Replies

Sorry for the delay--I'm finally back, for a bit... though I see at least 300 other posts since last night. (*sigh*) I hope everyone will forgive me if I miss one or two...

CynicalBear wrote, in reply to my comment:

[paladinan]
But sola Scriptura is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

[CynicalBear]
So show us where scripture commended someone to go to something other than scripture to see “if these things were so”. If you can’t, Acts 15:11 should suffice to prove where to go as the only source to check.

There are at least three problems with your request:

1) you missed my whole point: if sola Scriptura isn't in the Bible, and sola Scriptura says not to trust anything outside the Bible with your salvation, then you shouldn't trust (or use) sola Scriptura! That's going to be the main problem, no matter whether there are any other sources of help/enlightenment, or not (and there are). Every time you insist that anyone "show it to you in Scripture, or you won't believe/accept it in faith-matters", you're using sola Scriptura... and you're wrong in doing so. Certainly, I'm under no obligation to follow something which doesn't even obey ITSELF!

2) You're assuming that I think Scripture is somehow unnecessary; that is NOT THE CASE AT ALL. Scripture is utterly necessary; without it, we wouldn't have a prayer (no pun intended) of having any reliable way to Heaven. I merely object to your erroneous idea that we MUST use Scripture ALONE, with nothing else at all. The Bible doesn't require that, and neither should you.

3) Why on earth do you think that Acts 15:11 helps your case in any way at all? All faithful, well-informed Catholics believe that we are saved by grace, and by grace alone; the Church has always taught that, and it condemns as a heresy any idea which denies that fact.

Everything we need to know to bring us to salvation is found in Scripture. For that matter, everything we need to come to Christ for salvation can be found in the book of John.

John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

If a teaching is not found in Scripture, no one is obligated to believe it or follow it.

Being Holy Spirit inspired, God breathed, makes Scripture Truth. It can then reliably be used as the standard to measure all truth claims. If a truth claim doesn't agree with Scripture, it can be dismissed as false.

Catholics twist the term *sola scriptura* to mean things that it doesn't mean and they have been corrected time without count, and yet persist in repeating the same errors.

All faithful, well-informed Catholics believe that we are saved by grace, and by grace alone; the Church has always taught that, and it condemns as a heresy any idea which denies that fact.

Scripture teaches that it's by grace THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST. FAITH is the mechanism by which salvation is attained, not sacraments.

Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Catholics can claim salvation by grace all they want, but until they agree with Scripture that it's through FAITH and not works, sacraments, or anything else they have to DO, they are not being in accord with Scripture about it.

Anything one has to do to apprehend grace, immediately puts it on the works level, something that is earned for behavior performed. It's wages due, not grace.