Sola Scriptura Lionel Windsor
Since we say that we =91love the solas=92, it might be useful to talk
about what those solas are! I asked some of our Sola Panellists to
post accordingly, and here's the first instalment, from Lionel
Windsor. TP
Life is full of decisions. Where do I go on holidays? What job should
I choose? What should I have for dinner? Which side of the bed should
I get out of? Should I get out of bed at all? Making decisions is a
fundamental part of being human; we can't avoid it, and we do it all
the time.
Often when we make decisions, we rely on authorities to help us. So,
for example, if you were to make a decision about investing money,
you'd consult various authorities: investment advisers, friends and
relatives, a company prospectus, and so on. Some of those authorities
will be better than others!
Similarly, when it comes to make decisions as Christians, there are
various sources of authority that we can turn to. For example, if we
want guidance about how to be a good husband/wife/son/daughter/brother/
sister, we would look to various authorities. There are at least four
=91authorities=92 that we can identify in our Christian walk:
There's the Bible, of course: helpful Bible passages like Ephesians 4
will give us good advice about family relation****ps.
There's also the church: a Christian friend or minister can encourage
and give you wisdom you may not have otherwise thought about.
There is also reason: it can be useful to think about it ourselves.
And there's experience: we have all learned something from our
experience of good and bad family relation****ps!
However, there come times in our lives, and in the lives of our
churches, where these various =91authorities=92 can be at odds with one
another=97or can even contradict each other. When this happens, we need
to make a decision about which authority we listen to first and
foremost. This is what we mean by the phrase sola Scriptura. Sola
Scriptura means that when different authorities contradict what the
Bible says clearly on matters of faith and Christian conduct, we will
go with the Bible as our authority rather than those other
authorities. So, for example, if a man comes to me with an
=91experience=92 of a vision from God that told him that he must divorce
his wife in order to marry another woman, then I would reject that
=91authority=92 on the basis that the Bible says that this behaviour is
wrong.
Sola Scriptura is something that we need to insist on in controversial
situations. It's not an issue when the Bible, tradition, reason and
experience all agree. But when there is disagreement, we need to make
the hard decisions. ...
http://solapanel.org/
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