TheMewTwix

Exchanges such as these expose Protestantism as a completely irrational religion that is incompatible with Sacred Scripture and salvation history. As a Protestant (or non-denominational Christian), you might watch a pastor say something that you know to be wrong, but you also don’t actually have the ability to authoritatively refute his interpretation of Scripture because, ultimately, it is his interpretation of Scripture against yours. You might believe that Baptism is necessary for salvation. Another believes that we are saved by faith alone. You might believe that human beings have free will and can choose to cooperate with God’s grace. Another believes that God predestines some to salvation and others to damnation. You might believe that Christ established sacraments and a priesthood. Another believes that all one needs is Scripture alone. You might believe that only men can be priests and pastors. Another believes that women can be ordained as bishops or even archbishops. You might believe that Mary is the Mother of God, who intercedes for us and deserves the highest honour. Another believes that she is just a woman like any other. Both premises can’t be correct because that defies logic, namely the principle of non-contradiction. A triangle cannot have both three sides and four sides, just as two plus two cannot equal four and also five. Either one answer is correct, or both are false. You see, if doctrine is a matter of personal interpretation of Sacred Scripture rather than objective truth, then there is no right or wrong answer. Everyone is right, and everyone is wrong. Every Christian claims that his doctrines are derived from Scripture, yet none can demonstrate why his interpretation possesses greater authority than the other. In practice, theological truth is reduced to personal judgment and preference. By removing authority, every man has become an authority, and when every man is an authority, no man is an authority. This, my friends, is the circular reasoning of Protestantism, which renders it an irrational belief system. You can say, “We hold these Christian truths to be self-evident,” but what if someone believes that the opposing claims are self-evident? Based on what authority do you, as a Lutheran, refute the errors of an Evangelical? Based on what authority can you, as an Evangelical, refute the errors of a Baptist? Based on what authority can you, as a Baptist, refute the errors of a Presbyterian? Moreover, why are you Baptist and not a Lutheran? Why are you Calvinist and not an Episcopalian? Why are you an Anglican and not a Methodist? Is it because one denomination’s theology is right and another’s is wrong, or because you simply “prefer” your Christian denomination over another? If Scripture alone is the final authority, then every denomination ultimately appeals to the same source while arriving at incompatible conclusions. How is this possible? How is this resolved? In order to please all sides, this has effectively led to the rise of universalism and religious indifferentism, which fundamentally undermines the Christian religion and, by extension, Western Civilisation. “We are just one Christian church among many” becomes “Christianity is just one religion among many.” No. Christ founded one Church, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and gave authority to Peter and his successors in perpetuity. The Bishop of Rome, and by extension the Magisterium, was given the charge to defend the deposit of faith, to communicate the right interpretation of scripture, and the power to bind and loose on heaven and earth. The Church, not you, determines what is true and what is false, and to assume otherwise is to set yourself in opposition to the very Scriptures you claim to uphold. Outside the Church that Christ established, Christianity is nothing more than a series of personal preferences, and you can’t prove otherwise.