Sola Scriptura

[VociMike]

mrs_abbott:

I know that the doctrines laid down from the time of Jesus are infallible but that stuff that is said by man DOES have room for fallibility, including the pope.
I was just confused about that statement I read about sola scriptura because that would disprove anything said in anything BUT the Bible.

Remember that sola Scriptura can’t even account for the Bible it relies upon. There is no inspired table of contents. Well, actually there is, but it is not contained in scripture, but has been discerned by Church councils. So sola Scriptura falls flat right out of the starting gate. Sola Scriptura cannot even prove that e.g. the Gospel of John is Scripture, so how can any doctrine derived from the Gospel of John be known to be true?

 

[NonDenom]

Sola Scriptura means that the Scriptures are our only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice. All other authorities are subordinate to Scripture and are fallible.
u-turn.net/6-3/sola.shtml

If that is true, does that mean that things like the Catechism can’t be trusted for complete truth? :ehh:

Hi
You are correct in saying that the Scriptures are our only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice. This however doesn’t mean that the CCC can’t have truth in it, just as there many books about our Christian walk that contain truth. To say that the CCC is as important as the Bible is the same as Mormans saying that the book of Morman is as important as the Bible. No other book should be held up as high as the Bible when it comes to living a Christian life.
In Him and Only Him

 

[scylla]

NonDenom:

Hi
You are correct in saying that the Scriptures are our only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice. This however doesn’t mean that the CCC can’t have truth in it, just as there many books about our Christian walk that contain truth. To say that the CCC is as important as the Bible is the same as Mormans saying that the book of Morman is as important as the Bible. No other book should be held up as high as the Bible when it comes to living a Christian life.
In Him and Only Him

It is a common misconception to think that the Catechism is somehow to Catholics like a new revelation, or something like the Book of Mormon.
What it is is an explanation of the faith. Since the Bible was put together by the Catholic Church it is natural for it to need to be explained as part of the faith.
No Catholic holds the Catechism as the “Bible” or in any way like that but as an explanation of what we believe.
Which is why I can use the Catechism to explain to non-catholics and show how we interpret the Bible. So when non-catholics say Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life we can point to the Catechism’s first sentences that specifically say…
"FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."1 "God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."2 "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"3 - than the name of JESUS.

As the Church Jesus Christ founded we have to have a reason for the faith every time, so the Catechism explains what we believe, kinda like the statement of faith on websites of many noncatholic independant churches.

The only difference is that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus and is 2000 years old so it has a lot more to answer and explain, that is why the Catechism is several hundred pages while other expositions on faith might be 1-20 pages long or so.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[DeFide]

mrs_abbott:

I was taught in Apologetics class that the Bible is not the sole source of the Catholic faith. I don’t know where you got all that you just said.

Darned pronouns!

 

[mrs_abbott]

scylla:

I think you might have to read a little about infallibility before you make a judgement on it.

Infallibility is directly related to Catholic belief that there is indeed truth. Catholics believe that since Jesus came to testify to the truth and it is knowable.

Infallibility? Infallibility means incapable of erring.
In relation to the Catholic Church, infallibility means incapable of error in expounding doctrine on faith or morals.
What more do I need to know?

 

[vern_humphrey]

mrs_abbott:

I know that the doctrines laid down from the time of Jesus are infallible but that stuff that is said by man DOES have room for fallibility, including the pope.

If you are a Catholic, you must accept the Magisterium. The Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church, which cannot teach error, and is expressed three ways:

1. The Ordinary Magisterium, that is the teachings of the Bishops of the Church, under the authority and supervision of the Pope.
2. The Extraordinary Magisterium, which is the meeting of the Bishops under the authority and supervision of the Pope to decide issues under debate.
3. The Pope speaking Ex Cathedra ("as the Church.) This is rare, but he has that power.

Catholics who reject the Magisterium have separated themselves from the Church.

mrs_abbott:

I was just confused about that statement I read about sola scriptura because that would disprove anything said in anything BUT the Bible.

Sola scriptura is a false doctrine, and that should be obvious. How did we get the Bible? There is no inspired document that lists the Table of Contents. The books of the Bible were selected based on tradition. Therefore tradition must be of equal status with scripture.

 

[mrs_abbott]

NonDenom:

Hi
You are correct in saying that the Scriptures are our only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice. This however doesn’t mean that the CCC can’t have truth in it, just as there many books about our Christian walk that contain truth. To say that the CCC is as important as the Bible is the same as Mormans saying that the book of Morman is as important as the Bible. No other book should be held up as high as the Bible when it comes to living a Christian life.
In Him and Only Him

Gotcha!