[mlizzy]

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Catholics explain this thusly:

...Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants, who place their confidence in Martin Luther’s theory of sola scriptura (Latin: "Scripture alone"), will usually argue for their position by citing a couple of key verses. The first is this: "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31)... According to these Protestants, these verses demonstrate the reality of sola scriptura (the "Bible only" theory).

Not so, reply Catholics. First, the verse from John refers to the things written in that book (read it with John 20:30, the verse immediately before it to see the context of the statement in question). If this verse proved anything, it would not prove the theory of sola scriptura but that the Gospel of John is sufficient.

Second, the verse from John’s Gospel tells us only that the Bible was composed so we can be helped to believe Jesus is the Messiah. It does not say the Bible is all we need for salvation, much less that the Bible is all we need for theology; nor does it say the Bible is even necessary to believe in Christ. After all, the earliest Christians had no New Testament to which they could appeal; they learned from oral, rather than written, instruction. Until relatively recent times, the Bible was inaccessible to most people, either because they could not read or because the printing press had not been invented. All these people learned from oral instruction, passed down, generation to generation, by the Church.

[boatbums]

Catholics explain this thusly: ...Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants, who place their confidence in Martin Luther’s theory of sola scriptura (Latin: "Scripture alone"), will usually argue for their position by citing a couple of key verses.

I wasn't even talking about sola Scriptura, so I couldn't care less what Catholic Answers has to say about it. From what you posted, they don't get it, either. However, what I did say was:

What IS clear is that the ONLY authority we have to know what are or are not those major tenets of the Christian faith is Holy Scripture. That is why God gave it to us, why it has been preserved all these thousands of years and why ALL claims for truth must be measured BY it - not men - no matter what their claim to authority is. Like the Apostle John was inspired to write:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

If a denomination gets that part wrong, then who knows how far they might wander from all the rest of what makes up the faith?

My point remains, we were given Holy Scripture so that we would have an objective, authoritative and reliable resource to know what ARE the doctrines we must believe to have everlasting life. I still believe that.