Refuting John Guest for not believing in Sola Scriptura

*If the Bible is the final or sole authority, then why did it take the Church to formalize a set Canon of Scriptures, since the Bible is silent on such a thing? The statement that the Canon is made simply by Christ and the Apostles quoting from books is a fallible one, because some that they do not quote directly from with "It is written" are Esther, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. Yet some apocryphal books are mentioned or quoted: the Book of Enoch (Jude 14-15), the Assumption of Moses (Jude 9), and the Epistle to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16).

MY RESPONSE: But still It was written by these people. Dont you know that Christ himself said this? John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

*Sola Scriptura is very different among different churches. For Lutherans, Sola Scriptura is radically different from what it is to Baptists. For Baptists, it is a bit different from what it is to Pentecostals. For Pentecostals, it is very different from what it is to Methodists. On top of that, Sola Scriptura can be used both by conservative and liberal churches, each claiming they go by what the Bible literally says. In my conversations with Fundamentalists, the have told me there is no such thing as a true or infallible Church, but only what the Bible says and does not say; hence, the status of a person or church being doctrinally sound depends on their interpretation of the Bible. So, can a church go from doctrinally sound to unsound or vice versa? Apparently so; many churches become 'pro-choice' while many other become pro-life; others go from low church liturgy to high church liturgy. There are over 33,000 denominations claiming they interpret the Bible infallibly and cling to Sola Scriptura. I ask many, which is the true biblical church? Not one has answered me this; one answered, "I personally think..." Unfortunately, when we explain that we disagree with Sola Scriptura, many get the assumption that we hate the Bible and do not believe that the Bible has everything we need for edification in the faith. The reason we disagree with Sola Scriptura is because it is an attempt to interpret the Bible for oneself independent of the authority of the Church; it is because this doctrine allows for one to interpret what they say is or is not in the Bible instead of what necessarily is or is not in the Bible. 

MY RESPONSE: Agree it is because the Scriptures should be interpreted by your own explanation. you should find the answers on the Scriptures itself. That is why the Lord said to SEEK YE THE BOOK OF THE LORD (read Isaiah 34:16) For example, you read in the New Testament that to beware of dogs (read Philippians 3:2). now since the Lord said to seek the Book of the Lord, what are the dogs being mentioned in the New Testament that Christians should be beware of? The answer is you can read at Isaiah 56:11 (Shepherds who cannot understand)

*I have talked with Fundamentalists who say, "Sola Scriptura is what Jesus and the apostles taught." Really?! They back this up with the fact that they quote from books in the Bible with authority, saying, "It is written." They ignore how many times Christ spoke in parables, things which were not written in the Old Testament books. Quoting from the Bible is useful, since the Bible is an extremely sourceful and reliable book -- and is inspired or 'breathed by God' [theopneustos] (2 Timothy 3:16) -- but that does not mean the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) is authoritative. They completely ignore that the Bible itself does not give itself sole authority, yet it says that the Church is the 'pillar and foundation of truth' (1 Timothy 3:15). Our Lord told His Apostles that one should "tell the Church" and "if he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or tax collector" (Matthew 18:17). This verse indicates the authority of the Church as given by Christ Himself, who is the husband of the Church (Ephesians 5:23) and has founded His Church upon the Apostles (Ephesians 2:20). The foundation of the Church upon the Apostles means that this power is transfered from the Apostles to their successors: priests, bishops and popes. They have the power of 'binding and loosing' (Matthew 18:18), meaning they have the power of excommunication and absolution, but also of interpreting Scriptures according to the authority of the Church. Jesus told the disciples and Apostles everything that the Old Testament that spoke about Jesus, then this was transfered through oral tradition from the Apostles to the other Christians: e.g. Saint Philip was ordained as a deacon of Jerusalem by the Apostles (Acts 6:5-7), they taught Philip the word of God [orally], who taught it orally to the Ethiopian eunuch and he interpreted Isaiah 53 for him (Acts 8:26-35). This expresses the authority of the early Church in the apostles, presbyters, bishops and evangelists; this power is transfered from them to today's clergy; something called Apostolic Succession [see more later].

MY RESPONSE: Well I can prove it that we should read and believe to what is written in the Scriptures:

Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 

10:26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

AND ALSO THIS ONE:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

It is written also and prophesied that our Lord Jesus Christ will be speaking in parables:

Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

Why our Lord Jesus Christ needed to speak in parables?

