Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Joshua Fogle (SDA): If there was no Bible, no one could be saved

 Joshua Fogle, a Seventh-day Adventist, wrote the following:

 

No Bible, No Eternal Life

 

How important are the Words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the Christian life? The answer: Without the Words of God, we will not inherit eternal life as we find declared from our Savior Himself were He states: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28), and the way you can hear His voice, is to read His Words, as we can see when we consider that which is stated in (Acts 13:27) where reading and hearing a voice are synonyms.

 

Furthermore, we read were our Savior states: “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (John 6:53-54), and He clarifies that eating His flesh really means to read His Words, for “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John  6:63). Therefore we as followers of Christ are commanded to “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17), for we are to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15), and this is not just a simple one time reading of the Word of God, but a continual action, for if the seed of the Word of God remains within you then you cannot sin, that is, the seed is the Word as we read: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:19) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)

 

And finally, it is not enough to simply read that which Holy Write states, we must actually do as it commands as we read in James (1:22): “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ “became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:9) for “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16) Therefore, let us obey His commands to take His Holy Words unto ourselves and to read and study from them, and then further our obedience by actually following through with what they command us to do. Amen. (Joshua Fogle, The Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon Compared [N.P. Joshua Alan Fogle, 2022], 36-37)

 

The belief that salvation is contingent upon the Bible is loaded with problems, including the false a priori assumption that “Word of God” is exhausted by “the Bible.” Furthermore, it limits God’s ability to save.

 

For a thorough refutation of Sola Scriptura, see:

 

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