Quick Apology: The authority to forgive sins…

ForgivenessOne of my favourite things about having a blog is that, every now and then, I’ll get an email out of the blue from someone I don’t know. I love getting emails from people I’ve never met. There’s something quite wonderful in having an interaction with someone from across the continent or even the world, all because of something you’ve written!

Very often when I get emails they contain questions of an apologetics nature. I’m trying to get better at converting these email exchanges into posts. So, in light of that, I would like to share a response I gave to an email I received a few weeks ago. The gentleman asked the following question:

While discussing Christ’s establishment of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I brought up John 20:21-23.  My Protestant friends said that this is Jesus’ way of warning everyone not to hold a grudge against someone by retaining their sin. I know what Jesus was doing here, but I lack the bomb-proof Catholic response to this interpretation; can you help?

I’m not sure if my response qualifies as “bomb-proof”, but here was my reply…

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The Baggage of Sola Scriptura

wpf087e6e3_06Today we have a guest post from Tom Massoth, the father-in-law of my friend John, who will also soon be a guest poster here at Restless Pilgrim.

Tom and his wife of 39 years, Michele, reside in Yorba Linda, CA where they raised their two daughters Lisa and Jennifer. Now blessed with four perfect grandchildren, this retired Boeing engineer dedicates his time to God, family and friends, and various time-gobbling hobbies such as cycling. He is also a a Certified Flight Instructor in both airplanes and gliders. 

Tom has a love of Scripture and is a student of Church history and the early development of Christian doctrines. His particular interest lies in presenting the fullness of the Catholic faith in simple and easy-to-understand terms to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. He prays for a more unified Christian faith in the world and sees open honest dialog as the key to spreading the Good News.

Here is what Tom has to say on the subject of Sola Scriptura…

Following apologetic debates on various internet blogs is usually interesting, sometimes entertaining and often very frustrating. The exchanges start with the initial blog entry that posits a position favored by the author, which invariably includes historical evidence, perhaps quotations from the writings of Church fathers and of course verses from Holy Scripture that are offered as proof of point in question.

The comment boxes then fill in reaction using the same general modus operandi: “Great Point!” leads the pack. “Ridiculous Point!” soon follows. Still another says “Ref. Romans X: Y-Z and you’ll see the real truth and proof of your foolish conclusions!” Another commenter counters with “Hey, this is so easy, just read 1 Cor A: B, which of course refers to Psalm ##, which was foreseen by Jeremiah L: MN-OP.” the beat goes on, and the beat goes on.

The most frustrating scenario, however, is a case when people holding opposing views on a particular topic offer the exact same Bible verse as proof to support their position! We then have two differing viewpoints, both claiming the inspired Word of God as proof of their positions. We know that the Bible cannot contradict itself; so where do we go from here?

Now, I’m not a member of clergy, nor a trained theologian or Bible scholar, but it doesn’t take an expert to see that something is terribly wrong with the way we are attempting to discover and embrace God’s revealed truth. Jumping from proof text to proof text, trying to understand the position, arguments and supporting evidence, it soon becomes apparent that the Bible per se is no longer at the core of the controversies. It was people themselves that had somehow replaced the single truth of God’s Word.

A battle cry of the Protestant Reformation was the idea of Sola Scriptura, i.e. that the Bible and the Bible alone stands as the sole revelation of God’s truth to mankind. I fully accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God, so at a certain level I agree with the spirit of Sola Scripture. That said, for any premise like Sola Scriptura, we must not only understand the basic concept, we must also peel back the layers to see what other conclusions necessarily come along as an implied attachment.

To that end, I would like to discuss a thought experiment that began with a definition of Sola Scriptura, which continued through some intermediate observations and ended with a most unexpected conclusion…

Consequences

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2,000th Post

Today’s is just going to be a very short post. This entry marks my 2,000th post here at RestlessPilgrim.net. I wanted to thank everyone who has read, commented and shared this blog. I’m always extremely humbled when I find out that people take time out of their lives to read what I have to say and I love receiving responses from people I’ve never met in person.

As well as being my 2,000th post, today marks the beginning of my two month sabbatical. I will be posting during this time, but it’s also going to be a period of discernment for the road ahead. I’d very much appreciate your prayers as I try and work all this out.

The White Rose

At “Drinks with Dominicans” the other day I was introduced to “The White Rose”, a group of students in Nazi Germany who spoke out against Hitler. They came from Protestant, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox backgrounds and were tremendously influenced by the writings of Cardinal Newman, especially his arguments from Natural Law concerning the dignity of the human person.

I’ve just finished watching the excellently done film about the group, entitled “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXtC08tWxqA

Making a huddle

Back in San Diego, I was part of a group which we called “The Men’s Huddle”. We were a small group of Catholic guys who got together every couple of weeks in order to share our lives, hold each other accountable and to encourage one another as we sought to become all that God calls us to be.

Huddle

In the last couple of years I’ve noticed more men’s groups have been springing up. This is really great to see and today I’d like to write a little bit about The Huddle, in the hope that it will inspire other men to do something similar. The Huddle was a great support to me during my time in San Diego and I would like more men to experience the sort of blessing which comes with membership of such a group.

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