In his response to my question, Mr. Guthrie announces he put forth 6 arguments to show how sola scriptura is a "Post-Apostolic doctrine." I agree, it's Post Apostolic, a Tradition of Man invented in the 1400's by a no name monk.
Mr. Guthrie has also continuously dodged any argument I have posed, either ignoring it, or simply claiming that isn't the scope of the debate. From my opening statement, I announced what sola scriptura was, and Mr. Guthrie agreed we would debate its formal sufficiency. Mr. Guthrie is surely passing off material sufficiency, but not the formal. Merely quoting things which are written does not mean that only the written is to be used, and nothing but the written can be used to interpret the written. This is sola scriptura, the Bible, one way or the other, is the ultimate authority, and no Church has any authority to interpret it so it is binding upon the believer. Moses being commanded to write something down has nothing to do with this, as I have already stated.
I have not claimed that
something must be explicitly evident in scripture, as to clear up any misunderstanding.
Yet Mr. Guthrie has not offered any deductive argument as to why the written
is the only authority, he has only shown that the written word has authority.
He freely admits the oral had authority before, yet has failed to answer from
the scriptures when that oral ceased to have authority. I have successfully
critiqued the past 6 arguments, and I ask Mr. Guthrie to look over them. I dealt
with 2 arguments each response, to which Guthrie mainly did not respond to.
The Focus of this debate is Not "Is Sola Scriptura possibly True"
but "Is Sola Scriptura True?" Does the Bible alone teach the scriptures
formal sufficiency? Mr. Guthrie seems unwilling to answer such a question, instead
pointing to scriptures material sufficiency, which we agreed we wouldn't debate.
Mr. Guthrie must also prove, from scripture alone of course, that "all
signs and wonders ceased with the death of the last Apostle" for his claim
to have any merit, which so far, it has none.
Guthrie's
Response to Question 2
| Counter-Response to Tierney
© 2002 Kevin Tierney