PARADOXICAL

Truthfulness

The Bible teaches salvific truths, i.e. teaches about salvation in an infallible way.

Quotes:

St. Augustine(?): "What do I care if heaven is like a circumambient sphere (in Ptolemaic system) and not a dish cover! The Holy Spirit does not teach things useless for salvation."

Galileo: "The Bible does not teach us how the heavens go but how to go to heaven."

Completeness

The Bible is complete. There's no need to invent.

Luther's 'sola fides' (salvation by faith alone) threw out the Book of James where it says, "We are saved by good works also."

Therefore, accept all parts of the Bible.

But it doesn't mean only the Bible is true and only in the Bible can we find the basis of salvation.

In the Catholic Church, there's the matter of sacred Tradition. ('Tradition' = 'handed on'; 'trans + do' = 'across + give') (Jn? 20:30, 21:25, 2Thess 2:15) In 2Thess.2:15 there is a proof of tradition (~16 years). It is important to note that God's word was handed on not in the written form right away.

Moses (13th c. BC) to Abraham (19th c. BC) to the Pentateuch (6th c. BC) is oral tradition. Jesus died in year 33. It was the year 50 when Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians. Year 33 to year 50 is therefore oral. (See 2Thess.2:15)

If you dismiss Tradition, you're in danger of missing a lot.

Case in point: Do you believe in the Trinity? But the "trinity" is not found in the Bible! And yet nearly all Christians believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

But the Bible is always used for the conferment of the (traditional) sacraments. The sacraments can't be brought home but the Bible can be brought anywhere.

The Bible contains all the truths that we need to believe in order to be saved. This does not imply 'sola scriptola' (faith based on Scripture alone; the one aggressively preached by fundamentalist Christians). The Church is necessary. (See Mt. 16:18, 29:19)

True, in Rev. 22:18-19, there's a warning against adding or removing from the book. But see Jn. 20:30, Jn. 21:25 (NAB translation): "Not everything is written."

Sacramentality

('Sacrament' = 'encounter with God')

When read as it should be, the Bible offers the believer a personal meeting with God.

There's no such thing as sacraments "to go."

But the Bible has portability. Moreover, every sacrament is conferred with the word of the Lord.

posted by Resty Odon  # 1:58 AM