There
are those who teach that “Scripture alone” is the source of absolute
truth, and that it is the only voice of God that we have today. These
people contend that God has spoken in a clear manner through the
Scriptures, and that only Scripture can interpret Scripture (with no
Scripture to support their view). Yet there is something like 25,000
Protestant denominations, and most of them espouse solo scriptura,
which means “Scripture alone.”
This would force some people to a
logical deduction that concludes: God has spoken 25,000 clear but different
messages.
God forbid!
The great motto of the
Reformation, solo scriptura, was initially penned in reaction to
the indiscriminate instituting of Christian doctrines by the popes, many of whom
were actually in conflict with the Scriptures. The justification for this was
the Papal claim that the residing Pope’s authority exceeded that of the
Scriptures.
This practice by church leaders
led to the greatest spiritual darkness — the Dark Ages — that the world has ever
known, and this motto, solo scriptura, could be
cited as the primary force to break that darkness and begin the release of every
true spiritual advance since. But one can go too far with a great motto,
especially after it has served its purpose in history. Today this motto must be
challenged as a philosophical system called rationalism. Here is why:
It takes reasoning
power to determine when, where, and how Scripture has, in fact, interpreted
Scripture. So, “Scripture alone” boils down to “reason alone.”
With our human
reasoning power we compare Scripture to Scripture to see what we think it says.
And our reasoning power boils down to the sum total of our experience, which is
a muddled mindset. In short, many conservative Evangelicals trust more in
rationalism than in a relationship with Jesus.
RATIONALISM &
BIBLIOLATRY
The post-enlightenment culture has
gained an understanding of the natural world primarily through the use of reason
and intellect: The world, we believe, is accurately mediated to us through our
intellects and our reason, rather than intuition and emotion.
The priority that
westerners place on human reason and the corresponding devaluation of emotion,
intuition, and experience is called rationalism.
Western conservative Evangelicals
are regularly told not to base their relationship with God on their experience,
but on the truth! Who would not agree that we ought to base our relationship
with God on the truth? But why would anyone implicitly assume that our
experience would not be a vehicle for communicating the truth to us?
Experience and feelings
are so often called into question that one might begin to believe that only
human reason was left untouched by the Fall.
But every part of our being,
including our reason, has been corrupted as a result of the fall. Nevertheless,
the idea persists in Evangelical circles that feelings, experience, and
intuition are, by definition, suspect while reason is not.
“Bibliolatry” is another word
related to rationalism. Daniel Wallace, assistant professor of New Testament
Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, has said that “while Charismatics
sometimes give a higher priority to experience than to relationship,
rationalistic Evangelicals give a higher priority to knowledge than to
relationship. Both of these miss the mark.”
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