Investigating Christian Truth-Claims
This program is being presented in an effort to investigate all Christian truth-claims by comparing them with a contextual understanding of the Bible and its original intent.
We are not interested in supporting or promoting any tradition, person, practice, culture, or denomination that stands contrary to this reasonable and contextual approach to scripture. Nothing is so sacred that it is exempt from scrutiny. Nothing so popular and accepted that it won’t be discarded if found wanting and unreasonable. This is Heart of the Matter, where we make every effort to worship God in Spirit and Truth.
Sola Scriptura: Discussion and Analysis
Show 11 437 Sola Scriptura – Part III
March 17th 2015
Live from Salt Lake City, Utah
This is Heart of the Matter
Where we do all we can to try and worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
I’m your host, Shawn McCraney.
Ro 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Ro 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Ro 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Ro 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
And with that let’s have a word of prayer.
PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER
Unifying Through the Spirit
We made several points last week in our case against the 16th Century stance called Sola Scriptura. Those points included the fact that:
- Jesus never wrote anything nor commanded that His apostles write anything but instead told them to preach and teach.
- The second point is that if there has ever been a time when the New Testament was needed it was in the first 100-300 years. But God didn’t provide it then – instead He gave His Holy Spirit.
- The third point was the Holy Spirit has always served to unify and bring all true believers together – never to divide but that Sola Scriptura has done more to divide and ostracize and kill in the church than almost any other tenet – and we gave a quote where even Luther admitted to this.
- The fourth point was to ask the logic of Sola Scriptura in the face of worldwide literacy rates. Certainly, the Holy Spirit was reaching people who were poor and uneducated everywhere but worldwide literacy rates for most of Christian history prove that the New Testament had about as much meaning in the hands of most people as a diamond in the fist of an infant.
So let’s keep adding to our list but before we do let me reiterate (I’ve learned that reiteration is really important amidst change) but let me reiterate the point that the Word of God is a wonderful gift from God. Its import in the growth and personal sanctification of believers cannot be overstated. But it has to be seen and used referentially and in relation to the Spirit and never as law. Never as primary. Never as the points of code for doing brick and mortar church.
Weighing Spiritual Matters
Because the Spirit is Primary and Preferential and Christianity is entirely subjective and of the Spirit. Some more points – and tonight I think I am going to appeal to the failure of physical appeals in the Church.
We have a phrase we appeal to as humans when it comes to making a decision about something – we say: “We are weighing it out in our minds.” The line invokes imagery where we are placing the data from one side of an argument on one scale and the data from another side of the argument on the other and we are weighing them against each other as a means to see which position carries the most weight.
In matters of the spirit, this is a very important exercise, one that the Bereans referred to as testing all things. I’m bringing this forward because as Christians, who are dealing with spiritual matters, we can see the validity of weighing, comparing, and seeing what makes most biblical sense in terms of truth. If, as some suggest, we allow physical elements to infiltrate into our estimation of the Christian faith we run into trouble when it comes to comparing or weighing things out.
In other words, if we were going to examine Christianity and representations of Christianity.
Material vs. Spiritual in Christianity
physically – comparing or weighting out the differences between say the Catholics verses the Mormons or the Baptists against the Presbyterians, what would or what could we put on the literal scales? Only material things, right? We’d have to take all the buildings, and uniforms, and gold, and land, and congregates of the Catholics and weight them against all the same tangible assets of the Mormons, right? Amazingly enough some people actually try and do this when comparing which church is better or more respectable.
To any Bible reading Christian the notion is utterly preposterous because the physical is irrelevant – or better put, they serve as a counterfeit to real Christianity – which is of the Spirit and not the flesh. LISTEN – any appeal to the physical within Christianity – staffing, budgets, building size, numbers of missionaries, assets under control – is all fluff, is of this world, is not of the Father, and get’s people flexing muscles that God mocks.
Even when it comes to the physical word of God Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 3:3 that believers (their love and faith) are the “epistles of Christ.” Listen closely to these words:
“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
Do you realize that this says? Words written with ink on paper are really no different that words carved on stone. They all serve as external laws which in the end all serve to divide, and create lawbreakers. When the Law is written on the human heart there is no need for anything external to take precedence. So again, we use the written word REFERENTIALLY but the Spirit is PREFERENTIAL. And we would NEVER let words written in ink cause division between people who love the Lord and embrace Him as savior and king.
The New Covenant
Why is this the way the New Covenant has been established? Listen again to Paul in 2nd Corinthians 3:6 where he says, speaking of Jesus:
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
The letter killeth! Did you hear that? What do you think Sola Scriptura is? Letters. And as a result the Body has been avulsed to the point where it’s members are all living independently of each other (off synthetic life support) rather than as a cohesive whole unit! This is what sola Scriptura has accomplished – killing. And the killing continues every time some pastor takes the New Testament contents and uses it to beat people into doctrinal or practical submission.
The Utter Allure of the Tangible
Then, speaking of the physical verses the spirit we are also presented with an issue few people really get exited about when I talk to them but it is a very telling proof of why the Spirit MUST reign and not the letter or the physical. I call it the Utter Allure of the Tangible. Here’s the deal. If God was presenting a physical tangible model through the New Testament then the notion of stasis would and should prevail.
