MonkeeSage Registered User
Posts: 421
(4/24/02 4:02 pm) Reply
Roman Catholic Doctrine of Scripture...
I'm participating in a formal debate with a Roman Catholic friend named Tim Ouellette (recently published in This Rock magazine (Karl Keating's Roman Catholic apologetics / issues / etc. publication)).
I will be affirming the thesis: "Is the Roman Catholic Doctrine of Scripture Logically Incoherent?"
The debate was formerly postponed due to schedule conflicts, but we have decided to up the reply time limit and continue with the discussion. It may take as long as 30-60+ days to have each response sent and posted to the site, but it will be a good debate in terms of content, God willing.
The debate proposition is here (will be updated to reflect the new reply time limit): Proposition & Rules.
The debate page is here (nothing posted yet, but speaking order is laid out; since I am affirming a negative thesis I am speaking first; the rest follows): Debate.
Good luck, I guess. I'm not sure what the topic really means, or what the debate will canter around. But I hope all goes well with it for you, and your opponent.
MonkeeSage Registered User
Posts: 423
(4/24/02 5:42 pm) Reply
Re: Roman Catholic Doctrine of Scripture...
Thank you :)
I'm essentially going to be arguing that Roman Catholicism involves a vicious circle (a logical incoherency);
In a nutshell--
Q: How do we know the Church (said: Pope and Bishops in his communication [magisterium]) have any authority?
A: Apostolic Tradition and Scripture.
{Tradition [Cap. "T"] is a whole other issue, just will make rabbit trails, so next Q...}
Q: How do we know what is Scripture (and that it has authority)?
A: By the authority of the Church.
{So...the logical next Q...}
Q: Which comes first?
Enter the dilemma...
--that's basically it.
Of course, there are some other issues involved, such as: can something (e.g., Matt. 16:18) be authoritative as a witness (e.g., historical witness) until it is made explicitly known by the authority of the Church? etc. but, hopefully that makes the thesis more clear.
I'm not sure what Mr. Ouellette will be arguing, right now I am waiting to receive his opening statement, and then we shall see. Thank you again for your encouragment. Sometimes, on these boards things are fast, furious and without much direction; it makes one think of William James' "buzzing, blooming confusion" heh...this will be a very formal and respectful debate, and I pray, very focused on the issues. :)
Re: Roman Catholic Doctrine of Scripture...
Glad you arent holding your breath bro... cause MOST Catholics don't wish to defend their doctrine on record... "You can tell him I said that!" hehehe
Quote: I'm essentially going to be arguing that Roman Catholicism involves a vicious circle (a logical incoherency);--MonkeeSage
I have long referred to this problem as Circular Theology . They take an 'assumption', treat it as a 'given', then approach the debate.
Two sure ways to get things really interesting is to ask why the Bereans 'examined' the Scriptures to verify the teachings of Paul instead of just checking it out with Peter and the boys in Jerusalem?
The other is to use Galatians to demolish any claims that Paul looked at Peter as the 'chief water buffalo.'
Re: Roman Catholic Doctrine of Scripture...
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