Heart of the Matter
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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 Part II
SHOW 10 436 Sola Scriptura part II
March 10th 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.
Got so much to talk about tonight. And admittedly EVERYTHING is aimed at trying to promote subjective Christianity and what it entails over Objective Brick and Mortar Christianity and what it has historically meant. When you stick your neck out expect to get it cut.
Had a man tell me he was in the LDS Genealogy library the other day and my name came up and a German woman stepped in from out of nowhere and said: “That man is a bastard. He tries to destroy church.” Met a couple of LDS fellows by chance in a coffee shop the other morning and one of them said his wife told him that I don’t even believe in the Bible anymore.” Then my brother and friend Dr. Ott informed me that . . . First of all there is a small movement afoot that is seeking to categorize me and my beliefs as an offshoot of Mormonism.
These Christian brothers have gone so far as to take Joseph Smith’s claims and assign them to me. The longer I live the more readily I believe that we will always see and hear and believe what we want to see, and hear and believe, and it takes a real effort to remain in truth. In any case it seems that this is intended to remove me and what I teach from Christianity by attempting to categorize me as an offshoot of Mormonism rather than an accepted brother in Christ. I want my assailants to know I love them and will not retaliate – but I do want to quickly make things clear:
Mormonism and My Beliefs
The similarities I have with the views of Joseph Smith are not limited to Smith. Anyone who is frustrated with church history, creedal Christianity, or man’s interference into the subjective relationship people have with God through Christ share Smith’s frustration. Do such frustrations make me a Mormon? Common. But in the name of clarity I personally renounce Mormonism as a counterfeit gospel.
This includes everything that makes it distinct including its priesthoods, its temples, its extra biblical books, its views on God (or God head) and the ontology of God, its soteriology, its baptisms . . . I mean, I really share nothing with Mormon doctrine and little with their practices. Turning the tables, I have almost everything in common with Bible believing Christians.
The Good news
Monotheism – One God.
Jesus is God in flesh – the Word uncreated.
The Holy Spirit as God in spirit.
The Bible is His trusted Word.
Jesus is the only way, truth and life.
He is the author AND finisher of the faith.
His death, resurrection, ascension,.
Salvation is by grace through faith.
The importance of love in believers.
But because I disagree with two non-essentials (eternal punishment and the dating of Christ’s return) and one element some claim is an essential (the term and definition of the Trinity) some have tried to literally push me out of Christianity (the faith I embrace and love) and back into a schism of Mormonism (the faith I renounce). Like I said to the LDS, if you don’t accept my views on eternal punishment PROVE THEM WRONG. If you don’t agree with my Preterest Stance PROVE THEM WRONG. Same with the Trinity. But stop the infighting. Accept my apologies, my differences, and try to see what we are doing and why.
I read a poem the other day I think is fitting. It was written by Edwin Markham in 1913 and is titled, “Outwitted.”
“He drew a circle that shut me out –
Heretic! Rebel! A thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win, and
We drew a circle that took him in.”
And with that how about a moment from the Word?
RUN FROM THE WORD HERE:
As I said, it is
Spirit-Led Faith
My ambition – which was initially motivated to help create a place where exiting Latter-Day Saints could authentically rest in the Christian faith – is to argue for (and promote) a subjective Spirit-led approach to the faith in response to what we might call objective, brick and mortar, physical religion made with hands and managed by Man.
Where Protestants claim “Sola Scriptura” and the Authoritarians demand conformity to the traditions of men, I would suggest that:
The Spirit is Primary and Preferential, that the Word is Secondary and Referential, that all traditions are (at best) deferential, and that Men and Mortar is inconsequential.
In other words everything is by the spirit, supported by the Word, we might defer in times of question to tradition and we ought to make Men and their mountains of mortar inconsequential.
The Teachings of Paul
For now I want to refer to the word to illustrate what I mean and will just read through one short chapter – 1st Corinthians 2.
Listen closely to the Words of Paul and how he appeals to the things of the Spirit and NOT the things of Man:
2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (nothing about hell, trinity, end times – just Jesus and His crucifixion)
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, (I once had a pastor tell me I should study Greek philosophy. I always think of this when I read these passages) but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
The Core Message
Now, why can’t every Christian see clearly that Men and Man, their wisdom, their teachings are nothing in comparison to the Spirit?
That if you know Christ crucified you are free and moved by His Spirit? There are no intermediaries between you and Christ. No one to judge you, make demands of you, or put you in chains. Their wisdom is foolishness. Seek God, through His Son, by His Spirit – in truth – and be free.
