Paul's Passing Thoughts

Protestantism is one of the more uncommendable religions on earth because few Protestants know what a Protestant is. Andy Young started a conversation about reason on the Answers in Genesis Facebook page and the perspective on the subject of reason ended up all over the map. This is because Protestants are hopelessly confused.

One of the very pillars of Protestantism is predicated on the inability of mankind to understand reality and use personal reason to ascertain truth. Though most confused Protestants would deny this intellectually, they clearly function according to Martin Luther’s wholesale rejection of personal reason. By the way, the idea that people can reason and understand reality is what really sparked the Protestant Reformation. In the long list of Protestant  misunderstandings about their own history and doctrine, Luther’s 95 Theses did NOT ignite the Reformation, and few Protestants have even heard of Luther’s 97 Theses written about a month prior. This document forms the real catalyst for the Reformation and rejected the use of reason in theological assessments.

To further the point concerning Protestant confusion that is beyond embarrassing, Martin Luther never left being a Catholic, and the Reformation, as the word suggests, was all about reforming the Catholic Church and not replacing it. Said Luther in conclusion of the 97 Theses:

In these statements we wanted to say and believe we have said nothing that is not in agreement with the Catholic church and the teachers of the church.

This can also be said of John Calvin as well. Hence, despite all of the Protestant scholars who make a living bashing Catholicism, because they are confused also, the ties that bind will eventually lead to Protestants returning to their mother. In addition, both share the same Doctor of Grace, Saint Augustine, and in another example of steroidal Protestant cognitive dissonance, Protestant scholars brag about that fact constantly in broad daylight.

Yes, the tie that binds is authority as truth based on a hierarchy because mankind is unable to ascertain reality. The basis for truth is God appointed mediators who oversee the great unwashed. Supposedly.

To the contrary, the Bible pinpoints the basis of epistemology; the individual. One example, perhaps the best, is Galatians 1:8;

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Obviously, the standard is our own understanding of what’s being said; our own reason. Perhaps the second best example is the often cited biblical account of the Bereans who held the apostle Paul accountable to their own understanding of Scripture.

Why will this not lead to chaos? The Bible addresses that question as well:

Romans 2:12 – For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Truth is self-evident because of reason, and the works of the law written on the heart of everyone created by God.

Get over it, and stop letting others think for you. You alone will be held accountable by God for how you studied to show yourself approved.

paul