My Wittenberg Door List, Item #1

Okay, before I lose you all-- I know it seems that I keep coming back to religious themes, and some of you readers may not be religious people at all. I empathize with you, and I do not want to repel you! Stick around, as I believe in trying to figure out how messed up things are nowadays there are insights to be discovered in the study of the culture of the players involved.

For those of you that don't know, let me give you some background before I dive in.

In 1517 Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 items to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. What he listed were the areas where he thought the church had strayed from the practice of true Christianity. This was the beginning of a tremendous splitting of the church, and was the birth of the protestant reformation.

So, as the title of this post states, here is one of the stumbling blocks I believe is hurting the church nowadays.

SOLA SCRIPTURA
Here is how the current Wikipedia entry states it:

"Sola Scriptura (Latin: By Scripture alone) is one of five important slogans of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Although there is no agreed-upon technical definition among Protestants, it generally meant that Scripture, as interpreted by the individual believer, is the only inerrant rule for deciding issues of faith and morals."

Here are the problems I think are raised by this focused approach:

1. Sola Scriptura separates faith and morals (and spirituality) from the rest of human experience. Were we made by God to live such a splintered existence? E.G. -- should we live one way on Sunday, and live another way the rest of the week? Does our faith not apply at our place of business?
2. I don't believe it is strictly Biblical. Look at the teachings of Jesus, the parables. Did Jesus only stick to scripture for teaching materials? Did the apostles? No. And I don't think the first century church did either, from the archeological evidence of the Essenes.
3. Many Old Testament people did not have the scripture that we have nowadays, and their instruction by God came in many ways at many times. It is speculated by people like Joseph A. Seiss in his book The Gospel in the Stars, and E.W. Bullinger in The Witness of the Stars, that before there was the written scripture that we have, God used the stars as scripture. I think ancient people had an openmindedness that us modern worshippers lack.
4. I think Sola Scriptura, while appearing to be the safest approach, is actually a dangerous approach to modern Christian living because it leads to misuse. It leads people to the very thing that Martin Luther objected to, which was making the church exclusionary, like a country club. It leads to people misusing the scripture to exclude the people they don't want. Jesus was hated and criticised by the religious leaders of his day for including common sinners into his circle when he ate and drank with them.
   
5. Essentially, by only only accepting God via Sola Scriptura, we are saying that no other communication can ever come from God! Is that where we want to be?

So what is the alternative? Prima Scriptura, where scripture has prominence and leads understanding and teaching. Isn't that more reasonable?

Everything that is outside the Bible can not be rejected as sources of study and learning when you are talking about the whole of our existence. This would be ridiculous. I sure hope the airplane pilot has studied more than the Bible, to be certified as a pilot. If someone takes me to court I would first get a lawyer that is well versed in the laws of this land. The Bible is not anti-scientific, but it is not a scientific journal either. Do you have to reject Christianity if you are a pilot, a scientist, or a lawyer (leave it...leave it...)? No! I completely reject this faulty direction of thought-- that you can separate and compartmentalize God and faith from the rest of your life.

There is most definitely truth that is not expressed in the Bible. As an example, did every married couple in the Bible have a marriage ceremony? Does it state that for each couple? It doesn't? Then, if you believe 'sola scriptura' then they weren't married because the Bible doesn't explicitly say they had a marriage ceremony! Either that, or you'd have to say that marriage is purely having someone as mate. And if you do need the ceremony, then which culture's ceremony is acceptable and which is not?

For every person mentioned in the Bible, does it say that each of them had to eat, drink, sleep? Sola Scriptura! If it's not mentioned then they didn't have to! You see, this is utterly ridiculous.

If you are a person of faith, your faith permeates your entire being, every nook and cranny. Whether you are an athiest, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddist, you can't deny that whatever gave you life gave you a brain to use. For persons of faith, if your faith is worth more than a tin whistle, you must believe that the creator wants you to use your brain, and that the creator is not offended, challenged, or threatened by you asking questions and discovering what is laid in front of you. Seek, and ye shall find.