Sola Scriptura Vs. Sola Ecclesia

From time to time, Roman Catholic lay apologists & their acolytes will behave as if the plethora of Protestant denominations & differing opinions among individual Protestants is proof enough to demonstrate the epistemic inferiority of Sola Scriptur & the superiority of the Roman Catholic Rule of Faith which placed a heavy value on Ecclesiastical Tradition.  By way of reply, the large number of Protestant denominations is irrelevant to this issue. If you encounter this sort of phenomenon's, it’s important to remember that their pivot to the large number of Protestant denominations & opinions is really a cover for their own deficiencies.  

The conversation isn’t about the plethora of denominations & opinions among Protestants.   That’s just a case consequentialist argument against Sola Scriptura, as it the correctness and virtuousness of an epistemic standard depends on the consequences of that standard relative to any number of outcomes.   

In reality, the conversation is about how any individual or group of individuals understands their own words, those of the Bible,  & / or those of Rome.  The Catholic Answers crowd is prone to assert that their interpretive authority is infallible, therefore, their Rule of Faith is epistemically superior.   I don’t five that particularly persuasive.   Why?  Answer: Infallibility is not a property that jumps off the page & into the mind of the reader/hearer.   Ultimately, each person is relying upon their personal knowledge of grammar & syntax, & they are consciously or subconsciously exegeting, expositing, & understanding the text; regardless of whether or the text is the Bible or a commentary. 

On the one hand, these individuals populating Catholic Answers, Instagram, & YouTube act as if the Roman Catholic Rule of Faith is epistemically superior to the Protestant Rule of Faith.  Yet on the other, they depend on  the same means to understand the Bible & Tradition that I myself as a Protestant use to understand the Bible. The truth of the matter is that all one need do is understand the rules of sound reasoning & elementary biblical hermeneutics in order to understand the Bible — just like all you, the reader, need to do the same in order to understand me.  That is to say, if you understand the basic principles of English grammar & syntax, you can understand my words. 

Why the plethora of Protestant sects? The Bible directly teaches that moral problems are a major issue (Hebrews 5), and it also reminds us indirectly (Deut, Matt) that poor understanding is a result of poor teaching & that false teaching + moral problems = recipe for ignorance & moral stupidity (Proverbs).   

Why are there self-reinforcingly ignorant people in the world in general? Answer: Because of moral problems and generations of horrible teachers & students who beget more horrible teachers & students — just ask any English professor.   

The objection to Sola Scriptura is just a pseudo problem generated by the Roman Catholic belief that the issue is the fallible nature of the application of Sola Scriptura.  The Bible, however, says the issue is moral problems & multiple generations of ignorant people & bad teachers who ultimately beget systemic moral & intellectual ignorance.  In that regard, when arguing as they do, Roman Catholics sometimes sound like atheists who say organized religion results in warmongering & systems of oppression—when the problem isn’t so much as organized religion as it is the moral & intellectual character of the warmongers regardless of their religion or irreligion.  

To take one example, why do I require Rome to tell me what Romans 1:18 - 32 teaches when all I have to do is follow the grammar & syntax of the text?  If Rome disagrees with the elementary grammar & syntax of the text, which is correct?   The Bible correctly exegeted & exposited is the only correct answer.  

For example, Rome, like Greg Koukl,  says that the Bible condemns all homosexual behavior because “natural” refers to the human image (the body) as a sufficient epistemic warrant for sexual ethics —  but if that’s the case, then according to Rome’s own interpretation of the text, **the body** is a sufficient epistemic warrant for human sexual ethics, which is a self-refuting standard.  How so?  Answer: If human anatomy & physiology constitute a sufficient epistemic warrant to do sexual ethics, then I don’t require Roman Catholic teaching to do sexual ethics.   In other words, Rome’s answer entails them pointing away from both the Bible & themselves in order to answer questions about what constitutes a sufficient epistemic warrant for sexual ethics.  Both Protestants & Catholics do this when articulating their tradition bound beliefs about homosexuality.  

In addition, my direct appeal to the Bible itself for ethic ethics is an appeal to a non-arbitrary (ie a necessary, reasoned, & principled) epistemic warrant.  Rome’s appeal is to itself.  The minds that constitute the Church are part of the created order, so they are using the created order to underwrite sexual ethics relative to this issue.   That’s a viciously circular process.   How so? 

Rom. 1:20 states that the creation’s purpose to drive us to **God** image & authority to do ethics.   Our minds are not required for sexual ethics — but God’s mind is.   Substitution of God’s mind with the minds of human beings substitutes a set of minds that, considered unto themselves, do not supply the metaphysical machinery to interpret & understand reality correctly.    God’s mind & His own self-expression via His attributes & authority does supply those truth conditions.   Human minds aren’t required for ethics to exist.  Therefore an appeal to the image of the created order to do sexual ethics fails the test of necessity. 

Consequently, Rome isn’t required to do sexual ethics by its own standards & the standard set by the Bible itself. The Catholic apologist’s appeal to Rome for ethical principles is an appeal to a reasoned & principled — but unnecessary, ergo arbitrary— epistemic warrant, thus proving Sola Scriptura applied correctly, is a superior — not inferior Rule of Faith. Sola Scriptura, correctly articulated & applied constitutes a direct appeal to God via His holy, inerrant, & infallible Word, which even articulates the fundamentals of sound reasoning & biblical hermeneutics for us.   It also informs us in Romans 2 that God is in constant communion & communication with us so that we understand Him with enough clarity for Him to hold us morally & intellectually accountable to Him even if we lack a written text from Him.  

May God bless us all, each and every one, & “Go & sin no more.”