You do realize that I wrote exactly that two posts earlier when I said that the Scripture can only be interpreted correctly by tradition?
Of course, I'm not accusing you of saying the contrary.
Again, you're ignoring the fact that the Church is a body of revelation. Because the Scriptures have been revealed to us in time as unparalleled
sources of divine inspiration, we are not simply free to ignore them. To do so would be to undermine the very authority of the Church itself.
Yes it is a body of revelation, but remember the Bible is only part of the revelation not the whole. Nor is it the foundation of the Church, but rather the product.
The Church was already in full operation with its sacraments, liturgies, etc about 20 years before St Paul's epistles were even composed.
We have to understand to, that before the printing press was invented, a Bible reproduction was exclusively used by the rich because of its cost.
There are thousands upon thousands who martyred their lives for Christ without even knowing of a written Gospel. Again that's why I say Christianity does not need the Scriptures to evangelize. Christians learned about the teachings of Christ by the living tradition of the Church. It is also a true statement to say that the Scriptures are an accurate reflection of the practices and beliefs held.
It was by preaching, not by the written word, with how many nations had converted to Christianity. Christ didn't leave books for His apostles but did promise that the Holy Spirit would inspire them on what to say. They preached on the authority that Christ gave them, by making disciples in all nations.
No, that doesn't settle anything. Orthodoxy is not based on the bible, that is true. Orthodoxy is based on divine revelation (hence we sing God is the Lord... at Orthros).
And nobody is disagreeing with this.
But the Scriptures once revealed are of irrevocable authority, just as our symbol of faith, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is of irrevocable authority for us. In that sense, Orthodoxy is based on the Bible and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, because we draw our teaching from sources like these (understood through the tradition), which are a pure distillation and consolidation of the Catholic faith.
No it is not based on the Bible. There was never The Bible -> Orthodoxy. Stop.
That is of course one hundred percent bogus. Because the Church has recognized the authority of the Scriptures, its claim to being that which reveals God to mankind would be jeopardized if the Scriptures could be shown to be unreliable.
That just begs the question. Before you can say the Church recognized the authority of the Scriptures you must first deal with the authority of the Church.
Maybe next, you can wish that the Creed and the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom never existed. Or why stop there? Maybe you can wish that the Church Fathers never wrote anything down at all, after you are done cutting Orthodoxy's nose off in order to spite Protestantism's face.
You do realize I apologized for my negative attitude about the Bible right?
Why the heck are you accusing me of wishing things I never have even said or implied? What is your deal?
Where did I say that it is an either or? Where did I mention quote mining? Living out the faith is a huge part of evangelism, but apologetics is another part of it.
Actually considering what kind of Orthodox apologetics are out there, it's more embarassing to have them.
I don't recall Christ saying you need to have apologetics when preaching the Gospel.
Right now, the sort of anti-protestant apologetics I've seen are completely self defeating, because they essentially say, "we don't have to answer your scriptural challenge, because we have the tradition," which is total crap.
Please quote me word for word on me saying "We don't have..."
This is why I say that this mindset of down-playing the importance of the Scriptures is completely unpatristic, an impious innovation unknown to the Fathers, and has nothing to do with the right and God-fearing faith which we have received.
The Fathers’ approach to the Scriptures is actually found and expressed through the liturgical services btw.
