PING.
The mainlines are dying because they have forsaken God’s WORD.
Simple.
No more complicated than that.
The 300 year old UCC church in my town is all about rainbow flags, gay marriage, Palestinian statehood and drum-circles. I imagine the lights could be kept on simply by hooking up to the founding parishoners’ bodies spinning in their graves.
Written as if the Roman faith in the USA is not suffering a decline right along with the rest of Churchianity in this country.
It’s in the same shape - let’s not kid ourselves.
The secular culture is winning out across the spectrum of biblical faith and tradition.
I bristle at the implication that such a decline would not happen if we were all still subjects of the Roman church and that their traditions are superior to those attempting to follow biblical ones.
Misuse of the term “evangelical”. That, btw, is always a fatal flaw in any discussion because, after all, no one will understand what he’s hearing, nor what he is saying.
“That the written Scripture only is the sole rule of belief, morals, and practice for believing Christians.”
That’s right, Buster. Most things in the Bible are simple enough to read and interpret at face value, without some priest telling me what I just read. I don’t read through the rose-colored lenses of 2,000 years of the accumulated traditions of men. Too many old, established denominations have made the simple tenets of Christianity seem complicated and conflicting.
Ever hear of William Tyndale? He was insisting that the Bible should be given to the people in English, that it should be explained to them, and that they should learn how to read it. One bishop named John Bell told Tyndale that it would be better for the people to be without God’s law, as long as they had the pope’s law. This was Tyndale’s famous response: “I defy the pope and his laws! If God spares my life, in a few years a plow boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do.”
I say, Amen!
This is happy catholic talk that comes due to a base ignorance of protestant theological issues. No biggie. Protestant are generally not privy to the broad issues of catholic theology.
What has killed the liberal protestant denominations in europe and is currently killing the liberal denominations in the USA and the Catholic church in latin america is the Arian heresy. The arian heresy came in through liberation theology in the catholic church — and in the protestant church a theological school of thought called “Higher Criticism”. I know little of liberation theology beyond what I’ve been told by conservative catholics. I can say more about the “higher criticism” school. The “the higher criticism” school evaluates the bible as if it were a myth—like norse or greek myths. Seen in these terms there are no miracles and Jesus is just a man. The “Higher Criticism” school dates from the 17th century. They got their start as an off shoot of descartes.Who in turn brought into Christendom the greek notion that “man is the measure of all things.” That is, if man is the measure of all things—then that includes God.
Catholics on the board need to stop digging a hole for themselves with the sola matters. The secularists are reigning triumphant. The interesting question is why.
Teo, I agree with the above. Completely. As an ordained elder in the Methodist (UMC) Church, I would fully endorse every word in the above.
However, your analysis of the root of that embrace, an analysis based on what I believe is a misunderstanding of the Solas, can never be correct if the understanding of them is skewed. I don't think there is any intentional misunderstanding. I think there is simply misunderstanding.
Sola Scriptura is not premised on just any old hermeneutics one feels like using. It must be a spiritually and ecclesiastically acceptable, rational, historic, and comprehensive hermeneutic. It must recognize as well that the scriptures are the words of the Apostles and the Prophets, and that they are, therefore, authoritative.
A Sola Fide that does not distinguish between the salvific moment and the continuing weakness of the flesh (sinful nature) is a salvation that is doomed to failure for "if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." In other words, one cannot focus on good deeds and ignore bad deeds which are predetermined by our nature to happen.
I would call your "free examen" the "priesthood of believers", and there is no priesthood of believers that teaches individualism -- individual religion -- that is not subsumed under an Ecclesiastical structure. In other words, there is no "individual Christianity", that is to say, no "lone wolf" Christianity. Jesus, Himself, founded the Church, and Christians are to be Church Christians. Nor is there sacramental individualism in any church that is not based on "in extremis" situations.
Sola Gratia has received acceptance from the Catholic Church. The Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith says,
15.In faith we together hold the conviction that justification is the work of the triune God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The foundation and presupposition of justification is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Justification thus means that Christ himself is our righteousness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.[11]
Allow me to be clear that there are still quibbles on both sides regarding some of the emphases, but there is also acceptance of the basic premise that "God Saves, and we don't save ourselves."
