I have refuted a ridiculous number of interpretations of Sacred Scripture. I have come to the conclusion that there is no adequate refutation to the phrase "I choose to believe" when it comes to
No. The New Testament does not support gay marriage. It doesn't condone or elevate gay lifestyle. It just doesn't.
One can explain certain passages seven ways to Sunday, and my Twitter-happy-friend would still not believe a word of it. He rejects the Catholic Church, saying it has nothing to do with proper exegesis of Scripture.
The fundamental flaw in Sola Scriptura hit me with new force in the last 24 hours. Anyone can take anything from the Bible and make it mean anything he wants it to mean and nobody can refute it.
I choose to believe.
Ok. Knock yourself out. You choose to believe.
Sacred Scripture doesn't support gay marriage or abortion or any other deviation from truth. Truth is not up for grabs. It is not always self-evident. It requires the Holy Spirit moving in and through the Church Jesus Christ founded.
I am a convert. I grew up in a Protestant pastor's home. I'm a PK. Subtitled: I grew up with Sola Scriptura.
But in the last 24 hours I have encountered the most ridiculous, extreme, bizarre and completely irrational example of why Sola Scriptura does not work.
I choose to believe.
When someone throws that phrase into the mix, everything comes to a grinding halt.
Why? Because I do not determine truth. And you don't either. The Bible does not even say that it is the sole revelation of truth. I Timothy 3:15 says that the Pillar and Foundation of Truth is the Church.
Now we are getting somewhere.
The Church.
And there is only one Church that has a legitimate claim to being The Church. She's 2000+ years old. She gave us the Bible through the Power of the Holy Spirit.
I can choose to believe Her when She speaks.
It doesn't make them so.
It is not my word against someone else's word. We never get anywhere that way. I have about fifty 140-character tweets to prove the point.
I don't lean on my own understanding because that's how factions and divisions arise.
I do not choose to believe in my own brilliance or my own feel-good-interpretations.
Solid answers start with the Creed-- and end with one holy, catholic, and apostolic church. Terra firma.
The tweeting has ended.
We have not gotten anywhere.
Why?
Because he chooses to believe whatever he wants.
He would say that I am doing the same thing. He would be wrong.
I choose to believe Mother Church. Terra firma. A solid ground. Where truth never morphs. It does not change. It cannot be bought or manipulated. It is the same today as it was five hundred years ago. Or two thousand years ago. Or yesterday.
Thanks be to God.
Well said.
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