Many Protestants will have to give up to the Catholic Church eventually. They will find themselves contradicting themselves. One example is a discussion with a Protestant friend:
Avbcl111: How do you know who wrote Matthew? Aren’t you going to rely on the early fathers???
Protestant: We can date the document by internal evidence, and its authorship is attested by internal and external evidence.
Avbcl111: can you give me an example?
Protestant: Yes. For example, Matthew frequently mentions fulfillments of prophecy. But he doesn’t mention any fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 A.D. Therefore, it’s likely that the document was written prior to 70 A.D. I can cite books and scholars on this subject. There’s a lot of evidence for the authenticity of the books of the Bible.
Avbcl111: yes but how do you know Matthew wrote it though? how do you know it wasn’t a Gnostic?
Protestant: The author’s name is part of every relevant manuscript we have. We also know that documents during that time usually had the author’s name attached all along. The widespread, early, universal acceptance of Matthew as the author suggests that there was no competing authorship claim, and that the Matthean claim was highly credible. People who lived with the apostles or shortly after specifically implied or named Matthew as the author.
Avbcl111: so in other words…you are relying on tradition
Protestant: No, things like manuscripts, archeology, and the writings of Christians are not the same as the tradition you believe in as a Catholic.
Avbcl111: that is a written tradition
Protestant: The tradition you believe in contradicts much of what the church fathers wrote.
Avbcl111: But you are still relying on the authority of tradition. So far, you are relying on scripture and tradition and you said that a church has authority as well.
Do we need any other Sola to be in Solidarity:shrug:This was a discussion on Authority. We see that my Protestant friend is relying on the Early Church Fathers and manuscripts, which of course, are written traditions. One would not have the Bible if he does not accept the authority of the Church who did it, and the canons (which is a written tradition as well). The person who practices Sola Scriptura would not even give citations of early Church Fathers to try to contradict the Catholic Church if they do not rely on written tradition. By trying to contradict the Catholic Church, he will have to rely on these writings as authoritative, or else, even though citing them, they do not really matter. A person who follows Sola Scriptura is actually relying on three authorities: Scripture, Church, and Tradition which is of course, just like the Catholic Church.
Maybe Sola Veritas or at least Unus Veritas:thumbsup:In doing some research I came across this and a familiar argument often seen in the Sola threads…
In Defense of Sola Ecclesia
philvaz.com/apologetics/a29.htm
Do we need any other Sola to be in Solidarity:shrug: