Yesterday on the feast day of Saint Augustine, I agreed to do a written debate with Turretinfan on the following:
Topic: Augustine and the Eucharist
Resolution
Resolved: Augustine of Hippo adhered to the belief that Christ was really objectively present in the Eucharist.
Sides
Affirmative: Paul Hoffer
Negative: TurretinFan
Details will be forthcoming.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Protestant Euchre
Protestantism, like Euchre, is premised on the notion that in all ecclesiatical disputes, certain "cards" will trump all others to decide who wins. These trump cards do not go by the labels of "Ace" or "Left" or "Right Bower," but rather by designations like:
1 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
3 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
4 Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone")
5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
Unfortunately, like any card game, a trump is only a trump until the players change the rules. The recent decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy ignores the Scriptural injunction against people engaging in homosexual behaviors. This recent decision demonstrates the futility of playing the five solas like trumps. More telling, it shows how Protestantism is truly nothing more than a house of cards that can be blown over with slightest huff or puff. For, you see, in Protestantism, for all of its bluster and bombast about how important the Word of God supposedly is to its followers, there is one trump card that defeats any and all of the solas every time and that trump is called "private judgment."
This time the "private judgment" trump card was played and voila each Protestant believer in the ECLA now gets to redefine what sexual behavior constitutes sin, or for that matter any of God's law, to suit their prurient tastes and fancies. Not even the baddest or most salacious of popes in the Catholic Church's history, like Pope Alexander VI or John XII, dared to exercise such power to negate God's Word in the manner that the pro-sodomite Protestants meeting in Minneapolis have done. And whatever the anti-catholic may wish to say about the so-called recent "priest abuse" scandal in this country, no one could ever say that the Church ever decided that the sinful sexual activity by immoral priests were no longer occasions of grave sin by majority vote.
I would be interested in hearing anyone thoughts on the subject, particularly, do Protestants believe that sinful behavior is still sin even if their leadership states that such behavior is no longer sinful.
P.S. For those folks in the ECLA who are looking for a Church that still calls a sin a sin, you might want to check out the Catholic Church. I personally know alot of Episcopalians who did and are happy with their choice to join us.
God bless!
1 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
3 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
4 Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone")
5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
Unfortunately, like any card game, a trump is only a trump until the players change the rules. The recent decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy ignores the Scriptural injunction against people engaging in homosexual behaviors. This recent decision demonstrates the futility of playing the five solas like trumps. More telling, it shows how Protestantism is truly nothing more than a house of cards that can be blown over with slightest huff or puff. For, you see, in Protestantism, for all of its bluster and bombast about how important the Word of God supposedly is to its followers, there is one trump card that defeats any and all of the solas every time and that trump is called "private judgment."
This time the "private judgment" trump card was played and voila each Protestant believer in the ECLA now gets to redefine what sexual behavior constitutes sin, or for that matter any of God's law, to suit their prurient tastes and fancies. Not even the baddest or most salacious of popes in the Catholic Church's history, like Pope Alexander VI or John XII, dared to exercise such power to negate God's Word in the manner that the pro-sodomite Protestants meeting in Minneapolis have done. And whatever the anti-catholic may wish to say about the so-called recent "priest abuse" scandal in this country, no one could ever say that the Church ever decided that the sinful sexual activity by immoral priests were no longer occasions of grave sin by majority vote.
I would be interested in hearing anyone thoughts on the subject, particularly, do Protestants believe that sinful behavior is still sin even if their leadership states that such behavior is no longer sinful.
P.S. For those folks in the ECLA who are looking for a Church that still calls a sin a sin, you might want to check out the Catholic Church. I personally know alot of Episcopalians who did and are happy with their choice to join us.
God bless!
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