April 2009 Archives

"I pray that God restores our marriage, heal us on all levels, help us to find our way back to each other."
--jlm

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What is meant by "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"? One religious leader says that we are to care for them as they get older, while another says that we just have to "honor" them by avoiding being judgmental and deferring to them.

Jesus teaches that "honor thy father and mother" does entail financial responsibility to them when there is such a need. This is very clear from the Korban passage found in Mark 7:9-13.

--Ben Witherington III

"Wife needs prayers for husband who has had terminal cancer for five years. He is totally bed ridden and blind."
--cathy1012

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"I've been suffering from several mental disorders for a couple of years now. It's affecting my whole life."
--livingdeadkat

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The doctrine of sola scriptura (or "the Bible alone") is the sole and only authority in Protestantism. Where is this foundation of all of the Protestant beliefs given to us by a revelation from God? How do we infallibly know that this doctrine is true? If it is true, where in the Bible is it taught, and where was it taught by the apostles?

This is an excellent question. Second Timothy 3:16 focuses on the fact that all the Old Testament scriptures are inspired by God and thus are truthful. There was, of course, not yet a New Testament canon during the NT era itself; the books were still being written. But the principles of holding a very high view of scripture, and basing your life on God's word as the final authority, are clearly present in texts like Psalms 119. It is because of such texts, and also because of the ecumenical church counsels in the fourth century A.D.--which said these 27 books are our NT canon--that the Protestant churches have held up the notion of sola scriptura: of scripture alone being the final arbiter of truth.

--Ben Witherington III