However, the "intellectual suicide" charge is a bit of a mixed bag. Is Protestantism up a creek without an external, authoritative interpretive tradition? Yes it is (and as everyone knows, Fundamentalist Protestants argue among themselves merely by quoting verses back and forth, and no one ever convinces anyone else. But . . . if by "intellectual suicide" you mean they don't subject the statements of G-d to human reason or modern science before agreeing to believe them, then you are way off. People who believe so strongly will always be around. You may not agree with them, but they'll never become extinct, and certainly not because they don't subject the powers of G-d to human intellect.
Aside from that, how would you feel if someone said Catholics commit intellectual suicide because they believe in the virgin birth, the resurrection, or Fatima, hmmm? Sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander, shouldn't it?
It's like a farmer who wants to take in a sparrow into a barn on a cold winter's night. The door is open, the sparrow just has to fly in. Actually it's more than that, the sparrow just has to truly desire to be saved and it is..
The encroachment of liberal theology into conservative churches of all kinds has been a long, complex process, in which there were many players over a very long period of time, not the least of whom was one Thomas Aquinas and his unfortunate elevation of reason in relation to faith. No, I am not blaming him. No one person or group provides that single point of inflection on which the whole matter turned. To get an idea of the full scope of the problem, I highly recommend a book by Francis Schaeffer called Escape from Reason. Schaeffer was a Presbyterian, but his explanation of the history of western thought in relation to Christian theology is a powerful antidote to the temptation to make incendiary oversimplifications.
Sola Scriptura
That the written Scripture only is the sole rule FINAL AUTHORITY of belief, morals, and practice for believing Christians.
The meaning of the word "rule" has changed in 450 years. Classical, CONSERVATIVE magisterial Protestants (that is, Lutherans, Anglicans, and the Reformed) have always taught that Scripture alone, as God's Word, had FINAL authority, not that it was the "sole authority," so you toss all tradition and knowledge gained since the 1st Century out the window...
This is why the earliest Protestant Reformers were all devout students of the both the early Church Fathers and the best scholars of the middle ages--as these were and are valid authorities (while not being FINAL authorities) on how best to interpret scripture.
Conservative magisterial Protestants abide by the 1st 4 Ecumenical Councils also, for example--showing they are not the hyper-individualists that you portray here.
Are some Protestants hyper-individualistic? Yes--coming out of the "radical Reformation", that is, the non-Lutheran/Anglican/Reformed branches--which survived primarily because of the RELIGIOUS FREEDOM we have here in America.
With the absence of a body fully obedient to the final authority of God's Word, the Bible, as is the case with Rome (and the Eastern Orthodox)--Tradition is given an independent, competing, dueling authority to the Bible...and the Magisterium of the Church picks and chooses which scriptures, and which traditions to follow--with no standard, no "constitution" of the Bible to keep it accountable.
One has the possibility of endless changes of "interpretation" since--as with our Supreme Court using a "living constitution" method of constitutional interpretation (instead of textual, or original intent), God's authority is given to the current curia and Pope--functionally, over and above the holy Scriptures--written by the 1st Century Apostles.
I for one, am not surprised that Chief Justice Roberts--if he believes a human institution (Rome) has the right under God to rewrite the Bible using hand-chosen Tradition--that he too, has the right to rewrite a "living constitution" according to the expediency of politics today.
Sola Fide
That faith alone is necessary for the salvation JUSTIFICATION of individual Christian and that good works lack intrinsic salvific value.
Real justification comes ONLY through the good works of Jesus--as He alone is the author of our salvation. Jesus' justification of a Christian though, if their faith is real, must be followed by a growth in holiness--marked inevitably by works of charity, this is called SANCTIFICATION. Justification and Sanctification MUST go hand in hand, or to use an old Puritan phrase: "Justification is by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone."
The house of a Christian life has a FOUNDATION of faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone--but a house is not a house if only a foundation exists...the building is built up by sanctification, that is good works of love--all though, utterly dependent on the foundation of grace, through faith, in Christ Jesus, who gets ALL the glory!
The ONLY proper motivation of doing good works is LOVE, gratefulness for Jesus’ good works for me…NOT a fear—that if I don’t do this, and this, and this…why I might have to spend more time or endure more fire, in Purgatory…(another fully unbiblical/unapostolic superstitious teaching…)
Free Examen
That the individual alone exercises “priestly” power to approach Holy Scripture and to interpret it on the basis of his or her salvific experience alone, as permitted by sola scriptura and illuminated by sola fide.
