Posted on 06/08/2018 8:54:57 AM PDT by Salvation
There are a lot of “solos” sung by our Protestant brethren: sola fide (saved by faith alone), sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is the rule of faith), and sola gratia (grace alone). Generally, one ought to be leery of claims that things work “alone.” Typically, many things work together in harmony; things are interrelated. Very seldom is anyone or anything really “alone.”
The problem with “solos” emerges (it seems to me) in our mind, where it is possible to separate things out; but just because we can separate something out in our mind does not mean that we can do so in reality.
Consider, for a moment, a candle’s flame. In my mind, I can separate the heat of the flame from its light, but I could never put a knife into the flame and put the heat of the flame on one side of it and the light on the other. In reality, the heat and light are inseparable—so together as to be one.
I would like to argue that it is the same with things like faith and works, grace and transformation, Scripture and the Church. We can separate all these things out in our mind, but in reality, they are one. Attempting to separate them from what they belong to leads to grave distortions and to the thing in question no longer being what it is claimed to be. Rather, it becomes an abstraction that exists only on a blackboard or in the mind of a theologian.
Let’s look at the three main “solos” of Protestant theology. I am aware that there are non-Catholic readers of this blog, so please understand that my objections are made with respect. I am also aware that in a short blog I may oversimplify, and thus I welcome additions, clarifications, etc. in the comments section.
Solo 1: Faith alone (sola fide) – For 400 years, Catholics and Protestants have debated the question of faith and works. In this matter, we must each avoid caricaturing the other’s position. Catholics do not and never have taught that we are saved by works. For Heaven’s sake, we baptize infants! We fought off the Pelagians. But neither do Protestants mean by “faith” a purely intellectual acceptance of the existence of God, as many Catholics think that they do.
What concerns us here is the detachment of faith from works that the phrase “faith alone” implies. Let me ask, what is faith without works? Can you point to it? Is it visible? Introduce me to someone who has real faith but no works. I don’t think one can be found. About the only example I can think of is a baptized infant, but that’s a Catholic thing! Most Baptists and Evangelicals who sing the solos reject infant baptism.
Hence it seems that faith alone is something of an abstraction. Faith is something that can only be separated from works in our minds. If faith is a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ, we cannot enter into that relationship while remaining unchanged. This change affects our behavior, our works. Even in the case of infants, it is possible to argue that they are changed and do have “works”; it’s just that they are not easily observed.
Scripture affirms that faith is never alone, that such a concept is an abstraction. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Faith without works is not faith at all because faith does not exist by itself; it is always present with and causes works through love. Galatians 5:6 says, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love. Hence faith works not alone but through love. Further, as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13:2, if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
Hence faith alone is the null set. True faith is never alone; it bears the fruit of love and the works of holiness. Faith ignites love and works through it. Beware of the solo “faith alone” and ask where faith, all by itself, can be found.
Solo 2: Grace alone (sola gratia) – By its very nature grace changes us. Again, show me grace apart from works. Grace without works is an abstraction. It cannot be found apart from its effects. In our mind it may exist as an idea, but in reality, grace is never alone.
Grace builds on nature and transforms it. It engages the person who responds to its urges and gifts. If grace is real, it will have its effects and cannot be found alone or apart from works. It cannot be found apart from a real flesh-and-blood human who is manifesting its effects.
Solo 3: Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) – Beware those who say, “sola Scriptura!” This is the claim that Scripture alone is the measure of faith and the sole authority for the Christian, that there is no need for a Church and no authority in the Church, that there is only authority in the Scripture.
There are several problems with this.
First, Scripture as we know it (with the full New Testament) was not fully assembled and agreed upon until the 4th century.
It was Catholic bishops, in union with the Pope, who made the decision as to which books belonged in the Bible. The early Christians could not possibly have lived by sola scriptura because the Scriptures were not even fully written in the earliest years. And although collected and largely completed in written form by 100 AD, the set of books and letters that actually made up the New Testament was not agreed upon until the 4th century.
Second, until recently most people could not read.
Given this, it seems strange that God would make, as the sole rule of faith, a book that people had to read on their own. Even today, large numbers of people in the world cannot read well. Hence, Scripture was not necessarily a read text, but rather one that most people heard and experienced in and with the Church through her preaching, liturgy, art, architecture, stained glass, passion plays, and so forth.
Third, and most important, if all you have is a book, then that book needs to be interpreted accurately.
Without a valid and recognized interpreter, the book can serve to divide more than to unite. Is this not the experience of Protestantism, which now has tens of thousands of denominations all claiming to read the same Bible but interpreting it in rather different manners?
The problem is, if no one is Pope then everyone is Pope! Protestant “soloists” claim that anyone, alone with a Bible and the Holy Spirit, can authentically interpret Scripture. Well then, why does the Holy Spirit tell some people that baptism is necessary for salvation and others that it is not necessary? Why does the Holy Spirit tell some that the Eucharist really is Christ’s Body and Blood and others that it is only a symbol? Why does the Holy Spirit say to some Protestants, “Once saved, always saved” and to others, “No”?
So, it seems clear that Scripture is not meant to be alone. Scripture itself says this in 2 Peter 3:16: our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, Our Brother Paul speaking of these things [the Last things] as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. Hence Scripture itself warns that it is quite possible to misinterpret Scripture.
Where is the truth to be found? The Scriptures once again answer this: you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15).
Hence Scripture is not to be read alone. It is a document of the Lord through the Church and must be read in the context of the Church and with the Church’s authoritative interpretation and Tradition. As this passage from Timothy says, the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth. The Bible is a Church book and thus is not meant to be read apart from the Church that received the authority to publish it from God Himself. Scripture is the most authoritative and precious document of the Church, but it emanates from the Church’s Tradition and must be understood in the light of it.
Thus, the problems of “singing solo” seem to boil down to the fact that if we separate what God has joined we end up with an abstraction, something that exists only in the mind but in reality, cannot be found alone.
Here is a brief video in which Fr. Robert Barron ponders the Protestant point of view that every baptized Christian has the right to authoritatively interpret the Word of God.sss
That phrase would be out of place in the more polite, agree to disagree, calumny-free discussions, but it seems accurate enough to me for all the rest, based upon observation and perspective.
I’ve never been married, but I’ve been through some divorces, both in and out of the families that accept me, and the Protestant v. Catholic family feuds here are similar and often end the same way.
Mary, probably because of the rank and position given to Her by that side of the family, becomes fair game in those fights and that’s usually when I cringe the most.
Sooner or later, Mary ends up looking like purposeful collateral damage.
She’s the basis for the fight which becomes that thing the family is fighting over. And, kinda like the sports car that gets keyed or the big screen TV or whatever that gets smashed in the heat of battle, eventually, the “go after” Her, too.
I watch and try to understand. Some of us? Clearly, we like to fight. And some believe they are called to fight this fight, that they are doing God’s Will.
Irreconcilably, both sides are certain their interpretation is 100% Biblically correct based upon the same Scriptures.
Fascinating. I wonder who is winning.
I pray for our discernment before destruction.
Read the Bible! What the Holy Spirit says is found there. You appear to want to avoid listening to Him, given the mysticism you keep surfacing, beyond anything found in The Word of God. Do you believe the Bible is The Word of God?
I’m wrong about things often enough to know I’ve not been blessed with the Grace of discernment, as near as I can tell.
I am waiting for the Holy Spirit and Wisdom to explain and help me understand many things, especially about Revelation and about the woman clothed in the sun.
So many opinions to sort through! I wonder who’s right?
The Truth about Fatima, Portugal is surfacing in spite of Catholic deceptions accumulated over a century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCdo2w-Zxuc
The clues are clear, if one has a working knowledge of the entire Bible. The woman is Israel (the twelve star crown) and the child is Jesus (see Daniel Chptr 9).
From what I’ve read about Fatima and then the resulting history, I can see how it all fits together such that it could be what it says it is.
