Ortlund, Cooper, Horton Fail to Prove Sola Scriptura

Summary: Semi-humorous review of a video where three Protestant professors supposedly defend sola Scriptura. In fact, they evaded it the entire time and lobbed relentless non sequiturs.

Introduction: Gavin Ortlund, Jordan Cooper, and Michael Horton — all PhDs, got together to try their best to defend sola Scriptura. These three men, who fundamentally disagree with one another about essential doctrines of Christianity, found something they all agree on: the “errors” of Catholicism (or what they understand to be Catholicism). This is all couched in what was supposed to be a defense of sola Scriptura, which, strangely, never happens in their collaborative discussion. The viewer never hears a positive defense from Scripture (alone), suggesting that anyone should believe that the Bible (alone) is the ONLY infallible rule of faith.

Instead, we hear things concerning which Catholics and Protestants agree (e.g., the Bible is the inspired word of God), but ironically, never a defense from Scripture that it ever functioned (or was ever meant to function) as the SOLE infallible authority for Christian faith and practice. Apologist and author, Dave Armstrong, calls this the “Sola Scriptura Is True Because Your Dad is Uglier than My Dad” argument. Kenny and Dave look at a few clips together and discuss the problems with this all-too-common and misleading approach to apologetics.