Well, I just can´t stop commenting on the geeky Xian text "Questions for Christians, Agnostics and Non-Christians". So here is a half-serious, half-trollish version we could call "Questions for Evangelicals". Any similarities to an actual religious tradition are, of course, purely co-incidental! Being lazy, I didn´t include any references to the Bible, but I´m sure geeks know them by heart anyway. So let´s begin...
1. How can "sola Scriptura" be true, if your basis for the Trinity, the nature of Christ, and the filioque all come from Catholic Church councils?
2. How can you reject the deuterocanonicals, since they were included in the Septuagint - the Bible used by the apostles and authors of the New Testament - and Paul clearly states that *all* scripture is good for teaching, doctrine, rebuke, and so on? Wasn´t Paul referring to the Septuagint?
3. How can you reject Catholic worship of relics, when the Scripture clearly states that the mortal remains of that great prophet, Elisha, had miraculous properties? What is your basis for claiming that this part of the Old Testament has been abrogated?
4. If the Bible is "inspired only in the original manuscripts", how can you claim - without recourse to a Tradition - that your evengelical Bibles are divinely inspired, since they are obviously not the original manuscripts?
5. How can you reject "work-based salvation", when both James and Matthew clearly indicate that salvation is indeed "work-based"? Matthew says that some people who didn´t know who Jesus was, nevertheless will go to Heaven because of their good works. Doesn´t this gainsay your claim that only people who explicitly and orally confess their belief in Jesus Christ as their personal saviour can be saved?
6. How do you square congregationalism with Paul´s clear insistence that he had authority over the congregations as an apostle?
7. Where is your authority derived from, if not from an unbroken lineage, going back all the way to the original apostles? Can you demonstrate such a lineage?
8. Clement of Rome demanded authority over the congregations of Asia Minor. Wasn´t this a direct continuation of the apostolic authority of Peter, the first bishop of Rome? Doesn´t this suggest that the bishop of Rome has jurisdiction over all churches? (See also question 6)
9. If you celebrate the Lord´s supper, on what authority do you do this, if you don´t have proper apostolic succession going back to Jesus himself, who instituted this tradition? If you don´t celebrate the Lord´s supper, on what authority have you stopped doing so, when it´s clearly stated in the Scripture, and you claim to believe in "sola Scriptura"?
10. Why don´t you venerate the Virgin Mary, when Mary herself clearly states in the Scripture that she will (and therefore should) be venerated?
11. Why do you reject celibacy, when one of the earliest converts to Christianity was a eunuch, and Jesus talks positively about those who have "made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven"?
12. Since the canon was decided by the Church, how can you reject Church tradition? Since the Church canonized the Septuagint, how can you accept the Jewish Masoretic Text as normative for the Old Testament, even apart from the fact that the Massoretes lived much later than the sages of Alexandria? Are you actually secretely Judaizers?
13. Does your congregation have the power to forgive sins? If yes, where does this authority come from? If you claim that Jesus forgives sins, how is this forgiveness mediated concretely to the individual being forgiven?
14. Why do you reject masses for the dead, when 2 Maccabees clearly states that the Maccabees prayed for the souls of their departed?
15. On whose authority are you interpreting the strongly allegorical language of Revelation, if there isn´t a tradition of interpretation to fall back upon? Do you actually believe that your fanciful interpretations of Revelation, none of which seem to be older than the 20th century, are the literal and perspicacious reading of the original text?
16. Why do you support Zionism, when the Scripture clearly states that the Jews stand under condemnation as the Synagogue of Satan, enemies of all mankind, with the blood of the Savior eternally upon their heads?
17. How can you reject an esoteric reading of the Scriptures, or an esoteric tradition in general, when the Bible clearly states that the message of salvation in Jesus Christ was originally "hidden" even from the Jews, Jesus didn´t explain his parables to the multitude but only to the elect, and Paul said that he heard words spoken in the third heaven which can´t be revealed to mere mortals?
18. When did the Church apostasize? If it was after the death of the last apostle, doesn´t that mean that the laying on of hands was inefficacious, since everyone who was appointed successor by the apostles by this method fell into apostasy? But how could the miraculous powers of the apostles be so completely inhibited? If the apostasy was of a more intellectual nature, why did everyone in the Church apostasize around the year 100? Why didn´t God raise up new apostles? If the apostasy came later, when and how did it arise? What guarantees are there that your congregation won´t fall into apostasy? If there aren´t any, how can you be sure of your salvation?
19. Do you believe that New Thought believers, Catholics and Jews will end up in Hell? If so, why did you vote for Donald Trump, who is a New Thought believer surrounded by Catholics and Jews? Do you actually believe Trump will end up in Hell?
20. Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, why? Christmas isn´t mentioned in the Bible.
Questions for Atheists, Agnostics and Non-Christians
No comments:
Post a Comment