Guest writer: Eric Luppold Introduction I want to first say thank you to Dennis for inviting me here to debate. Our discussion has been rigorous, but I think that we have made some great progress and have done so in a gracious and respectful manner. My intent now is to summarize what I believe to be the key issues and to try to tie up any loose ends, including answering any final questions that Dennis had for me. Principles of... Read more
Guest writer: Pilgrim. Becoming Christ-Like “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” (Matthew 18: 3-5) Introduction – Child-like not Childishness A multitude of factors will influence the person we become in life: biological and genetic factors; parenting; social relationships;... Read more
Thanks to all the readers for sticking with us through this dialogue. I hope our exchange shows that two people can respectfully disagree and remain friends. Below, we hone in on our key disagreement: who gets the final say. Eric ultimately appeals to the Holy Spriit working through the Bible to instruct the true regenerated Christian. Unsurprisingly, two of these (the Holy Spirit and true regeneration) remain unverifiable. Furthermore, his appeal is circular, as only those who interpret the Bible... Read more
Guest writer: Eric Luppold. Introduction Given that this is the last round of responses, I will do my best to address all of Dennis’s points. While I agree with his definition of the Church as “the visible historical institution Jesus established,” the Roman Catholic Church today looks nothing like what Christ established. In answering this challenge, Dennis utilizes the acorn analogy that was popularized by John Henry Newman in the 1800s, who argued that any perceived changes were a matter... Read more
Guest writer: Eric Luppold. Introduction I want to thank Dennis for his response, and I believe that we are drilling down to some key points. If I had to summarize what I believe the issue to be, it is a fundamental disagreement on interpretive authority. That is, Scripture can be said to be fully sufficient, but it does not matter if the message cannot get from God’s book to our brains. Dennis therefore argues that Scripture does not “possess within... Read more
In the first entry of this series, Eric Luppold and I made our cases on the role of authority in the Christian life, one from a Protestant perspective, the other a Catholic. We then responded to each other’s case in a follow-up entry. This entry narrows down the focus to key points of disagreement. For my part, I answer direct questions and observations put to me by Eric. The Church In this debate, Dennis seems to use the word ‘church’... Read more
First, I want to thank Eric for agreeing to this written dialogue. I also hope my readers appreciate the time and effort such a dialogue takes and thank Eric, too. The differences in the concept of authority in the Christian’s life stands at the center of the Protestant/Catholic debate. Below, I address the key points Eric made in his opening statement. I show that he made some major assumptions that an appeal to Scripture alone fails to answer, like interpretive... Read more
Guest writer: Eric Luppold. Introduction When it comes to ultimate authority, the church does not “define” a theological truth, as if it were the source of that truth. It is the recipient of truth. Its job as a pillar of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15) is to obey and proclaim the gospel faithfully. To do this it must receive and interpret God’s message. But this is true for all communication, which involves a speaker, a message, and a receiver. The... Read more
Since I started my blog on Patheos, the role authority in the Christian life remains for me a main topic of exploration. For example: The Protestant Appeal for Religious Autonomy Protestants: When You Speak for God, Be Careful Sola Scriptura Makes All Beliefs into Mere Opinion The True Value of Inaccessible Authority… An Historical Critique of Sola Scriptura How Do Protestants Escape Theological Errors? Sola Scriptura’s Refutation in the 5th Century In the above articles, I focused on what I... Read more
Guest writer: Pilgrim. Introduction As someone who was given an image of Christ’s face from the Shroud of Turin at my Confirmation and treasured it ever since, I have followed the scientific research on the Shroud down the years. Many believe the Shroud is a true relic of the Passion of Christ. Many regard it as a human creation. Others see it as no more than a scam for fleecing gullible pilgrims. For over a hundred years, it has been... Read more
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