[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Many of the Lutherans (as well as others) left the Protestant reservation years ago

Or did the reservation leave the Lutherans?

Who has the authority to determine which group is right, if both groups are operating under the principle of Sola Scriptura?

[metmom]

Who has the authority to determine which group is right, if both groups are operating under the principle of Sola Scriptura?

Do Catholics always have to have someone making their decisions for them? Do they always have to have their hand held when addressing spiritual matters?

[HarleyD]

Who has the authority to determine which group is right, if both groups are operating under the principle of Sola Scriptura?

Well, I thought that we 1) decide by what is plainly read in the scriptures and 2) decide what is correct by the fathers. When Paul states:

Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

it seems rather obvious. I don't need a bunch of people telling me "Well, Paul doesn't quite mean imputed."

If there is any doubt of what Paul was talking about, I'm sure that he was thinking back to the reverse senario of the Old Testament:

Lev 17:3 What man soever [there be] of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth [it] out of the camp,
Lev 17:4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:

It's rather clear that when sin or righteousness is "imputed" then it is permanent.