So I just checked in on Moses Flores' (the gentleman I was debating on Calvinism some months ago) site and saw that he had began a debate with a Roman Catholic named Ben Rosado on the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (available here) which as we all know was one of the foundations of the Reformation. As I read Moses' opening statement I was refreshed to see how accurately he represented the RCC's position on Sacred Tradition and Scripture while immediately afterwards correcting 6 very common errors that RCs make when arguing against the Protestant position. I will reproduce his corrrection of those 6 errors here:
1) Sola Scriptura does not mean that the Bible is an exhaustive compendium of
all knowledge
2) Sola Scriptura does not mean that the Bible is an
exhaustive compendium of all religious knowledge
3) Sola Scriptura does not
preclude the Church from teaching nor from formulating Creeds or Confessions
4) Sola Scriptura is not a denial that the revelation of God was ever in
oral form
5) Sola Scriptura does not entail the rejection of all traditions
6) Sola Scriptura is not a restriction or a denial of the Holy Spirit in the
process of guiding and illuminating the Church
Moses then spent the remainder of the opening statement exegeting the text of 2Timothy 3 in a non-threatening, layman friendly manner. It was refreshing to see the truth expounded so clearly without having to go into the esoteric details of Greek grammar.
To my disappointment his opponent wasn't as set on presenting his case as Moses was in his opening statement, opting rather to ask a few questions that he felt 'refuted' Moses' position on the doctrine. It was actually quite hard to work through (and it was only about 1100 words!) due to the plethora of straw man argumentation presented. Now I'm not just saying this because I like Moses or because I agree with him on the doctrine of Sola Scriptura--on the contrary, I'm saying this because this is what I read. Mr. Rosado's opening amounted to little more than claiming that Moses' position on Sola Scriptura is a declaration that the gates of Hades had prevailed against the Church. I could not follow his logic in the least.
Of course Moses responded with corrections and offered more in support of his position to which Mr. Rosado replied with an apology (the kind where you say 'I'm sorry' not the kind offered on defense of the faith) and a little bit about why he believes that the Church is infallible. I only skimmed through the rebuttals of each and plan to read them more thoroughly tommorrow, but I felt the need to comment on what I have read right now.
It's refreshing to see young Christian men (such as Moses and myself, I'm not sure about Mr. Rosado's age) so zealous for Christ. It was us to whom John wrote saying, "I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. " AMEN!!! And I know he said this because Scripture is sufficient to tell me!
