Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: The Bible: <em>Sola Scriptura</em> (Index Page)

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General

SHORTER PAPERS

Fictional Dialogue on Sola Scriptura ("Bible Alone")

Fictional Dialogue on Sola Scriptura With a "Reformed Catholic" Protestant (Greatly Resembling Tim Enloe)

Critique of Bedrock (Self-Defeating) Protestant Principles of Authority (+ Discussion)

Introduction From My Book, 501 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura: Is the Bible the Only Infallible Authority?

Do Catholics Think Trinitarianism is Not Demonstrable From Scripture Alone?

Quick Ten-Step Refutation of Sola Scriptura

SOLA Scriptura vs. SOLO Scriptura, or, "Why History is Important For All Christians"

The Novel and Unbiblical Doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Dave Armstrong vs. Steve Parks [Lutheran] )

Catholic Scholars (E.g., Joseph Ratzinger, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Henri de Lubac) on the Illogical Nature of Sola Scriptura (+ Discussion)

Reformed Polemicist Tim Enloe's Criticism of Reformed Fundamentalists Regarding Scripture Alone Also Applies to Luther and Calvin

How Different (In Nature and Ultimate Effect) Are SolO Scriptura and SolA Scriptura? (+ Part II) (Dave Armstrong vs. Keith Mathison)

Greg Krehbiel's Review of Keith Mathison's The Shape of Sola Scriptura

Dialogue With a Baptist About Sola Scriptura, Keith Mathison's Fallacious Critiques of Catholic Ecclesiology, and Anti-Catholicism

Protestants (Trinitarians) Who Forbid Prayer to the Holy Spirit and/or to Jesus (Sola Scriptura Reductio ad Absurdum)

LONGER PAPERS

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part One (Definitions & Introduction) (+ Discussion)

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Two

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Three (Dual-Source Theory) (+ Discussion)

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Four (Tradition and Apostolic Succession)

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Five (The Canon)

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Six (Divisions)

The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:6-30) vs. Sola Scriptura and James White (Dave Armstrong vs. James White)

The Old Testament, the Ancient Jews, and Sola Scriptura

Sola Scriptura: An Unbiblical Tradition: Refutation of Dr. John MacArthur and Richard Bennett

Critique of: Denying Sola Scriptura: The Attempt to Neutralize the Bible (by Gary DeMar) (Dave Armstrong vs. Gary DeMar)

Why Sola Scriptura is Self-Defeating and False if it Isn't in the Bible (Dave Armstrong vs. Kevin Johnson)

Reply to a Protestant Who Claims That I Have Not Demonstrated That Protestant Authority Structures Are Ultimately Self-Defeating (vs. Kevin Davis) (+ Discussion)

Reply to Steve Hays' Critique of Robert C. Koons' Treatise, A Lutheran's Case for Roman Catholicism: Sola Scriptura & Rule of Faith (+ Discussion)

"Saint & Sinner's" Critique of The Catholic Verses, Part I: 1 Timothy 3:15 (Church Authority & Sola Scriptura) (+ Discussion)

Luther Meets His Match: Part VI: Erasmus' Hyperaspistes (1526): Sola Scriptura & Perspicuity (Total Clarity) of Scripture Critiqued

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501 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura

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The Church Fathers and Sola Scriptura

SHORTER PAPERS

Excerpts From Chapter One on Bible & Tradition From My Book, The Church Fathers Were Catholic (Including an Analysis of Perspicuity)

If the Church Fathers Can Be Remarkably Transformed Into "Sola Scriptura Protestants" by "Bible Prooftexts", Why Not Me, Too?!!

LONGER PAPERS

Reply to Jason Engwer's Catholic But Not Roman Catholic Series on the Church Fathers: Sola Scriptura (An In-Depth Analysis of Ten Church Fathers' Views Pertaining to the Rule of Faith) (+ Part Two) (Dave Armstrong vs. Jason Engwer)

Dialogue on Sola Scriptura and the Church Fathers (+ Part Two) (Dave Armstrong vs. Jason Engwer)

Did St. Athanasius Believe in Sola Scriptura? (Dave Armstrong vs. Ken Temple)

Did St. Gregory of Nyssa Believe in Scripture Alone? (+ Discussion)

Dialogue on Whether the Fathers Taught "Perspicuity" of Scripture and Denied the Necessity of Tradition and an Authoritative Church (Dave Armstrong vs. Carmen Bryant)

The Sufficiency of Scripture and the Church Fathers (Particularly, St. Athanasius and the Trinity) (Dave Armstrong vs. E.L. Hamilton and "Cranmer")

Refutation of David T. King Regarding St. John Chrysostom & St. Irenaeus as Alleged Sola Scriptura Advocates (+ Discussion)

Critique of Martin Chemnitz' Examination of Trent: Bible, Tradition, and the Church Fathers, Part I (Preliminaries, St. Irenaeus, & Tertullian) (+ Discussion)

Critique of Martin Chemnitz' Examination of Trent: Bible, Tradition, and the Church Fathers, Part II (Various Fathers and Arguments)

Lutheran-Catholic Group Dialogue #2: The Nature of the True Church and Authoritative Christian Tradition / Questions on Institutional Separation (+ Discussion)

Private Judgment

SHORTER PAPERS

Lutheranism, Catholic "Absolute" Authority, and Private Judgment

Reflections on the Problematic Protestant System of Private Judgment and the Vast Difference in Catholic Epistemology

Private Judgment and "Reformed Catholicism"

Reply to C. Michael Patton on Sola Scriptura, Part Six (Divisions)

25 Short Arguments on the Difficulties of Perspicuity (Clearness of Scripture for Salvation) and Private Judgment

LONGER PAPERS

Protestant Ecclesiology and Epistemology is Always Ultimately Self-Defeating

400 Million "Popes": Protestant First Principles on Authority Are Inevitably Arbitrary, Unbiblical, and Viciously Self-Contradictory (+ Discussion) (Dave Armstrong vs. Ken Temple)

Dialogue on Church Authority and Epistemological "Certainty" (The "Infallibility Regress") (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

Dialogue on the Meaning and Consequences of Private Judgment (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

"Live Chat" Debate on Presuppositions, Private Judgment, Patristic Consensus, and Development of Doctrine (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

The Problem of Authority: Luther, Calvin, and Protestantism (+ Part II) (Dave Armstrong vs. Kevin Johnson and Tim Enloe)

The Logical Circularity and Hidden Premises of Sola Scriptura and Private Judgment (Dave Armstrong and Brent Arias)

Catholic vs. Protestant Conceptions of the Meaning and Consequences of Private Judgment (Including Lengthy Citations From Reformed Protestants Arthur W. Pink, Archibald Bruce, and Charles Hodge, Four Protestant Confessions, and Catholic John Henry Newman)

Response to Tim Enloe's Counter-Reply on the Matter of Private Judgment (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

Private Judgment: Its Meaning and How it is Viewed by Protestants and Catholics (see also the original debate version vs. Tim Enloe)

Protestant Epistemology and Authority Structures Are Always Ultimately Self-Defeating (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

Dialogue: The Fatal Flaws of Protestantism Start at the Foundation and Roots (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

Refutation of the Common Protestant Polemical Charge That Catholics Inconsistently & Arbitrarily Apply Private Judgment in Accepting Catholicism (+ Discussion)

A Biblical Defense of Catholicism

Word 2000 "Deluxe" Hyper-Linked Version or PDF / Adobe ($5.00)

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The One-Minute Apologist

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Perspicuity (Clearness) of Scripture

SHORTER PAPERS

Excerpts From Chapter One on Bible & Tradition From My Book, The Church Fathers Were Catholic (Including an Analysis of Perspicuity)

The Perspicuity (Clearness) of Scripture

Did Martin Luther State That Scripture Could Easily Be Read and Understood By a "Plowboy"?

"Me, My Bible, and the Holy Spirit" (The Relationship of the Church to the Judgment of Individuals in the Matter of Authoritative Biblical Interpretation. Does the Church Require a Particular Meaning for Each Passage?)

25 Short Arguments on the Difficulties of Perspicuity (Clearness of Scripture for Salvation) and Private Judgment

LONGER PAPERS

Dialogue on the Alleged "Perspicuous Apostolic Message" as a Proof of the Quasi-Protestantism of the Early Church (Dave Armstrong vs. Eric Svendsen and James White)

Debate on the Perspicuity (Clarity) of the Bible (Dave Armstrong vs. Tim Enloe)

"Saint & Sinner's" Critique of The Catholic Verses, Part I: 1 Timothy 3:15 (Church Authority & Sola Scriptura) (+ Discussion)

Luther Meets His Match: Part VI: Erasmus' Hyperaspistes (1526): Sola Scriptura & Perspicuity (Total Clarity) of Scripture Critiqued

Material and Formal Sufficiency of Scripture

SHORTER PAPERS

Material vs. Formal Sufficiency of Scripture

Refutation of David T. King: Is Catholic Espousal of the Material Sufficiency of Scripture Inconsistent With Belief in the Assumption of Mary?

LONGER PAPERS

Dialogue on the Clearness and Formal Sufficiency of Holy Scripture (Dave Armstrong vs. Carmen Bryant)

Last updated on 29 June 2009

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Most people I've had discussions with on this blog have been and continue to be very kindly . . . even though we have dissenting views. I appreciate it from everyone and continue to thank Dave for hosting this and welcoming us Protestants. . . . We often have extremely differing views, but I've rarely been treated harshly. I thoroughly enjoy coming here and discussing stuff with y'all.

--- "Grubb" (evangelical Protestant regular on this blog), 12-11-06 and 2-13-07

There isn't any way this guy should be taken seriously as a professional apologist. He's a guy sitting behind a computer, somewhere in Michigan.

--- John Q. "Deadhead" Doe (anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant), 17 April 2007

I keep coming back here, because conversation at other Catholic-Protestant discussion blogs tends to get venomously anti-Catholic [with] ad hominem attacks on anyone who doesn't agree with the blogmaster and his pool of apparatchiks, whether the dissenter is Catholic OR Protestant. Cor ad cor loquitur is something of an internet anomaly: we engage in virtually ANY discussion without being censored and yet still manage for it not to get profane, something I rarely (if ever) see anywhere else on the net.

--- "Jon" (Catholic)

I find your site very refreshing and very informative . . . It's nice to find people who realize that being ecumenical doesn't mean ignoring important differences in doctrine, but rather means celebrating all that we have in common, while holding fast to all dogma. Your defenses of Catholicism are very well-written and very thought-provoking.

--- Baptist seminary student

I guess then we can see how sincere you are about wanting to discuss scripture. That is, not at all.

--- "Hilasterion" (anti-Catholic Protestant)

Dave Armstrong writes me really nice letters when I ask questions. As someone ridiculed by the arsonists [Phil Johnson's blog], I have to have a liking for the guy. Really, his notes to me are always first class and very respectful and helpful. . . . Dave Armstrong has continued to answer my questions in respectful and helpful ways. I thank the Lord for him.

--- Michael Spencer (evangelical Protestant), aka "The Internet Monk", on the Boar's Head Tavern site, 27 and 29 September 2007

. . . even Dave Armstrong’s blog has had some basically good posts . . .

--- Steve (aka "St. Worm": Anglican), on Tim Enloe's blog, 10 June 2009

8 years. Wow! I can’t even imagine putting up with the apologists for that long. Now, I pity you. :-) Even as a Catholic, I’ve gotten into it with Bryan Cross and Dave Armstrong, both of which are completely frustrating to have a dialog with. Just going at it with the two of them made we want to stay away forever. Bryan, at least I can say is a good guy and truly does mean well; even if he does have amazing powers of sophistry – and he has an odd sense of “unity” and “ecumenism”. Armstrong on the other hand…. I’m still speechless.

--- Mark (Catholic) [link], on Frank Ramirez' ("kepha's") blog, fides quarens intellectum, 6 November 2008 [link]

Dave . . . rises to any challenges against the Catholic faith coming his way. He's exhaustive, punctilious and for most of his adversaries, quite aggravating. He's the Catholic that no one can seem to shut up, and this grates on the nerves of anti-Catholic controversialists, whether of the scholarly kind, or of demagogues, bigots, and sophists. Dave will perform a real analysis of their postulates, atomize their arguments into individual thought components, and judge every single one individually on its merits, and also within their literary context. Anti-Catholics lose patience very quickly under this kind of scrutiny; many of them escape it by attacking Dave personally. Yet the man is completely unassuming, a simple soul, living simply with no pretensions at anything. I would say that his is a monastic life of work, prayer, and vast amounts of writing.

--- Pedro Vega (Catholic), 11 June 2005 on his blog, after we met [link]

. . . not interested in serious argument . . . handwaving and pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo . . . hysterics . . . martyr . . . immaturity . . . [like] fundamentalists at the Pizza Parlor . . . arrogant, smug, pseudo-philosopher . . . behave like an ass . . . braying . . . crybaby . . . no understanding [of] basic philosophical method . . . logical fallacies and valueless tautologies . . . smug assertions . . . name-calling . . . hollow ridicule . . . baseless accusations . . . [no] substance . . . [doesn't understand] science or logic . . . closed mindedness . . . ignorance . . . lack of mental prowess . . . laziness.

---several scientific materialists in a November 2002 thread about same (This is my favorite set of personal insults of all time, and a source of endless amusement :-)

Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

--- Matthew 5:11-12

But no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

--- James 3:8-10

What a special blessing it was yesterday and today to have as my guests Dave and Judy Armstrong . . . Judy Armstrong is a loving brown-eyed beauty, the kind of wife and mother many families could only dream of having. When she and Dave look at each other, their bond is obvious, a long history of shared crosses and blessings with a respected partner and an attraction which still has plenty of sparks and sparkle. Together, they are rearing terrific children and supporting each other in ministry. What a blessing it was to have hours of private conversation with Dave and Judy . . . Who is this Dave Armstrong? What is he really like? Well, he is affable, gentle, sweet, easily pleased, very appreciative, and affectionate . . . I was totally unprepared for the real guy. He's a teddy bear, cuddly and sweet. Doesn't interrupt, sits quietly and respectfully as his wife and/or another woman speaks at length. Doesn't dominate the conversation. Just pleasantly, cheerfully enjoys whatever is going on about him at the moment and lovingly affirms those in his presence. Most of the time he has a relaxed, sweet smile.

--- Becky Mayhew (Catholic), 9 May 2009, on the Coming Home Network Forum

Dave Armstrong . . . isn’t just a narcissistic little jerk. He’s actually evil.

--- Steve Hays (anti-Catholic reformed Protestant apologist and polemicist), 13 April 2009

Let me just say a word here for Dave Armstrong. Despite his tendency to unload hundreds of pages and somewhat excessive self-promotion, he is a former Protestant Catholic who is in fact blessedly free of the kind of "any enemy of Protestantism is a friend of mine" coalition-building we've been discussing . . . Maybe he went through a 'I despise all of my past' stage at one point in his life, but at least now, he's pro-Catholic (naturally) without being anti-Protestant (or anti-Orthodox, for that matter).

---"CPA": Lutheran professor of history [see his site]: unsolicited remarks of 12 July 2005

Dave Armstrong is not merely closing the comments section of his apologetic blog -- he's getting out of the apologetic blog business entirely!

--- Dr. Eric Svendsen (anti-Catholic Protestant apologist), 4 January 2005

Thanks again for the great work you're doing for Christ and His Church.

--- Dr. Scott Hahn (Catholic apologist)

Usually the foaming at the mouth stuff is reserved for the Dave Armstrongs of the world. Get a real job Dave. Maybe you can debate people and lose for a living.

--- Bret L. McAtee (anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant pastor)

You are one of the most thoughtful and careful apologists out there.

--- Dr. Edwin Tait (Anglican Church historian)

I am reading your stuff since I think it is the most thorough and perhaps the best defense of Catholicism out there.

I have had many run-ins with Dave via email and he has been nothing but respectful and kind to me. He has shown me great respect despite knowing full well that I disagree with him on the essential issues.

--- Sam Shamoun (Reformed apologist who specializes in outreach to Muslims)

DA will use anything to attack the truth.

--- Right Reverend Bishop James White (anti-Catholic Reformed Baptist apologist), 28 March 2004

As for the body of your work generically considered, I think that certainly there must be some things of great value in your work . . . I do like your stuff on Lewis and Tolkien and “mythopoeics”. No doubt your materials on Mormonism and other counter-cult issues are valuable, too. I’ve read a few of your blog posts about abortion, and yes, those have been truly outstanding. Clearly you’re not some fringe kook just blabbing on a blog; you have a serious purpose in God’s Kingdom, and I’m glad for it. I have erred, I suppose, in not telling you when I found things of yours to be good, and so for that I ask your forgiveness.

--- Tim Enloe (Reformed Protestant apologist and controversialist)

Dave Armstrong is part of that narrow, clustered source of a body of anti-traditional Catholic thought . . . I feel safe enough saying that I think they have a hand in the destruction of the Faith . . . in general terms, I believe that they do immense damage to the Church.

--- "Emerald" ("traditionalist" Catholic)

I can testify to [Dave's] friendship with non-Catholic Christians personally; we built a good friendship when I was Anglican. He has always treated me with respect, never was he arrogant, triumphalistic or anything like that.

--- Bret Bellamy (Catholic)

. . . a moron . . . arrogant . . .

--- Brian Mershon ("traditionalist" Catholic)

I genuinely appreciate those few, like Dave . . . who are interested in the discussion in terms of both explaining their own views well and thoroughly and pushing people to do the same with their own. Based on my experience in this case, forming a dialogue successfully is like pulling teeth, no matter how sincere your motives. Of course, that just makes what Dave and others do (and the amount of effort it requires) look all the more impressive!

--- Jonathan Prejean (Catholic apologist)

When I was in a similar position -- i.e., when a lot of people thought the microwave had been going for long enough and I was about to pope any second -- a lot of Catholic e-pologists annoyed me to no end, badgering me about when I was going to take the plunge, etc., which only made my ornery nature want to stay away. Dave Armstrong was the Catholic who showed the most respect for my position. He asked questions, but he never badgered.

--- Greg Krehbiel (Catholic)

I admire, as ever, your fantastic and penetrating work.

--- Patrick Madrid (Catholic apologist)

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Bible: Sola Scriptura (Index Page)

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