J
justasking4
Guest
I would ask them “please quote the bible verse that says to use ‘no book but the bible’”.
there is no such verse. However, for the protestant bases its belief on the very nature of the scriptures themselves i.e. inspired-inerrant Word of God. No church traditions or man for example can rise to this level of authority
And another, “where does the bible say all christian doctrine and practice must be supported or found in the bible?”
If a doctrine is not dervived from the scripture, then on what authority are you basing it on? If not on the Bible, then all you are left with are the mere opinions of men
Another question for them, maybe at another time, would be how do they know the bible is inspired since there is no inspired index of the books of the bible.
The truth of the matter is the first two above are man-made traditions which contradict God’s holy Word as found in the gospel as preached by the apostles and passed on by their successor bishops. 1520 marks the beginning of the currrent sola scriptura & sola fide movement which has had the effect of splintering Christianity into literally thousands of man-made denominations.
Without fully realizing it, more than likely, your family is not really using the authority of the bible but the authority of their preacher or pastor who is teaching them to follow a tradition of men which says to use the bible alone.
The catholic church is in the same boat. They to follow the traditions of their own leaders. What the catholic church has done is to add to the scripture its own traditions and practices which in many cases is not found in the scriptures
And finally, you can point out that in order to be saved we must hear the gospel as preached by the apostles who learned directly from Jesus. If we believe this gospel and are baptized we will be saved. If we reject it we will be condemned (Mt 16:15-16). These are the words of Jesus himself. If we say we have faith in Jesus we must believe everything he says, not pick & choose.
Good point about baptism. However, what do you do with your church that teaches infant baptism in which an infant cannot believe? this contradicts the scripture.
Then ask your family what book, chapter & verses of the bible claim to be a summary of this gospel preached by the apostles which we must believe in order to be saved. Answer: there are no bible verses claiming to summarize this gospel.
not so. Look at Romans 10:8-10 which says;
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Therefore the ONLY way to know this gospel is by listening to the Church Jesus founded, “the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1Tim 3:15).
Do you believe that protestant churches are capable of preaching the gospel without the help of the catholic church?
Secondly a person can read particular passages of scripture and come to an understanding that they need to repent and believe that Christ died for their sins and rose again.
The creed, the sacraments, commandments and prayer are what the apostles preached and taught. Their successor bishops under the leadership of the popes have transmitted this gospel from generation to generation for 2,000 years. These four “pillars” of the gospel can be found in the Catholic Church’s Roman Catechism (1566) and the new Cathechism (1993).
That is the purpose of catechisms, to teach doctrine. The bible was not written to teach doctrine, it is a narrative of salvation history, i.e., how God has intervened in history to save man.
If what you say is true, then why did Peter in I Peter 2:1-3 say that the way to grow in respect to salvation was directly tied to the scripture itself and not doctrine? Or take 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 which makes a similar claim?
Which is why the founders of modern day Protestantism immediately contradicted themselves when they said “the bible alone & faith alone”, and then turned around and wrote catechisms to teach their new man-made religions.
do you the context in which this was spoken and taught? Luther was not out to destroy the catholic church but wanted it to reform itself by rejecting many of its unbiblical doctrines and practices and return to what Jesus and the apostles intended for the church to be
Joe
