Sola Scriptura "disproved" by.... Leviticus?

[Lazerlike42]

I was just thinking,

One of the things we as Catholics always point out is that the New Testament (or the Bible for that matter) was not intended to be a systematic teaching of all the rules of faith. We point out things like the fact that it never says “God is Triune” in the Bible but we have to extract it by taking this passage here and adding that one and looking at it in light of this one over here… same thing with Sunday worship, etc. (Obviously we don’t need to do this because the Church told us these things but that’s another issue). Protestants claim that this is the book God gave us to teach everything, even if we have to dipsy doodle around to get all the doctrines.

I was just thinking, though. If God wanted to write a book to tell us systematically the rules of faith, we know how He would do it. He did it before: Leviticus. In other words, if God intended the Bible to be the only rule of faith, He would have made it out to be like Leviticus.

Any thoughts on this as a “proof” against sola scriptura? Obviously it’s not an actual proof so to speak, but I mean it in a loose sense.

 

[trumpet152]

Can you explain what you mean a little more? Why would it need to be like Leviticus?

 

[deb1]

trumpet152:

Can you explain what you mean a little more? Why would it need to be like Leviticus?

I think that the poster means because the book of Leviticus has rules set out nice and neat. Then again Jewish people don’t go by the bible only. They have their own traditions and customs that are written in the Talmud.

 

[Lazerlike42]

I’m basically saying…

When God wanted to give Israel a written document to tell them how to behave, He gave them the book of Leviticus. He has that precedent. If He wanted us as Christians to simply follow some written document, why wouldn’t He provide us with another systematic, point by point document like Leviticus? We know that it’s in His “style” to do that. Protestants want to argue that God gave us this Bible to base all our doctrine on, but He didn’t actually spell it out systematically. Instead, they say, He just made it what amounts to a jumbled collection of letters. However, they claim that in this collection He put every truth, rule, and belief that we need. My point is, if God wanted to give us all these truths, He already showed us how He would do it. To me, the fact He didn’t do this is a pretty strong indication that He wanted to leave us with another sort of guide to live by (the Church).

 

[Catholic_Dude]

Yes, but even Leviticus has its limits on how much it could say/explain. The way you really knew was living it out and having that information/traditions be passed down through the ages.

 

[Lazerlike42]

Well obviously. That’s the Catholic position/point. My point is only to show that if the Protestant Sola Scriptura were really the way God wanted to do it, He would have given a clear, systematic treatment of the subject, not a combination of “random” letters.

 

[deb1]

Lazerlike42:

Well obviously. That’s the Catholic position/point. My point is only to show that if the Protestant Sola Scriptura were really the way God wanted to do it, He would have given a clear, systematic treatment of the subject, not a combination of “random” letters.

I understand what you are getting at. The problem is that a Protestant who believes in sola scriptura would dance around the subject.

Som would claim that it is faith alone that saves them, and that works don’t matter. Their reasoning would be that was why God didn’t give them a book of rules like Leviticus. A christian, by their reasoning, doesn’t need all those rules.Some might even claim that the Holy Spirit had imprinted his laws on thier hearts.

I remember asking my ex pastor why we then had to study the bible at all. His response was that the saved love Jesus so much that they naturally want to learn about him.

 

[Edwin1961]

Lazerlike42:

To me, the fact He didn’t do this is a pretty strong indication that He wanted to leave us with another sort of guide to live by (the Church).

Scripture And Tradition: What a great combination!

I just think that if God wanted a 'book of systematic ‘rules’ He wouldn’t have sent His Son to save us but to police us.
A loving God doesn’t do that!