Marian Devotion
In response to an article at http://www.challies.com/archives/general-news/a-short-history-1.php
Thanks for your insights in this matter. However, I think your representation of the history of Marian devotion is faulty. Until the reformation, the Catholic and Orthodox churches both honoured Mary- in fact, honouring Mary was never contested! The greatest Cristians for 1500 years had consistently developped a love for Mary, precisely because of their love for her Son, not in spite of it.
However, at the time of Luther, a new concept was introduced, namely Sola Scriptura. First off it should be noted that this doctrine is, ironically, not scriptural. Therefore it is self refuting. Secondly, it assumes the idea that every individual conscience is equally infallible, but the Church by no means is. What a dangerous assumption! The Church which gave you doctrines not found explicitely in scripture- such as Theotokos, the Trinity, and the Canon of Scripture- if this Church is capable of making mistakes, than these doctrines may be wrong.
Thus any Jehovahs Witness or Dan Brown has an equal claim on the truth to the practicing, proffessing Christian. It is a question of authority. Catholics claim infallibility, that Christ gave the apostles the power to ‘bind and loose’ and be protected from error, and this power was handed down for 2000 years. Who gave you, the individual protestant, such power?
In short, either the Catholic Church is Infallible- or it isn’t. If it is, then clearly it is the one true church it claims to be. If it isn’t, than we cannot accept anything it taught authoritatively- not even which books belong in the Bible. Because the church must be deliberately lying, and claiming authority from God- thus, it must be diabolical
Thanks for your insights in this matter. However, I think your representation of the history of Marian devotion is faulty. Until the reformation, the Catholic and Orthodox churches both honoured Mary- in fact, honouring Mary was never contested! The greatest Cristians for 1500 years had consistently developped a love for Mary, precisely because of their love for her Son, not in spite of it.
However, at the time of Luther, a new concept was introduced, namely Sola Scriptura. First off it should be noted that this doctrine is, ironically, not scriptural. Therefore it is self refuting. Secondly, it assumes the idea that every individual conscience is equally infallible, but the Church by no means is. What a dangerous assumption! The Church which gave you doctrines not found explicitely in scripture- such as Theotokos, the Trinity, and the Canon of Scripture- if this Church is capable of making mistakes, than these doctrines may be wrong.
Thus any Jehovahs Witness or Dan Brown has an equal claim on the truth to the practicing, proffessing Christian. It is a question of authority. Catholics claim infallibility, that Christ gave the apostles the power to ‘bind and loose’ and be protected from error, and this power was handed down for 2000 years. Who gave you, the individual protestant, such power?
In short, either the Catholic Church is Infallible- or it isn’t. If it is, then clearly it is the one true church it claims to be. If it isn’t, than we cannot accept anything it taught authoritatively- not even which books belong in the Bible. Because the church must be deliberately lying, and claiming authority from God- thus, it must be diabolical
posted by Peter van Kampen at 7:14 PM
1 comments