What I mean by this is the man-authored idea of building brick and mortar churches, each with a certain set of repeatable concrete ideals would expand out into the world through replication and this would be what God desired. Hence the appeal of Catholicm, Eastern Orthodoxy, Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This approach is extremely logical and seems to merit the approbation of God who loves order. Change in this institutional approach is typically very, very slow because maintaining control and power and tradition is paramount to appearing stable and orderly. But we don’t have to look at the giant monolithic religious empires to see this approach replicated. It will happen with any and every church that believes the written letter of the New Testament is the New law of the faith.
The reason? The Utter Allure of the Tangible. This is what happens. A man named John is called of God to teach the word by the Spirit in his home. He does it and people begin gathering to hear him. In time He makes a stance on a New Testament tradition. He makes a stand on New Testament law. He makes a stand on a New Testament order.
For arguments sake let’s say these stands, again, taken from the New Testament narrative include
• Communion every week.
• No fornicators are allowed,
The Impact of Doctrinal and Mission Statements
Only men can teach men.
Again, these are just examples – there are dozens and dozens more which churches today stand upon using even more letters in ink and referring to them as Doctrinal Statements or Mission Statements or Statements of Faith. They seem to add stability and certainty that a church is really following God because, by golly, they have actually written out (in INK) more rules of what they believe and more standards that they uphold.
Over time more and more people come to hear John teach. They really like his style and learn quickly that John and the church (now incorporated by the state with tax exempt status) represent and reflect their ideal (by golly):
We have communion like they did in the early church every week! We don’t allow fornicators to fellowship with us – because Paul told them to separate company in one of his letters. And we don’t let women teach men!
In time the members build a beautiful brick and mortar. John is earning a nice income. Benefits are had. Tradition is strong and secure. The church has a tremendous outreach to Ghana and to the poor downtown. They feed the homeless every Saturday and provide housing for six widows. Got all of that? All off the written rules. All by establishing and maintaining standards.
Encountering the Holy Spirit's Guidance
But one night, something remarkable happens to John. The Holy Spirit blows in to his heart and says:
I want you to go another direction, John. See, your rule of fornicators being unwelcome is a fail because it is making those who are fornicating liars and hypocrites who remain in your pews and it is making those who are honest about their sin angry and rebellious at God and church.
Oh, and your gathering on Sunday? I want you to move it to Saturday. No more Sunday services? Why? John asks. Because I am telling you this is what you need to do? Comes the reply.
And then on that women not teaching. There is a woman named Jan. She knows me and my word. Have her teach every other week John? Got that?
John resists but in time the messages are clear.
The Challenge of Changing Established Norms
But there is a problem. Its called the Utter allure of the Tangible. You see, they have a building they built. And they have a staff they pay. And they have so many things they are doing that obviously serve the poor etc. that to change these things is going to rock the house so to speak.
It’s going to cause people who have been with us for years to abandon us. It’s going to cause division. And we are established on unity of thought. And so John says no. He says that those things must have just been his own mind playing tricks.
He does mention the promptings to his board however but they reason with him and prove that this would be foolish. See, when the Holy Spirit is not in charge from the beginning, and the physical is allowed to play any sort of role in the church or ministry, the utter allure of the tangible, of the physical, will win. They call it wisdom. They call it prudence. They call it remaining true to what God has called them to do.
But scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit moves where it wants to go, and cannot be MANipulated anymore than the wind. It might call a person to dress it loincloth and leather and eat grasshoppers. It might lead a person to crucifixion. It might tell a person to sell all they have and follow Christ.
By rationalizing our human wisdom and will as being what God wants, and being the most beneficial, as being in line with the New Testament model, we automatically compromise the Holy Spirit and its effectiveness in our lives.
LISTEN
When a pastor has proclaimed that God is a Trinity he has very few options to see God in any other way. His own mental self-preservation precludes him not to mention the people surrounding him. When a pastor has taught that hell is eternal, that Jesus is coming back any day now, that God only wants to save some or WHATEVER IT IS . . . he has inadvertently boxed himself in and off from the insights God could be giving him as He grows and matures in His word by the Spirit. In other words he has fallen prey to the utter allure of the tangible. Seeing Christianity as a “physical thing” to be managed and governed rather than a spiritual dynamic.
Examining Cultural and Religious Perspectives
Fluid experience in the hands of God goes a long long way in allowing this tragedy to occur. This leads me to another point for your consideration. It has to do with the infighting and division over doctrine and practice that has occurred because of Sola Scriptura. Stop for a minute and extract yourself from thinking about religion and look at the world in terms of culture.
From every nation, every state, every island we have a vast array of cultural traditions surrounding us. God has allowed this as much as God has created innumerable varieties of flowers and animals and insects, right? So the Japanese has kimonos and sake and tempura and Samurai and the Brits, and the Germans, and the Italians, and the Scots and the Polys all have their customs, and dances, and foods and the languages etc. All over the world. Every now and again one country or another might rise up and get to thinking that their customs and dances and foods are superior to all the others. And there are squabbles, and fights and even wars. And the victors often impose their ways upon the losers.