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 

13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

*If there was not an official Canon of Scriptures until the late 4th century, then how could the Church go by the Bible alone? The books now called divinely inspired are authentic books: the Holy Spirit has guided the Church since the beginning to determine this, yet the Church highly relied on Apostolic Tradition [see more later]. We are told to hold fast to the traditions we were taught "either by oral statement or by a letter" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). One may use many Scripture verses [as I do], but as long as one's interpretation does not contradict that of the Church.

MY RESPONSE: You cannot read in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 that It was not soon written by someone all the oral teachings of Apostle Paul. He speaks only of what had been delivered to them by himself, whether orally or by letter; not of what was delivered from one to another as from him.

besides, these oral teachings of Apostle Paul was soon written by the author of the Book of Acts and Luke. 

In fact, this teaching of Lord Jesus Christ that Matthew, John and Mark never knew was known by Apostle St. Paul:

Acts 20:35 And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The Catechism greatly explains the relationship between Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition: "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal." Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own 'always, to the close of the age'" (80).

MY RESPONSE: Not all of the Catholic Church's Sacred Traditions are Biblical. one of them is unbiblical and that is the so called Assumption of Mother Mary.

The rest are Biblical and you cant call them Tradition anymore since It is now part of the Scriptures.

MY CONCLUSION: It is easy to claim for a man that his teaching is an apostle's teaching that was not written in the Scriptures. really?

Well Don't you know Mr. Guest that the Berean Christians' reason to believe on Apostle Paul's oral teachings it is because they have proven that it was approved by the Scriptures too?

Acts 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

17:12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

So the Scriptures which is now in the Bible today is the ONLY reliable authority where we should get the basis on how to teach men of how to worship and serve the Lord.

Since the Catholic Church always want to alibi Old Testament verses just to prove to the world that their paganic altar and worship is Biblical, Well I can throw verses that will prove that the Scriptures is the authority to teach men of how to fear God:

Deuteronomy 31:9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. 

Deuteronomy 31:10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 

Deuteronomy 31:11 When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 

Deuteronomy 31:12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: 

Deuteronomy 31:13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Deuteronomy 31:24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

In fact, By not reading and following the laws of God written on the Book of the Lord is the source of mans' trangressions against God:

2 Kings 22:8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 

22:9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 

22:10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

22:11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 

22:12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, 

22:13 Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

Lord Jesus Christ is really right when he said this words:

Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

That is why He wants us to read and follow of what is written in the Scriptures (read again Luke 10:25-28 and John 5:39)

A Catholic Defender said that Catholics can pray w/o any image

Read the statement I encircled in red.

If Catholics can worship w/o any statues to be use, I think the Catholic Church should implement on their worship service w/o the use of statues from now on.

In the Torah, it is forbidden to put any graven images near the Lord's altar:

Deuteronomy 16:21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

Deuteronomy 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

What God ordered to make graven images in his temple are what the Spirit of God told to King David: (WHICH CANNOT BE SEEN INSIDE THE CHURCHES OF CATHOLICISM OF COURSE!)

1 Chronicles 28:12  And the plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things;

1 Chronicles 28:19 “All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.”

These are:

1 Kings 7:25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 7:29 And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work. 7:36 For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.

1 Chronicles 28:18 and refined gold by weight for the altar of incense, and for the construction of the chariot, that is, the gold cherubim that spread their wings and overshadowed the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

God really forbids his servants to make graven images especially to kneel down like can be seen on these pictures:

Leviticus 26:1 ‘You shall not make idols for yourselves;

neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;

nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;

for I am the Lord your God.

In fact, putting a graven image even in a SECRET PLACE, God said to that man is BE CURSE!

Deuteronomy 27:15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

Jesus taught the Christians to worship God in Spirit (read John 4:24)

We do not need a graven image to be use in worshipping God.

BTW, God really hates it when the early Israelites used a graven image for the purpose to glorify God in a festival.

Nehemiah 9:16 “But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks, And did not heed Your commandments.

Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion
They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

What God can say about making graven images of male and female likeness like the Catholic statues?

Deuteronomy 4:16 Lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,

See, God said that they are CORRUPTED!