And with that how about a word of Prayer
PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER
Okay we are going to embark on presenting some numbered points that are going to address the failure of Sola Scriptura while at the same time proving genuine Christianity has always been subjectively lived and has never been a proprietary product of Catholicism, Protestantism, or any other brick and mortar approach to capturing and governing the faith. Consider them – test and challenge them, but don’t
Rule of the Christian Faith
Dismiss them because you have never heard them before. In talking about Sola Scriptura, we are really talking about the RULE of THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. AGAIN . . . Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Mormon say it’s their priesthood. But last week we showed how failing their priesthoods and religious histories have been. Protestants say the rule of the Christian faith is the Bible, and I suggest that the rule is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is Primary and Preferential, that the Word is Secondary and Referential, Traditions are (at best) deferential, and Men and Mortar is inconsequential.
Failure of the Protestant Teaching of Scripture Alone
How to support this? We have to look at the failure of the Protestant teaching of Scripture alone. And this is going to come by first looking at the historicity of the New Testament. When the New Testament writers spoke of scripture, they were talking about the Old Testament. The only exception we have to this is when Peter said of Paul’s writings:
2nd Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
I am NOT suggesting that the epistles were not inspired, but here is my point: Jesus NEVER commanded the twelve to write anything. Have you ever considered this simple fact? Instead, He gave primacy to the act of preaching and teaching. We have to note that He himself never wrote anything either. Instead, he taught, and preached. Writing was certainly part of the Jewish tradition, so it wasn’t like He would have been doing something that would have been out of the ordinary. But instead, when it came to Jesus and the apostles, what did He do?
Emphasis on Preaching
In Matthew 28:20 He commissioned them to go and teach in His name, making disciples of all nations. In Mark 16:15 we note that the apostles are commanded to go and preach to all the world. And in Luke 10:16 we read that whoever hears the seventy-two hears Our Lord. Nowhere do we see Our Lord commissioning His Apostles to evangelize the world by writing in His name. The emphasis is always on preaching the Gospel, not on printing and distributing it.
As a teacher of the word, I have always found myself stymied when I read Romans 10 beginning at 13 which says:
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Why doesn’t Paul say:
. . . and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not read? and how shall they read without a writer? And how shall they write unless they be sent?”
Listen, there are probably few bigger proponents of the Bible than myself. But the apostolic church was not founded on written word – it was founded on spoken word.
Why? Because until someone has spiritual eyes, they cannot even comprehend the written word. The written word was written to BELIEVERS IN THAT DAY AND AGE and not to non-believers. And so we preach and teach and people hear, and their hearts are touched and changed BY the Spirit. Only then does the written word make sense.
So that is the first point. The writings were never commanded by Jesus and for good reason. The Gospel (and the conversion of people to it) was by hearing (faith comes by hearing) and by the Holy Spirit.
The second point to consider is this:
If there was EVER a time when the written word was needed as a whole – ever – in the history of Christianity, it was in the first 100, 200, 300 years.
But what did God have in place – was it his Word? Something far more effective – the Holy Spirit. I mean, think of all the people who were swayed away and lost due to heresy – to the Gnostics, to Judaisers, to Arianism, etc., etc. If only God had only somehow produced, and gathered and printed the Gospels, and the epistles, and the letters and revelations PRIOR to the fall of the Holy Spirit! So many more lives would have been saved from the eternal.
The Role of Sola Scriptura and Its Impact on Christianity
Fires of hell! No? No.
So where Luther and Calvin cried Sola Scriptura 1500 years after Christ ascended, God Himself had another means to govern at a time when the people needed guidance the most. By His Holy Spirit. If God governed by His Holy Spirit from Pentecost on through the first couple hundred years, why did men think they had the right to say scripture is primary 1500 years later? Have you ever asked why didn’t the Protestant Reformers never said: Sola Spiritus? That’s what scripture says.
A third point:
Scirpture says all believers are of one faith, one Lord, and one baptism. Anyone who has spent any time in the Word knows this is possible ONLY by the Spirit. When Jesus prayed the intercessory prayer in John 17 He asked that they would be one.
The Resulting Division
One of the BIGGEST FALLOUTS of the Man Made Sola Scriptura premise is it has created Division – which is the work of Satan and not God. Go online today. You want division read the vitriol that falls from the lips of people who claim, verse in hand, that they are followers of Jesus. This is the results of looking to Words and making them superior to Love. It’s from the New Testament becoming the New Law, and instead of the Word of God truly serving (as a two edged sword) to divide soul and spirit it is used to divide people – sometime literally.
God always longed for people to love Him and to love each other. Given laws written in stone the Children of Israel couldn’t get around their flesh and used it to create a system of religion that was never the intent of God. And He proved it when He came in flesh. Humans, by nature, hate a vacuum. In the absence of absolutes (which living by the Spirit has a tendency to produce) the reformers glommed onto the New Testament and made it the New law, the New Commandment, forgetting that Jesus had already given one – to love.
