User:DonaldRichardSands/Ideas

Holy Spirit, Individualism, or Church Interpretation


The Difference

IN a recent issue of the Catholic Mirror a Roman Catholic writer defines the gospel as being- an " inspired record of a portion of the life and teachings of Jesus 'Christ, the Saviour of mankind," and says that on the significance of the words, " a portion of the life and teach- ings," hangs the whole rule of Christian faith. The statement follows that " the Protestant doctrine ... is that the Sacred Scriptures contain the entire revelation of faith and morals for the* guidance of mankind. In regard to the subjective element [the interpretation of doctrines defining what must be believed and done in order to be saved], they say that the interpreter of this body of doc- trine is the individual reason. Certainly that principle can not be right which re- sults in so many conflicting opinions. In regard to the text, ' This is my body,' there are in vogue over one hundred dif- ferent explanations, which shows how the individual mind may wander when it is a question of interpreting a plain state- ment. Now the Catholic Church teaches that the Sacred Scriptures are a divine revelation of the life and teachings of Christ, but not a complete one, and that the interpreter, the one interpreter of th's revelation, is the Catholic Church."

True Protestantism always appeals to the 'Scripture, and on this point the plain statement of inspiration is that the Holy Spirit is the Guide into all truth. The Holy Spirit, and not " individual reason," is for Protestants the interpreter of Bible doctrine. For Roman Catholics, on the other hand, the church is the " one inter- preter " of divine revelation. But divine revelation explained and interpreted by a human agent loses both its divinity and its character as a revelation. A human explanation and interpretation of God's Word, though the Word itself is divine and infallible, is but the product of a finite mind. " The individual reason " has much more to do with -- papal doc- trine than with that of Protestantism. The rule of Protestantism, indeed, ex- pressly excludes it.

It is true that many people holding divergent views of Christian doctrine class themselves as Protestants, but this does not vitiate the Protestant rule that the Word of God, as interpreted by the Holy Spirit to each individual believer, is the true foundation of Christian faith.

It is a choice between the Word of God and the traditions of men; between the Holy Spirit as the interpreter of the Scripture, and the church as the inter- preter. It is, therefore, a choice 'between the divine and the human, as the basis of our hope of salvation. Protestantism chooses to base its hope on that which is wholly divine. L. A. S.

''Smith does not fully explore the positive role of human reason in the study of the Word. The need of the Holy Spirit in the process is established. However, it is difficult to distinguish between the Holy Spirit's help and our own human reason because the Spirit works through our reason. It is a cooperative venture not a slave-master one.'' Opinion of DonaldRichardSands (talk) 06:58, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Childhood

 * The orchard
 * Duck pond
 * Dead Goldfinch and older kids
 * Yellow-breasted Chat
 * Mourning Warbler
 * Long-tailed Jaeger
 * The Osprey
 * Owling in Florida
 * Madoc
 * Adolescence and hikes
 * The kid-made swimming hole
 * Our Madoc property consisted of a combination of meadows and woodland. In one of the far off meadows was a hole in the ground. We thought of it as a basement to an older
 * Accident in Belleville

Books for which to prepare citations:
Seventh-day Adventists and the civil rights movement, (Google eBook) Samuel G. London, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2009-09-11 - Political Science - 194 pages

Seventh-day Adventists and the Civil Rights Movement is the first in-depth study of the denomination's participation in civil rights politics. It considers the extent to which the denomination's theology influenced how its members responded. This book explores why a brave few Adventists became social and political activists, and why a majority of the faithful eschewed the movement. Samuel G. London, Jr., provides a clear yet critical understanding of the history and theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church while highlighting the contributions of its members to political reform. Community awareness, the example of early Adventist pioneers, liberationist interpretations of the Bible, as well as various intellectual and theological justifications motivated the civil rights activities of some Adventists. For those who participated in the civil rights movement, these factors superseded the conservative ideology and theology that came to dominate the church after the passing of its founders. Covering the end of the 1800s through the 1970s, the book discusses how Christian fundamentalism, the curse of Ham, the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, pragmatism, the aversion to ecumenism and the Social Gospel, belief in the separation of church and state, and American individualism converged to impact Adventist sociopolitical thought. http://books.google.ca/books?id=r0irGK-RSucC