A FB friend who is a Sola Scrittura fan and I assume from her
language she is an Evangelical Fundamentalist, posts all manner and kinds of biblical
quotes on FB with which I entirely agree - because I agree with everything the Bible
says according to the Catholic Church’s interpretations of the texts - because
the Bible was preserved and collated by the Catholic Church that had already
put into practice the doctrines given by Jesus to his followers, (and handed
down verbally at first by them in their evangelising missions and sermons.) At this point, I will quote from David B.
Currie’s book, “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic.” I learned some new stuff about Sola Scrittura thinking from his book, which I recommend for its simple, clear language. During Currie's pre-Catholic days, he had been
trying to convert a Catholic friend. The
friend asked him why he only quoted verses from St. Paul and never quoted
verses from Jesus. Later, Currie
learned:
Quote A, p.119: “Catholics unashamedly start with the Gospels and
base their soteriology on Jesus’ teachings.
They look upon all the rest of the New Testament as an expansion on
Jesus, which must be understood in the light of his teachings. Evangelicals start their study of soteriology
with the Pauline epistles. They relegate
all the rest of the Bible to being a footnote to Paul, including the teachings
of Jesus. This may sound like a harsh
generalisation but a check of the Evangelical literature bears this out. This approach to Scripture bears an
uncomfortably close resemblance to the Marcionite heresy.”
Quote B, p.61: “The
Evangelical starts with the Assumption that Scripture existed first and that
tradition was slowly and incrementally added to it as time progressed. What I had reluctantly come to recognise was
that the original deposit was given to the disciples years before Scripture was
ever penned. The Church was founded on
this truth from Christ. Some of this
deposit was then written and became Scripture, some was scrupulously passed
from bishop to bishop as oral tradition and some was later clarified as dogma
by the agreement of the bishops in the councils of the Church.” The relevant point is that Scripture is not
contradicted. He continues: “If the Church teaches something as true, it
is justifiable to check that it is not contradicted by Scripture. But if the Church teaches something and the
Bible is silent or ambiguous, that does not mean the teaching is any less truly
a part of the original deposit of faith given to the apostles. ........
“The first is always contained in the second, but all of the second is
not necessarily contained in the first.”
Quote C, p. 62: “When
an Evangelical asks, ‘Where is that doctrine in the Bible?’ my response is
usually ‘First show me from Scripture why you believe all Christian doctrines
must be in the Bible.” It can be
frustrating to Evangelicals to confront this issue, but it is important for
them to understand the lack of biblical basis for their question. Truth is at issue here.”
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