Spirit Over Scripture
And this is only possible by the Spirit which is PRIMARY then seconded by the Word. The Catholics claim Apostolic authority is required to keep order and peace. We’ve seen what that produced. The Mormons claim Apostolic restoration was needed to ensure conformity to the revealed word. We’ve seen what that produced. The Protestants claim Sola Scriptura. How come we never admit what that has produced? Luther himself bemoaned the results of his actions, saying "Unfortunately, it is our daily experience that now under the Gospel [his] the people entertain greater and bitterer hatred and envy and are worse with their avarice and money-grabbing than before under the Papacy."
If the doctrine of Sola Scriptura were true, effective, and capable of doing the will of God – which is to produce the fruit of the Spirit – harmony, unity, peace and above all love – then the results of it would be seen in Protestantism. The results mock the Lord’s prayer for unity of mind, doctrine, and peace as today we have not only utterly contradictory beliefs and practices but thousands of Protestant sects and denominations all claiming to use the Bible as its only guide.
Of course the claim by defenders of Sola Scriptura is they are only differing in what they say are non-essential or peripheral matters, but casual analysis proves this to be a façade. There are major differences on baptism – its purpose and meaning and mode, salvation – how and when it comes, whether it can be lost or not, who initiates it, on works, on Sabbath observances, even on the nature of God and Jesus Christ. Christianity, under the Spirit, never lost a soul, never killed anyone, never pushed real believers to divide over doctrine. Christianity has always been one faith, one Lord, one baptism. Christianity has been manifested in love – for two thousand years. Men have always made it something else.
When Jesus said in Matthew 12 that “by the fruit the tree is known" I would strongly suggest that when we apply this to Catholicism, Mormonism, or Protestantism there is a fail. And since a good tree cannot produce bad fruit we have to call all of these trees bad. But the Spirit has ONLY and always produced good fruit from Pentecost on, is therefore the only good tree, and is the only source we can turn to to actually live a truly CHRISTIAN LIFE. I realize the fear that comes with this proclamation. “But what about people who say things like Jesus isn’t God? That God has a body,
Love and Unity
that water baptism is necessary for salvation!” Love. “But but but . . . what about the people who come into the flock on Sunday and are proclaiming heresy? Who are living in sin? Who smell of alcohol or the gange?” Love. What about . . . ? (that’s right) Love.
Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And the Body is Jesus body. And conversion and growth and unity and discipline is all in the hands of the Holy Spirit . . . in and through love – that comes from us. Not Law. Not by words which can be misinterpreted and debated and challenged ad nauseum. Not by feigned authority or claims on tradition.
The Importance of Scripture
“But what about the Word?” Oh yes . . . we teach it. We teach it and we preach it and we appeal to it as a reference to all we believe. We spend all of our time in it. It’s the Living Word! But it – and disputes over it – can NEVER take precedence over: Patience . . . Longsuffering . . . Joy Gentleness Temperance Faith Meekness Longsuffering Love.
A Critique of Sola Scriptura
One final point . . . and we have a whole bunch coming. The idea of Sola Scriptura is manifestly man made and in complete contradiction from the Word and ways of God. How can I say this? Literacy rates over the course of Christian history. Let me explain. Literacy – for much of human history directly correlates to affluence and social status, which relates to material wealth, which relates to human intelligence.
When the Protestant Reformers boldly proclaimed Sola Scriptura it was as though they were saying: The Gospel (and all that is important to Christianity) will forever be in the hands of the affluent, those with social status, and therefore those with intelligence. It’s also as if they were tacitly stating that the educated ought to
- be in power in the church (because they can read) and
- those who have the ability to read would again understand God better than those who couldn’t.
The natural result of these stances would be the power in the Protestant churches falling on the educated – which is frequently the case.
There are two major problems with this stance. First, literacy rates. Estimations around the world are that between the 4th and 5th century until around the 17th century worldwide literacy rates hovered at around 15%. That means 15 people out of every hundred could read! Even as recently as the 1800’s literacy rates remained really low and it wasn’t until the early 1900’s that worldwide rates started climbing where the average is around 60%. So based on literacy rates alone MOST of the Christian history has been shrouded in illiteracy! That is a really aloof God who sends His Son to save us, sends his apostles out to share the news, and then, in a very illiterate world, centers the sole authority of the message in a book few people can read!
But even more to the point – Christianity is not a faith of the strong – it never has been. It’s a faith of the weak, the base, the despised, the foolish things and people of the World. Wouldn’t a loving God who is seeking to reach people who are the most humble and uneducated reach them through means like preaching, His Spirit, and love rather than written words that most of the weak, abased, foolish have never been able to read let alone comprehend?
I mean I meet very intelligent people even today who cannot understand holy writ and the Protestant stance is Sola Scriptura!? Bottom line it is a claim that keeps the power and control of religion in the hands of the educated. I am not against education. I’m certainly not against the Bible being read, taught, and used as reference to all Christian living. But my point is to show – to prove – the illogical nature of Sola Scriptura – while simultaneously proving that Christianity has been and is entirely Subjective and lead of the Spirit – not the men of mortar and their authoritai.
Let’s open up the phone lines:
