Body: | Sola Scriptura: The Bible alone is enough!
Apostolic Fathers used scripture as the primary defense against false
doctrine.
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Click to View Apostolic Fathers: Five kinds of Tradition.
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Mandatory: Apostolic Fathers Catechism Class for Catholics and Orthodox.
400 AD: Jerome:
"Don't you know that the laying on of hands after baptism and then
the invocation of the Holy Spirit is a custom of the Churches? Do you
demand Scripture proof? You may find it in the Acts of the Apostles. And
even if it did not rest on the authority of Scripture the consensus of the
whole world in this respect would have the force of a command. For many
other observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have
acquired the authority of the written law, as for instance the practice of
dipping the head three times in the layer, and then, after leaving the
water, of tasting mingled milk and honey in representation of infancy; and,
again, the practices of standing up in worship on the Lord's day, and
ceasing from fasting every Pentecost; and there are many other unwritten
practices which have won their place through reason and custom. So you see
we follow the practice of the Church, although it may be clear that a
person was baptized before the Spirit was invoked." (Jerome, Dialogue
Against the Luciferians, 8)
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Jerome clearly believes that if the church in the entire world agrees on
some doctrine or practice, it is as good as having a Bible verse in
scripture and a binding command. We strongly disagree. Jerome even knew at
the time he said this, that NONE of what he talks about in this passage
like "laying on of hands after baptism" and "drinking milk and honey" after
baptism, was universally practiced. And no one in the modern Roman Catholic
or Orthodox church today does so either! What is most important here, is
that the "unwritten customs and laws" that Jerome claims were handed down
by the apostles, are all very trivial and optional matters like "standing
up in worship on the Lord's day". Any Catholic or Orthodox defender who
want to use Jerome as an example of a man who felt "unwritten customs and
laws" are as binding as scripture are required to do all the things Jerome
here identifies as "unwritten customs and laws". Otherwise they are as
hypocritical as they are dishonest.
by Steve Rudd
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