to any one part of the scriptures, your own Pope Leo XIII said as much.
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it wouldn’t stop it from being an inspired text tho.

It’s just not meant to be a science or math book.

I frankly don’t care why it might be wrong…it does not affect my faith and moral behavior. Why would it?
 
Church_Militant said:
So if the math or census numbers someplace in the Old Testament is off you would see that as an indicting the inerrancy of the Bible?

What if something said in the OT is contrary to known scientific fact today?

We Catholics believe that the Word of God is inerrant with respect to faith and morals. It is not (and was never meant to be) a math or science book)
Click to expand...
Hi,

I look at the bible as a spiritual book. I dont look at it as a math or science book. But, I do not place all of my trust in science either. For example, I dont believe in evolution. I believe in creation.
 
Church_Militant said:
So if the math or census numbers someplace in the Old Testament is off you would see that as an indicting the inerrancy of the Bible?

What if something said in the OT is contrary to known scientific fact today?

We Catholics believe that the Word of God is inerrant with respect to faith and morals. It is not (and was never meant to be) a math or science book)
Click to expand...
I take the bible as 100% fact.
I don’t know of any scientific FACTS that contradict the bible.
However there are plenty of scientific THEORIES that are in contradiction of the bible.
Also, we are learning more and more from archaeological digs in Israel that support the historicity(sp) of the bible.
 
Church_Militant said:
What if something said in the OT is contrary to known scientific fact today?
Click to expand...
Interesting but maybe the opposite is true. For example the Old Testament says that the Earth is round. For years the Catholic Church taught that the Earth was flat.
 
ALLFORHIM said:
Hi,

I look at the bible as a spiritual book. I dont look at it as a math or science book. But, I do not place all of my trust in science either. For example, I dont believe in evolution. I believe in creation.
Click to expand...
You also apparently don’t believe in the apostrophe in contractions…:rolleyes:

Evolution is irrelevant to SS. especially since it is not a scientific fact, but just a theory.
 
Nancie_Lew said:
Interesting but maybe the opposite is true. For example the Old Testament says that the Earth is round. For years the Catholic Church taught that the Earth was flat
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.So the science proved that wrong but was that dogma? And is that something that the Bible actually teaches? No on both counts.
 
ALLFORHIM said:
Although I have met a few catholics and protestants who dont believe the bible to be 100% the inerrant Word of God.:eek: I wouldnt consider them christians in the sense of a true follower of Christ.😦
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t it be more charitable to say that they are true followers of Christ but not as knowledgeable as they should be? Baby Christians, in other words?
 
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