Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Currently Reading:

Debunking The Sola Scriptura Myth… A Prejudiced Interpretation Of The Scriptures

December 7, 2014 Our Catholic Faith No Comments

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM

Part 7

It has become quite evident that, as he interpreted the Scriptures according to his own peculiar criteria of subjective preference, Luther’s Sola Scriptura ultimately led him to deny the Scriptures.
One should always bear in mind that what he called “the gospel” was only his prejudiced interpretation of the Scriptures, namely, Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. In his unbridled subjectivism, he abandoned the teachings of the apostles that had been handed down through the centuries by the Catholic Church and adopted the idea that man has no free will (something very similar to the maktub! — “It is written!” — of Islam). Accordingly, man can do no good at all, and his nature was so corrupted by original sin that it is impossible to subdue his animal passion.
He was adamant that the moral law taught by Moses (the good ol’ Ten Commandments) was not binding on Christians. Let us see some of his “luminous” teachings on the Law that Jesus came not to destroy, but to fulfill:
“We must remove the Decalogue out of sight and heart” (De Wette, 4, 188). “If we allow them [the Commandments] any influence in our conscience, they become the cloak of all evil, heresies, and blasphemies” (Comm. Ad Galat., p. 310). “We have no wish either to see or hear Moses.” “If Moses should attempt to intimidate you with his stupid Ten Commandments, tell him right out: Chase yourself to the Jews” (Wittenb., ad. 5, 1573).
What is the consequence of throwing away the Ten Commandments? It is a license to sin, purely and simply, especially the sins of the flesh. Here are the “prophet’s” words:
“As little as one is able to remove mountains, to fly with the birds (Mist und Harn halten), to create new stars, or to bite off one’s nose, so little can one escape unchastity” (Alts Abendmahlslehre, 2, 118).
Now read this gem: “They are fools who attempt to overcome temptations [of impurity] by fasting, prayer, and chastisement. For such temptations and immoral attacks are easily overcome when there are plenty of maidens and women” (Jen. Ed., 2, p. 216, Apud: “The Facts About Luther,” p. 311).
No wonder that Bullinger, the Swiss Protestant “reformer,” referred to Luther’s “moral” teachings as “muddy and swinish, vulgar and coarse.” We couldn’t agree more!
The man had a real problem with chastity, big time. When he was living in the Wartburg, Luther wrote to his faithful friend Melanchthon: “I sit here in idleness and pray, alas, and sigh not for the Church of God. Much more am I consumed by the fires of my unbridled flesh. In a word, I, who should burn of the spirit, am consumed by the flesh of my lasciviousness” (De Wette, 2, 22).
Yes, that was one of his main problems: impurity. The man was a slave of his animal passions. In the Table Talks he is recorded as saying: “I burn with a thousand flames in my unsubdued flesh: I feel myself carried on with a rage toward women that approaches madness. I, who ought to be fervent in spirit, am only fervent in impurity.”
Of course. He did not work to reform the Church, he worked to deform her. Take, for instance, his 180 degrees perversion in morals from his Catholic days to his self-gratification days of Lutheranism. While he was a Catholic priest, he passed his days in “austerities, in watchings, in fasts and in praying, in poverty, chastity, and obedience.” Once a deformed Christian, he “can no longer forgo the indulgence of the vilest natural propensities” (Serm. De Matrim. Fol. 119).
And why are you so inclined to such “vilest natural propensities,” Mr. Luther?
Because “chastity and continence,” he replies, are “physically impossible.” “Though the womenfolk are ashamed to confess it, yet it is proved by Scripture [sic] and experience that there is not one among a thousand to whom God gives the grace to keep entirely chaste. A woman has no power over herself. God created her body for man and to bear offspring. This clearly appears from the testimony of Moses (Gen. 1:28), and from the design of God in the construction of her creation.” “The gratification of sexual desire was nature’s work, God’s work, and, as necessary, aye, and more so, than eating, drinking, sweating, sleeping,” etc. (De Wette, II, 535).
