"Each One the Judge of His Own Belief"
Former American puritan pastor John Thayer in 1780's had these thoughts regarding the effect of sola scriptura he saw in his own life and experience. Below is the actual reprinted page from his book published in the very late 18th century. Same issues, have been occurring since the reformation when the reformers gave permission for each one to "be the judge of his own belief." Is the salvation of our eternal souls something we want to trust ourselves alone to get right? If Jesus intended this to be the case, why didn't he dictate the bible to his disciples and tell them to write everything down? Instead he told them he would build his Church on Peter and that the Holy Spirit would lead them in all truth through the Church.
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 6:20 PM
2 Comments:
“This principle goes farther, and leads the man who reasons justly to an indifference of all Religion, and saps the very foundation of Christianity by establishing the private judgment of each individual the supreme arbiter of his creed.”
That's so well put - it saps the very foundation of Christianity. It surely does!
Renee, I was going to highlight that very line from his book. It really does say it all. A book can never lead men to the Truth, but the Holy Spirit said He would, through his Church, using the Bible and Sacred Tradition. For the first 4 centuries of Christianity, there was no bible so clearly God used His Church to transmit and defend the truth. The early Christians trusted the Church then, why don't we trust it now?
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