This is just bogus, I know of NO majesterial Protestant group which understands any individual's interpretation as just as valid as anyone elses--this is mere post-modern Roman-Catholic-propaganda spin. Can laymen read, understand, and apply the bible? Sure! But always, everywhere, everyone is called to be a part of a Church body--and the churches are called to be a part of a larger body, the Church--whose doctrines are interpreted--AS A BODY--from the bible.
Sola fide, and sola scriptura, do NOT imply me-and-my-bible-alone-ism. Otherwise the various creeds and catechisms (which agree on at least 95% of topics) of each of the magisterial Protestant groups from all over Europe would never of been written--as they were, 450 years ago.... Set catechisms and creeds make NO SENSE at all if individualistic interpretation was considered the standard method of bible interpretation.
Faith and belief having been emptied of objective contents and free from external hermeneutical authority.
NO. Just as in astronomy, there is great consensus amidst well qualified astronomers--employed by various communities of scholars...that is universities. However, you or I can own individual telescopes, and study the stars on our own, so too, in classical Protestant theology individuals may study the bible--and contribute--but, the theology is approved and led by serious experts in the community of scholars, the Church. Occasionally, in astronomy an amateur will discover a new comet or some other phenomena, using a back-yard telescope--and this is confirmed and added to the knowledge of the universities of professional astronomers.
Classical conservative Protestant belief & practice does NOT now depends on the subjective contents the individual believer deems fit to find.
Dissent is built into this tenet for if the individual believer objects to what his pastor teaches and his community believes, he can leave to search for another community or found his own.
Hmmmm, what exactly, historically has been the Roman Catholic solution to dissenters and objectors? Using the power of the state to persecute or BAN Churches other than the Roman Catholic church, religious suppression of individuals, and the Inquisition--that's what.
In the era of the Protestant Reformation TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PROTESTANTS WERE KILLED--AT THE DIRECT APPROVAL OF THE ROMAN CHURCH--ONLY FOR THEIR RELIGION.
Even today 400 years later, if you go to a Latin American country, or Poland or Austria—countries with 90%+ Roman Catholics—it is LEGALLY VERY DIFFICULT to start or maintain a Protestant church…as these places lack all the protections of religious freedom we have in the USA. Where they dominate….freedom of religion has NEVER been a priority of Roman Catholicism.
Sola Gratia
That salvation is due to “grace alone” apart from individual efforts of sanctification and cooperation with grace.
"For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; Not of works, that no man may glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them."
(Ephesians 2:8-10, in the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (official Roman Catholic Bible))
Hmmm, I think your beef is with St. Paul, NOT Protestants.
The consequence is that there’s no Christian morality or orthopraxis that is ultimately binding.
This is ridiculous. Let's look at the social ethics of historically Protestant places, compared to historically Roman Catholic places. Does the USA--which is and has been overwhelmingly Protestant--have a history of "no Christian morality or othopraxis?" Do Spain, Italy, or any of the Latin American countries have less corruption than the USA, the UK or Scandanavia? Are Lousianna, Maryland or Massachusetts (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic states) well known for corruption-free politics? (NO. QUITE the opposite...).
The “Grace vs. Works” conundrum being resolved in the favor of grace “through faith”, and faith having been subjectivized itself, they further built their morality on subjective principles such as “compassion, acceptance, understanding” defined apart from any objective grounds such as saving works.
Biblical ethics--compared to human-institutionally-defined(and redefined) ethics offer a FAR MORE OBJECTIVE standard, than just doing what your priest tells you because of what the Church tells him—just because they say so…..without bothering to understand or think why. This is why bible-believing Christians--even with no institutionally mandated unity—ARE VERY UNIFIED on Christian ethics. Opposition to abortion, homosexuality, sex-before-marriage among other social issues--HAVE MORE unanimity among conservative evangelical PROTESTANT Christians than among Roman Catholics, by far.
As a matter of fact, show me the MOST LIBERAL, MOST DEMOCRAT controlled areas of the Red States--and I will show you the places with the highest percentage of Roman Catholics (in Florida, Texas and Louisiana). For some reason the teachings of social conservatism of the Roman church--don't translate into serious social conservatism of parishioners exercised in the voting booth.
But if a shepherd feeds his sheep thorns, thistles and sand-spurs, they will seek greener pastures. No matter how much the shepherd tells the sheep that the food he now gives them is evolving.