Sola Scriptura is very popular among the newer generation of Protestants. Catholics, and many Protestants, believe that Sola Scriptura is Sola Self-Serving. Why are so many modern Pastor Bobs so taken with it?
Pastor Darlene Dimmer raved about “Sola Scriptura” after the first round of drinks had been served following a dinner at Disneyworld’s Monthly Sola Scriptura Symposium. “I just love the idea of using Scripture, Alone!”, she gushed. “As soon as I heard the word, I knew I’d found The True Path to Jesus!”
Pastor Bob explained, in his slow Texas drawl, “Sola Scriptura lets us use Scripture to explain itself. Sola-Sciptura brings Jesus to everyone.”
As I wondered what it meant to “use Scripture to explain itself”, my thought was interrupted.
“That’s right!” Darlene excitedly interjected. “Sola Scriptura lets us pick one passage out of one place, cancel it out with another passage from another place, and do whatever we want!”
“How does that work?”, I asked, realizing that many of the older Protestants, and all Catholics, had another opinion: that Sola Scriptura is Sola Self-Serving.
“I’ll give you a real example. Some of the older people in my church thought that sex outside of marriage was wrong! But, a lot of our donors were having sex outside of marriage and weren’t about to stop. How could we make everybody feel good about themselves and still make our budget numbers? Sola Scriptura! I told ’em, ‘Scripture commands each of us to ‘Love your neighbor’. Who are we to say someone does not have the right to love their neighbor the way they want?’ With Sola Scriptura as the only authority, no one can disagree with anything anyone does!”
“She’s right!”, Pastor Bob added, staring at her in deep admiration. “Who’s gonna argue with Jesus? Who’s gonna argue with The Bible? We love Sola Scriptura! It lets everyone do what they feel is truly best!”
As I got up to leave, Pastor Bob and Pastor Darlene slid a little closer to each other. I finally understood why so many modern evangelicals liked Sola Scriptura.
I thought to myself, “Pastor Bob is right. Sola Scriptura does let people do what they want. Sola Scriptura justifies giving into desires by taking Bible passages out of context. No wonder so many of these people are so anti-Catholic. They absolutely hate any higher authority telling them what to do.”
