psycheives
Puritan Board Freshman
Hi all, I'm asking this on behalf of a friend who is very interested in the church fathers and maintaining the historicity of the Reformed faith. Will you please do your best to answer his concerns below?
1) Is there any pre-Reformation evidence that anyone is recorded either denying baptismal regeneration, or denying that the efficacy of baptism is tied to the moment of administration?
2) Is there anyone before the Reformation that held that ecclesiastical holidays were sinful? (I want to note here that the Nicene Council specifically references Lent, as if there was nothing wrong with it.)
3) If the answers to each of the above questions are "no" then how does this not force us to choose either between solo scriptura, and abandoning those positions of ours?
I guess I'm not seeing how we can have it both ways here. Disagreeing with the WCF is nothing compared to disagreeing with an ecunemical council, or the universal (known) consent of the Fathers, and yet we regularly get on people for that. Saying you have to interpret scripture by post-Reformation subordinate authorities without similarly saying we have to do so by pre-Reformation subordinate authorities isn't making sense to me.
2) Is there anyone before the Reformation that held that ecclesiastical holidays were sinful? (I want to note here that the Nicene Council specifically references Lent, as if there was nothing wrong with it.)
3) If the answers to each of the above questions are "no" then how does this not force us to choose either between solo scriptura, and abandoning those positions of ours?
I guess I'm not seeing how we can have it both ways here. Disagreeing with the WCF is nothing compared to disagreeing with an ecunemical council, or the universal (known) consent of the Fathers, and yet we regularly get on people for that. Saying you have to interpret scripture by post-Reformation subordinate authorities without similarly saying we have to do so by pre-Reformation subordinate authorities isn't making sense to me.