The Spirit of Domination
I point this out to describe the spirit of domination. It thrives in the hearts of man. Unless we step back and open our eyes most people are subject to prejudice – even xenophobic ideas about other peoples, countries, races, and cultures. Sometimes the bias can get so deep it turns to hatred – even genocide. But again, at the heart of it lies an attitude of “we know more than you, our ways are better than yours, even, “We are doing things the way God wants them done,” right? When this thinking reaches its most demented levels one people can even see others as not being human. Not having any value, and even deserving of torture, suffering and death.
Now, there are two things everyone in every culture, land, and clime needs to survive: Blood, oxygen, water, and food. All humans – no matter what they do culturally – need blood, oxygen, water, and food.
So let’s look at the world Christian churches. All different denominations. All different approaches. Some wealthy some despotic some rife with ritual some stark. We have religions where people dress up, faiths where people dance, faiths where people don’t and on and on and on. Amidst it all there are always those churches that look around and think they are superior to others. They are actually willing to go to war and even kill other believers – as a result of these evil perspectives.
But in the end everyone of these Christian faiths around their world all rely on the same four elements to thrive:
- The shed blood of Christ
- The Holy Spirit
- The living water
- The bread or word of God.
The Role of the Spirit and the Word
When we focus on the brick and mortar and use sola scriptura to physically dictate what goes on in brick and mortar, we wind up spending time thinking we are best and the rest of the world is failing. But when we step back and allow the Spirit to reign we cannot help but see that all who are His are His by the blood, the Spirit, the water, and the Word.
One final point before we go to the phones – and by the way, next week we are going to continue to give reasons why
- The Spirit is primary and preferential
- The Word is secondary and Referential.
- Tradition is at best Deferential, and
- Man and Mortar are inconsequential.
The Arrogance of Definitive Claims
Final point for tonight. If Christianity was in any way based on the physical (authority, rites, doctrines) then all approaches and claims at authority and rites and doctrines would have to be examined BY everyone before they could determine WHICH approach was right.
Let me explain. One of the problems with the atheist claim that there is no God is it is really arrogant. The reason its arrogant is because to say, “There is no God” a person has to essentially believe they know or have explored or looked into everything possible where God could exist. For example when someone tells me there is no God I ask if they have looked under the sandstone rocks in Saudi Arabia.
“No,” they reply, “why?” they ask. “Well, I heard that God hides under those rocks sometimes so until you have looked there how could you say he does not exist.” So they fly to Saudi Arabia and look under the sandstone rocks. And He’s not there. So they come back and report this and then my question is: “We’ll have you looked under the lava formations off the coast of the Big
The Nature of God's Church
Island in Hawaii?” And then, as long as you are searching, if He’s not there, then look under the cushion in my grandma's backyard, then on top of Kilimanjaro, and then along the I-15 between Vegas and Death Valley.
You see, to say that there is NO God, a person has to have really explored all the possibilities of where God could be . . . before making such a blatant claim.
Well, the same is true when people say:
“I have found the true brick and mortar church!”
Why?
Because in order to say they have found the true brick and mortar church, they have to have explored all brick and mortar churches and their claims at doing things right.
This is impossible. And God knew it would be impossible. So He made His church of a Spiritual nature, not a physical one, and therefore our participation is subjective, individual, and can be taken out to anywhere in the world and find application RATHER than trying to suggest that there is a way established that is correct.
Let me give you a day-to-day example of how this works.
Examples from Daily Life
Many of us have email accounts. In those accounts, we are hit with hundreds of outrageous claims – with most of them proving to be false. Few have time to investigate the claims of every email we receive so what do we do? The same thing we typically do with junk mail. We quickly sift through and locate these emails that are suspect – and we delete. There aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with all the claims. And we basically discover deals and benefits to life and living in our day-to-day experiences and through friends.
When and if we come to believe that God has somewhere on this earth a brick and mortar system, with authority, and proper governance, and a true body of teaching, we would all have to search through every claim and representation to make certain that we have found it. That is what objective Christianity created by Sola Scriptura amounts to. Sola Scriptura is like a man saying, I have to experience every woman on earth before I can choose the wife for me.
Subjective Christianity, one governed by the Spirit, is far more logical and reasonable and workable. It is like a man finding one woman who is truly his soul mate and sticking with her no matter what else may or may not be out there.
The Role of Love
To claim that the Word Alone will tell us how to do Church is a fail of epic proportions because it will always lead to these impossible results. God, knowing we all see the world in different ways, and understand and relate to Him in like manner, purposely didn’t establish his church off yet more laws written in ink, but send His Spirit to fill us with love.
Get it? When love is what guides, we do NOT need to experience or test or try or explore every claim. Love makes the decisions. So the man who wants to find the perfect mate for life doesn’t need to explore and test and try every woman; He simply needs to let genuine love manifest itself and the decision has been made. No looking under every rock. No exploring every church and their claims and truth and practice. Love.
What subjectifies the Christian faith and removes all the mortar and mandates of Man.
And with that let’s open up the phone lines:
(801)
And while the black ops are clearing your calls, let’s take a look at this.
