1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Theological Method: Is sola scriptura possible?

Discussion in '2000-02 Archive' started by Daniel Dunivan, Oct 8, 2002.

  1. swaimj

    swaimj <img src=/swaimj.gif>

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2000
    Messages:
    3,426
    Likes Received:
    0
    Daniel Dunivan said (way back on page 2 of this thread):
    Just because we are using reason does not mean that we are exalting reason above the text and thereby making it a greater authority. We use reason because reason is a tool God has given us so that we can understand his revelation. We use reason because it is superior in bringing us to true conclusions than is non-reason or madness. Furthermore, God has given us His Spirit, apart from whom we could not understand revelation, but with whom we are able to come to the truth.

    I agree that often, in practice, our reason trumps revelation. Often we may come to conclusions about the scripture that are not accurate because we prefer our logic to what God has said. None of us can claim to understand the scriptures fully. Still, the idea the God's revelation is perfect (though not comprehensive; i.e. not a revelation of all that God knows) should ideally guide our thinking. Because we are not perfect, it does not always guide our thinking.

    In this sense, sola scriptura is not possible. As an imperfect, fallen, sinful human, I cannot always submit my thinking to God's revelation. In practice, my logic, my point of view, my pre-conceived notions often prevent me from understanding what God says.

    However, I believe that God's Word teaches that God's revelation is the source and authority of truth for the Christian. Therefore I endeavor to submit my thinking to it, though the ability to do this is given by the Holy Spirit and is not something that I can attain through my own desire, no matter how noble that desire may be.
     
  2. Paul of Eugene

    Paul of Eugene New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2001
    Messages:
    2,782
    Likes Received:
    0
    Just a little additional thought - surely we all recognize that earnest, sincere christians, doing their best to follow scripture, come up with incompatible interpretations. This is evidence that earnest sincerety is sometimes not enough.
     
  3. jerryMschneider

    jerryMschneider New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2002
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    That's all fine and dandy but we don't really have a choice. If our reason says something is so, we believe it to be so regardless of what scripture says, and that happens to every one of us as we read the scriptures. We then interpret from there. This is the human condition.

    A sample verse to test yourself:

    Leviticus 11:23 "But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you".

    Reading this verse, I personally refuse to alter my long held belief that all the flying creeping things have six legs, not four. In fact, nothing with wings has four legs; they all have either two or six. Do you join me, or do you follow your own advice and decide that insects, after all, only have four legs? :D
    </font>[/QUOTE]Have you considered that the meaning of this verse is more correctly understood as this; That group of flying creatures which have four feet shall be an abomination unto you".
     
  4. Daniel Dunivan

    Daniel Dunivan New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2002
    Messages:
    374
    Likes Received:
    0
    Two things:

    1) Swaimj, you and I are very close. However, I think we would disagree about how much that sinful fallen nature is also expressed through the biblical authors (another words on the notion of inerrency), and that will not allow us to go much further with this line of debate (another thread another time).

    2) Biblical interpretation and theological reflection are two different things. What comes to the surface during our biblical exegesis and our theological conclusions should be close if we see the bible as authority. However, when we begin to form our theological conclusions from a non-systematic, yet very theological, bible, we use tradition, experience, and reason as organizing agents. This is the discussion ground for this thread.
     
Loading...