“Hence, the vow or promise to restrain this natural propensity is the same as to vow or promise that one will have wings and fly and be an angel, and morally worth about as much as if one were to promise God that he would commit adultery.”
“Chastity is as little within our power as the working of miracles. He who resolves to remain single should give up his title of being a human being and prove that he is either an angel or a spirit.” “As little as we can do without eating and drinking, so it is impossible to do without women.” “The reason is that we have been conceived and nourished in a woman’s womb, that from woman we were born and begotten; hence our flesh is for the most part woman’s flesh and it is impossible to abstain from it” (Tischr., 2, s 20, S. 27).
“Pecca fortiter, sed crede fortius” — “Be a sinner and sin on bravely, but have stronger faith and rejoice in Christ, who is the victor of sin, death and the world…sin must be committed. To you it ought to be sufficient that you acknowledge the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world; the sin cannot tear you away from him, even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders” (enders, Briefwechsel III).
Wow! Here we have the ultimate consequences of Sola Scriptura: the glorification of sin and the animalization of human nature. And Luther insists that “he who does not believe like me is destined to hell. My doctrine and God’s doctrine are one and the same. My judgment is God’s judgment” (Werke, Weimar, vol. 10. 2, abt. 107).
There is a lot more to quote, but decency prevents us from doing so. What has been quoted suffices to confirm the opinion of Bullinger, the Swiss Protestant “reformer,” who referred to Luther’s “moral” teachings as “muddy and swinish, vulgar and coarse.”
But was monogamist marriage sufficient for the “prophet” of Wittenberg? Let him speak for himself: “I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture [sic!]. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case, the civil authority has nothing to do in this matter” (De Wette, II, 459).
This is from the horse’s own mouth: In the end, Sola Scriptura means that you can interpret the Bible as you like, to fit in with your own choices, even the ones that favor your vilest natural propensities. It is religious anarchy properly so called.
Since Luther favored polygamy, we do not know if he had other wife or wives apart from the runaway nun he married, Katharina von Bora. In any event, polygamy is common among Muslims. Having nothing like a Magisterium, all they have is their book, the Koran, which individual believers attempt to follow. It amounts to their version of Sola Scriptura.
Luther was not too far from being like them: “It is stated that there is no finer government in the world than that of the Turks, who have neither a spiritual nor a secular code of law, but only their Koran. And it must be acknowledged that there is no more disagreeable system of rule than ours, with our Canon Law and our Common Law, while no class any longer obeys either natural reason or the Holy Scripture” (Coppens, Protest. Reform., p. 29 – Apud: “The Facts About Luther,” p. 88).
When one finds the Koranic laws more appropriate to Christians than the Christian Tradition, one must ask oneself which spirit is guiding one’s biblical interpretation.
In his unbridled impurity, the German Deformer of Christianity did not only impute uncontrollable lasciviousness on every man and woman conceived in sin: He blasphemously imputed adultery on Jesus Christ Himself!
“Christ committed adultery for the first time with the woman of the well, of whom St. John tells us. Didn’t they murmur around him, ‘What did he do, then with her?’ Later with Magdalene, then with the adulterous woman whom he absolved so frivolously. Thus Christ, so pious, had to fornicate before dying” (Werke, Weimar, vol. 11, p. 107).
Isn’t that enough? Lutherans, friends, brethren in Baptism, come home. You’ve been deceived. Sola Scriptura is unbiblical and anti-Christian. Let us forget the past and be once again united in one Lord, one faith, one Baptism (Eph. 4:5) in the one Church of God, the pillar and mainstay of the Truth (1 Tim. 33:15).
Next article: Summing up.

+ + +

(Raymond de Souza is director of the Evangelization and Apologetics Office of the Winona Diocese, Minn.; EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI], president of the Sacred Heart Institute and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His web site is: www.RaymondeSouza.com.)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)