exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes. I see it as a demonstration of the inevitable problems that come from attempting a strict sola scriptura approach to Christianity. @rrobs , for example, cannot bring himself to admit explicitly that there is no biblical authority for taking the bible as the word of God. And, even if there were such a statement in the bible, by what logic would one accept it as authoritative, without first assuming that which the statement asserts!This entire thread could be seen as a study of contradictions and rationalization to appease the dissonance aroused by those contradictions.
No, it is obvious that accepting the authority of any scripture has to be a conclusion one reaches based on something external to scripture, such as teaching, reason, aesthetics, personal spiritual experience, or whatever. And that immediately calls into question the basis on which one accepts it, which books, which words in those books, whether literally or figuratively, etc. The bible itself cannot help with any of these decisions. They are driven by arguments and interpretations external to scripture itself.