Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Solo Scriptura in Action

In an error-laden blog post (e.g., the author, Taylor Drummond, mistakenly thinks any depiction of Jesus is an image for worship [he must have a huge problem with Daniel 7 and the depiction of Jesus, in three-dimensional bodily form, before Daniel . . . ]) against the TV show, “The Chosen,” we find this example of Solo Scriptura:

 

Sufficiency of Scripture

 

Scripture gives us no hint as to what Jesus looked like during his earthly ministry. A physical description of Jesus is conspicuously lacking in the gospels. Because of this, we may gather that having a mental image of Jesus is not necessary for our spiritual growth. If Scripture is sufficient for equipping us for every good work (and it is), and Scripture contains no physical description of Jesus during His earthly ministry (and it does not), we may conclude that it is unnecessary for Christians to know what Jesus looked like. Therefore, the argument that using images of Jesus is essential for teaching effectually doesn’t work.

 

One can rework this as follows

Scripture [read: the Bible] gives no hint as to what 1+1 is. A mathematical description of 1+1 being 2 is conspicuously lacking in the Bible. Because of this, we may gather that having knowledge of basic mathematics is not necessary for our spiritual growth. If the Bible is sufficient for equipping us for every good work (and it is), and the Bible contains no answer to what 1+1 is, we may conclude that it is unnecessary for Christians to know basic mathematics.

 

One can also add things of a more spiritual nature to the above, including “cessation of public revelation,” something that is not explicit (and I would argue, implicit, too) in the Bible.

 

It appears the author has a M. Div from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. It appears he needs a refund on his tuition expenses as they did not teach him an iota about exegesis and theology.

 

Further Reading

 

Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura

 

Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons