Paul's Passing Thoughts

Live Streaming Link on BOXCAST Galatians Study #4 April 8 @ 10:30am

Live Link for Blog Talk Radio Galatians Study #4 April 8 @ 10:30am

Opening conversation:

Acts Archives, and…

Bottom Line: Your Own Understanding of Scripture is the Final Authority…PERIOD

One of the staple truisms of the Protestant Reformation is “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda” (the church reformed, always reforming). Logical conclusion? Truth is progressive. In essence, being right or wrong about anything isn’t the point, church authority is the point. What validates the church is its supposed appointment by God (though Christ never attended any church counsel to say so), and not truth because, hey, we are still reforming, and by the way, always will be.

Hence, the church doesn’t have to be right about anything including soteriology, and in fact, isn’t.

A cursory observation reveals the following: the church gets a pass for ill behavior of every sort, doctrinal chaos among thousands of denominations, enumerable doctrinal controversies, steroidal cognitive dissonance, and a history of torturing to death those who refute its orthodoxy until stopped by the American Revolution. Because, don’t you know, it’s still reforming. Yet, church authorities constantly bemoan the dangers of not submitting to church authority lest there be chaos of every sort. Really?

Moreover, this is no different from cultism’s “progressive light” doctrines. “Well, yes, we were wrong about vaccinations and blood transfusions and it’s a shame all of those children died accordingly, but don’t you know, revelation is progressive as determined by God” says the Watchtower and many like them, including Protestantism. John MacArthur’s message to the Young, Reformed, and Restless is; “Grow Up. Settle Down. Keep Reforming.” In the same article MacArthur states, “No one is truly Reformed who is not constantly reforming.”

And as history shows us, that even includes gospel truth. The present-day Neo-Protestant movement, or New Calvinism, or whatever you want to call it, touts its “gospel recovery” initiative. Why do we need a gospel recovery? Because the church lost the first one, but hey, we are still reforming, so no big deal.

Furthermore, punishment for slighting the church is always just depending on whatever light has been revealed to the church by God at that present time. Hence, we must remember, that Calvin and Luther were “men of their time.”

I have said it before and will keep saying it: if you join a church in formal membership, you are forfeiting all of your personal rights; authority is the issue, not right or wrong, and all bets are off. Defending yourself or others with the plain sense of Scripture will be answered with silent blank stares—it’s simply not the point at all.

Here is the point, and the bottom line; individual understanding of the Bible is the only authority and EVERY individual will answer to Christ alone. Christ alone is every person’s judge, and no one else. When Christ said all authority in heaven and earth was given to him, “ALL” means “all.”

paul