Looking for the best anti-Sola Scriptura argument/analogy

[Gabster]

What would you say to a person (a loved one) when you keep trying to prove to them that the interpretation of scripture the Catholic Church has, it’s been around since the earliest centuries of Christianity (at least the very basic theology) by showing them writings of the Church Fathers, texts from historians, or any other proof…

But they keep answering things like “That’s tradition of men, writings of men, passed down by men” type of arguments. “writings and words of men are not the Word of God.” or “have you ever played that broken telephone game where you whisper to the ear of your classmate a sentence and they do it to the next person and at the end, it’s a whole different sentence, so I rather trust what’s written in the bible. the bible is the Word of God, the bible alone, scripture alone”.

Do you have an easy to understand argument, perhaps a friendly analogy that can help them see that the interpretation of the earliest Christians is literally written down and passed down and just because it isn’t included in the bible doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant?

 

[BartholomewB]

It’s a very old argument, and maybe you’ve already tried it, but you could ask the simple question, Who gave us the Bible? Who decided which books were in and which books were out?

 

[Hodos]

It’s a very old argument, and maybe you’ve already tried it, but you could ask the simple question, Who gave us the Bible? Who decided which books were in and which books were out?

Even that doesn’t answer the question. The question being asked by your friend is when speaking about specific aspects of doctrine, what did the apostles themselves teach. To answer the question, one can claim special access to oral tradition which cannot be verified, or you can go directly to their words as recorded in scripture. So a rebuttal that asks who gave us the scriptures is irrelevant. We both agree the scriptures are the work of the Holy Spirit passed down to us through the apostles for the purpose of bringing souls to salvation, teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. But it doesn’t answer the question that was originally asked, which is what did the apostles teach about X? Essentially its a red herring used to distract from the original question.

 

[sealabeag]

2 Thessalonians 2:15

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.