And to me, the human psychology revealed by the Church throughout the years afterwards and in response to what was written also gives support to that theory.
Friend, regarding the supernatural and Mary, how do you separate the two?
For me, the main support for the Bible being what it says it is IS the supernatural.
Without the supernatural, to me the Bible is just another oddly written book of history, names, fables, fantasy and stories. Why bother?
Nope, Mary is part of the supernatural Holy Family and stuff like Fatima?
That’s just how They roll.
Garabandal is the one I wonder about and I hope it’s true. Beyond that? Don’t know...
I’ll add it to the list.
Watch the video/audio interview. The apparition at Fatima was not from God according tot he parish priest of the area at that time. AND the 1917 truth is very different from the mythos fabricated in 28 and 35 by the Catholic Church. Learn about ‘testing the spirits’ because Satan is coming with all signs and lying wonders. If you do not go up in the Rapture you will need edumacation to avoid the great deception which will follow.
A LOT more titles than I've compiled (so far...)
Well I 'cringe' when I read all of the NON-biblical stuff the Roman church has MADE up and formed into a creature named 'MARY'.
It's that ILLUSION that we Prots 'go after'.
We will NOT wear 'her' protective amulet nor chant 'her' required mantras!!
You are doing just fine, and have a humble spirit that's refreshing.
No; it 'pointed' to itself!!
Count the I's and me's!!
(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)
| 1 | Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces. |
| 2. | I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. |
| 3. | The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies |
| 4. | It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. |
| 5. | The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. |
| 6. | Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying Himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise Him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. |
| 7. | Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. |
| 8. | Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. |
| 9. | I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. |
| 10. | The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. |
| 11. | You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. |
| 12. | All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. |
| 13. | I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death |
| 14. | All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. |
| 15. | Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination. |
"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem,
no matter how difficult it is, wheter temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary.
There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."
Sister Lucia dos Santos
Look up ConfirmaTION BIAS
It works on both sides of the aisle.
Nope.
One side throws in TONS of 'tradition' to try to make it's point.
Really??!!
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Let's try some easy math:
There are approximately 1.2 billion Catholics world wide;
If merely 1% of them 'ask' Mary for help just once each day;
that means that 12 million separate prayers are headed Mary's direction every day.
Given that there are 86,400 seconds per day... (24 hours times 60 minutes times 60 seconds)
...that means that Mary has to handle approximately 139 'requests' per second!
Purty good fer someone NOT 'divine'!
I am astonished. I think that I'll just stick with Mary.
Resplendent car, in which her clients mount to heaven. 4-239.
Okay. I would think that resplendent chariot would be more in line with Biblical language.
Regarding Fatima, does Satan work against himself?
Because such signs and wonders like the Fatima material made me turn to God even more.
It got me excited and motivativated me to seek Him more, because such signs and wonders prove to my rational side that my belief in what it can’t see is valid because it is real.
Such things make me want to know more about God and Satan, both, making me learn more and thus making me even more wary than I had been.
In my case, all of that works against Satan, so if Fatima was his idea, it sucked.
If Mary apparitions and signs are not from God, then they are from Satan. Catholicism uses Mariology to hold people in limbo, teaching them that they must express fealty to the CATHOLIC Sacraments throughout their life in order to earn salvation after a visit (long or short) to purgatory. Pulling Catholics into a service to Mary keeps them in Catholicism. Satan wins more souls by keeping them focused upon deceits he has arranged.
You say the Mariology things have caused you to be more seeking toward God and about the nature of satan, yet you are seeking more to latch onto regarding the mysticism you are now into. Perhaps you see a problem with that? or not. Only Holy Spirit can clear your cobwebs.
BTW, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 will help you sort out the issue of who and when regarding the Rapture of all believers in Jesus as their savior sent from GOD throughout the ages since Jesus resurrected. ALL believers, whether dead or alive at the event timing will be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and do what Jesus told His Disciples in John14 ... go to the Father’s House where there are many rooms.
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