What if everything you thought was True turned out to be a lie?
Too far-fetched?
What if some of the most important "facts" turned out to be false?
Possible?
Does seeing your strongly held convictions shattered, refuted, disproved hold out liberation for you or a sense of doom and embarassment?
That is what I propose to discuss!
Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses already know far too well what this "doom" feels like.
For many of us, our first idea of Christianity was refuted by Jehovah's Witness theology.
Being honest people we replaced our "disproved" ideas with "better" ones. We embraced THE TRUTH.
But, today we have had to discard even THAT notion as utterly false!
Two heavy blows! Two honest mistakes. Leading us to where?
Should we question our own ability to even recognize what is or isn't true?
What makes us think we are capable of holding ANY idea of truth for very long?
Are we forever doomed to hop frog-like from false truth to false truth?
What if EVERYTHING you thought was true turned out to be a lie?
Religious belief is a lot like juggling chainsaws. If one is skilled, practiced and accurate long enough the sense of accomplishment at such a feat is magnificent! But, one false move can end everything!
How many fingers, hands or worse would you have to lose to GIVE UP JUGGLING CHAINSAWS?
A careful look at history tests our notions of how dearly held beliefs have gone down in flames.
If you are a Protestant, for example, no belief is more beautiful and dearly held than the doctrine of GRACE!
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from good works.
But, did you know this doctrine was simply made up by Martin Luther at an historical moment in time? Before Luther there WAS NO (non performance) GRACE taught to devout christians at all.
Before Luther, christianity was an institution: the Catholic (universal) Church.
Catholic "grace" meant endless adherence to ritual performance, confession, attendance at mass, etc.
All true christians were defined by how devoutly they practiced the faith IN TERMS OF obedience to this governing body of men who claimed for themselves AUTHORITY.
The central authority was MAGISTERIUM. Whatever the governing body (Pope and cardinals) bound on earth was automatically bound in heaven. God rubber stamped (approved) the decisions of that governing body and backed them up. Official pronouncements by this body were inerrant.
HISTORY HAS A WAY OF TESTING SUCH IDEAS!
An uncorrupt God would lead an uncorrupt church.
The Church became more and more of a failure. Corruption set in and ate away. The facts are clear now. If God Almighty was approving of such practices it meant God was corrupt.....or....the Church was a lie!
The Magisterium or Teaching Authority of the Churchby Fr. William G. Most By the Magisterium we mean the teaching office of the Church. It consists of the Pope and Bishops. Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church : "He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects your rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me" (Luke 10. 16). Now of course the promise of Christ cannot fail: hence when the Church presents some doctrine as definitive or final, it comes under this protection, it cannot be in error; in other words, it is infallible. |
In stepped Martin Luther to challenge the corruptions and challenge MAGISTERIUM with a
newly defined theology: SOLA SCRIPTURA.
Luther made the BIBLE ALONE a new source of authority placed in the hands of the individual!
Luther just made that up out of thin air!
According to Martin Luther, there was NO AUTHORITY in the Catholic Church, but, only in the Bible! Both of these inventions: Grace and Sola Scriptura BECAME officially THE new TRUTH.
Question: What is Sola Scriptura?
Answer: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) is the doctrine that the Holy Bible, being the Word of God, is the only infallible rule of faith and practice for Christians in the post-apostolic age.
The Bible is:
The rule (standard, guide) of faith - teaching us what we ought to believe and how to live for the glory of God.
The infallible rule - incapable of error, certain, not liable to mislead - because it is the Word of God.
The only infallible rule - it contains the whole counsel of God for His people. Christians value religious teachers, but they are fallible (liable to make mistakes). We also value tradition as long as it is consistent with the Scriptures.
When you were born and when I was born, Grace and Sola Scriptura were already in place for over a thousand years!! Yes, it was accepted, taught, believed and practiced in christianity.
We accepted it the same way we accepted the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
History has already put the test to Luther's Sola Scriptura and REFUTED it clearly by the time we were born. But--few people noticed or cared!
Protestantism is a swarm of self-contradicting beliefs at odds with themselves ALL OBTAINED FROM THE BIBLE ALONE!
Joseph Smith, William Miller, Charles Taze Russell, Ellen White and a vast army of others
have put the LIE to Christendom with LIES of their own.
You and I, gentle reader, BOUGHT IN! We gladly tossed out our refuted lies only to embrace better sounding ones!
All that is required for an honest person to change their mind and their heart is to be clearly shown we are holding on to a lie.
We let go of the LIE. It is the honest thing to do.
But, hold on to your hats--------this is what happens next..............WE JUMP BACK IN and find a NEW LIE to replace the old one!
That is why I ask: What if everything you thought was true turned out to be a lie?
Will you just jump to the next one? The next one after that?
THE BUCK STOPS HERE! Willingness to question the most sacred TRUTH aloud is the only hope we have for avoiding more lies! Stop DEFENDING your deeply cherished TRUTHS and start examining them skeptically. If something is actually, factually true IT WILL WITHSTAND ALL TESTS!
Many ex-JW's simply jump from the frying pan into the fire!
They trade bible inerrancy for mysticism where they completely bypass any AGENCY of information and go directly to the imaginary source.
Many of us have traded Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone) for Sola Deus (God Alone).
God deals with each of us one-on-one in this instance of chainsaw juggling.
Where is the problem with Sola Deus?
YOU MAY BE TALKING TO YOURSELF!
There is no future in juggling chainsaws!
I'm challenging each and every one of us to wake up each morning by facing this idea:
WHAT IF our most deeply held convictions prove to be a lie? What then?