By Bishop Paul Dolan (ROC Patriarach Emeritus)
It has been virtually 500 years (5 centuries) since Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the Cathedral door in Wuttenburg. He penned the terms "Sola
Scriptura" and "Sola Fide".
What he,
and subsequent "reformers", did was to throw out a major cohexsive and
integral part of the Christian faith -- Sacred Tradition (Paradiso,
paradosis -- a handing down or over).
What
does 500 years of Sola Scruptura show us?
Division upon division upon
division and splits with splits and splits. Disagreements of Theology
and faith run rampant in
Protestantism. Actually Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian
Scientists are logical endpoints of Luther's Sola Scriptura. It is
conservatively estimated that there are over 2,600 different
denominations
or sects in Protestantism. Some estimate it as high as about 20,000,
with more each passing week.
Can this be the unifying work of the Holy Spirit; or something diabolical? "By their fruits you shall know them." (Matthew 7:16)
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