This Vale Of Tears, on 10 May 2014 - 08:09 AM, said:
This Vale Of Tears said:
Trying to argue with a JW is like sweeping a dirt floor. The problem as I see it is making the Bible the highest authority when it comes to determining Christian doctrine. From the beginning, the Bible has never served this role, the Church has which is why Jesus invested his authority in his apostles to "teach the nations". The things you're debating with a JW are issues that were settled in the Christian church in the 3rd century, where the heresies and gnostic beliefs were refuted for all time. The Church leaders didn't say "This is what we believe the Bible says.." which would open the door for alternative interpretations, they said, "This is what the Church says" and expressed this through what we call today the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds. Once doctrinal issues were settled by the authority of the Catholic Church, Christians rallied around it and heretics were ejected from their midst.
When the Bible is made the sole rule of faith, it becomes an recipe for anarchy, for one cannot assert their interpretation of scripture to be more valid than another's when they can draw upon no higher authority than the scripture they're interpreting, just like those who disagree with them do. It makes the Bible fit a role it was never designed for, because the Bible never has and never will be an instrument of authority. It's the word of God in written form, assembled into a canon approved by the Church councils in Rome and Hippo, a strong indication that the authority was not the Bible but the Church that decided what the Bible was and wasn't. Never before the Bible was made official and never afterward until Martin Luther's heresy was ever entertained the concept that the Bible is the sole arbiter of faith and doctrine.
It's an important concept to understand to lay context on these interminable debates with Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, or any other school of belief that strays sharply from Christian orthodoxy. I recently had two JW's show up at my door and my response to them was pithy. The issue of the Trinity is settled and there is no higher authority on the dogmas of Christian belief than the Catholic Church. They left to find somebody else to dupe.
You should understand that some of us (generally referred to as "Protestant") don't agree about who the church is, and hold the scripture not only as God's written and proven word, but as more reliable than extra- biblical doctrine introduced by some "church" body. Consequently we have multiple arguments which never end about the authority of a figure like the Pope, papal decrees, the "doctrine" of papal infallibility, etc.
I personally can never recognize the authority of any man as exceeding that which is written in scripture, with the exception of the One who came down from heaven to redeem us from sin and reveal God in the perfection of humanity and in the person of His beloved Son. Since I don't anticipate Jesus returning in the clouds to put an end to this discussion (or any other regarding interpretation and legitimate authority) we can only attempt to present sound doctrine in this public forum when it is attacked by those doing the work of the adversary. If He does return, the argument will suddenly be rendered meaningless as the fate of this deluded soul and others caught up in such strong delusion will be sealed for all eternity (anathema maranatha.)
While it may seem like an exercise in futility, I already know former Jehovah's Witnesses that have had their eyes opened by the Lord and have turned from destruction to embrace Jesus as Savior and Lord. More significantly, those of us whom God has entrusted with some form of pastoral ministry would be remiss in our duties if we allowed wolves to lure lambs away with mystery doctrines and hidden gospels which are no gospel at all. God's sovereignty in creation doesn't make us unaccountable for our action:
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
By the way, when interpreting scripture, those who know God may use Him as the authority for their interpretation as His Spirit within us gives testimony of the Truth to both the speaker (or writer) and to the listener (or reader.) This may appear subjective, but within my experience of Bible based churches I typically do not observe anarchy, but order. Even Pentecostals will impose some limits upon the order of their services (though they may be more readily subjected to false manifestations of spirit driven by the carnal need for recognition or pre-eminence.) While the Bible didn't exist as such during the "in the flesh" ministry of Jesus upon the earth, He quoted scripture regularly as His authority, so it would seem foolish to deny such authority now as though the written word had become irrelevant. Even the Roman Catholic Church has held the scripture as an ultimate authority in determining the veracity of doctrine, but the leadership of that church has also held that interpretation of scripture had to be left to the priesthood for reasons which should be obvious to any human being with a consciousness of our fallen nature.
