1) Where did Jesus give instructions that the Christian faith should be based exclusively on a book?
2) Other than the specific command to John to pen the Revelation, where did Jesus tell His apostles to write anything down and compile it into an authoritative book?
3) Where in the New Testament do the apostles tell future generations that the Christian faith will be based solely on a book?
4) If the meaning of the Bible is so clear—so easily interpreted—and if the Holy Spirit leads every Christian to interpret it for themselves, then why are there so many different Protestant denominations, and millions of individual Protestants, all interpreting the Bible differently?
5) How did the early Church evangelize and overthrow the Roman Empire, survive and prosper almost 350 years, without knowing for sure which books belong in the canon of Scripture?
6) Who in the Church had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament canon and to make this decision binding on all Christians? If nobody has this authority, then can I remove or add books to the canon on my own authority?
7) Why do Protestant scholars recognize the early Church councils at Hippo and Carthage as the first instances in which the New Testament canon was officially ratified, but ignore the fact that those same councils ratified the Old Testament canon used by the Catholic Church today but abandoned by Protestants at the Reformation?
8) If the early Church believed in sola Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture”?
9) The time interval between the Resurrection and the establishment of the New Testament canon in AD 382 is roughly the same as the interval between the arrival of the Mayflower in America and the present day. Therefore, since the early Christians had no defined New Testament for almost four hundred years, how did they practice sola Scriptura?
10) If Christianity is a “book religion,” how did it flourish during the first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were illiterate?
Please feel free to use the comments to answer any or all of the above questions.
+Pace e Bene+
You Are Never As Anonymous As You Think!
Sign by Danasoft - For Backgrounds and Layouts
Islam Coexist? Muhammed said "Never!"
Patriots For Action dot org
2 comments:
Comment on 5: It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th century that any "Christian" group had more than one of the gospels, much less a Bible. You might find "A History of Christianity" by Paul Johnson to be interesting reading.
Moi need a history lesson?
Lest you forget, St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Jude, St. James, St. John and other first-hand apostles wrote letters to various early Christian Churches. The Churches had "the teaching of the Apostles" which is much of the oral tradition of the Catholic Church today. The Didache is some of that tradition written down.
The Hebrew-Jewish people used oral tradition and the Hebrew-Christian (and Gentile-Christian) people also used the older oral tradition as well as the traditions passed down orally from the Apostles.
Western Civilization doesn't really have the background to fully comprehend the importance of oral tradtions. It relies too heavily on 'printed word' and thus wants to press the issue of "sola scriptura" when even the Scriptures do not support such belief and in fact, oppose it, in writing.
Also recall that there were 120 in that upper room and not just 11 disciples. Judas' replacement came from the 120. Each of those 120 (plus the women serving them) handed down oral traditions where ever the Lord led them to go.
Christianity doesn't look at 11 Disciples/Apostles as if they were the only ones present when Jesus, the Son of the Living God, walked as Son of Man on earth. Christianity is much broader in scope than that. Recall that in Acts, the written Word states "they were adding to their numbers daily." So there were a lot of new Christians who returned to their homes with 'their' traditions of Christianity.
And so, Christianity spread. And in order to maintain an orderly form of Christianity, the early Church turned to Rome and St. Peter. And thus was formed a catholic or universal Faith.
(The 'other lung' of the Church is the Eastern Orthodox and it is hoped that the Church can breathe with both lungs soon.)
+Pace e Bene+
Post a Comment