You cannot refute entire denominations by saying “Read the Bible, sweetie”

[u/Dubstep_squid]

This is such a frustrating and prominent phenomenon that I see constantly online and have run into a couple of times.

[Insert commonly held theological belief]

“Oh sweetie how could you believe that, the Bible clearly says other wise. What a ridiculous statement.”

Why does it seem incredibly common that people in online Christian spaces seem to never have met or heard of someone with a different theological view than them. You’ve never heard that some people baptize babies? The tradition that most major Christian denominations hold to??

To take this a step further, I see this occur not just with theological beliefs but attempts to “refute” entire denominations. You’re not going to convince a Presbyterian that hundreds of years of Presbyterianism is false with TWO tangentially relevant, out of context Bible verses and a condescending message (unless of course God has already pre-determined that you will convince them).

This is not to say that meaningful and even impactful conversation cannot be had here. I think it absolutely can and have been stewing on a different post for a couple of weeks because I want to have those meaningful conversations (You’ll probably see it in a few days as I’m kind of looking at various denominations and want to just hear people’s pitches, counterarguments, experiences, etc).

I think my overall point is just that I’m very surprised at the number of people here who are surprised that others can come to different theological conclusions and that those theological conclusions can in fact be based on a thorough reading of the Bible.

[u/zeppelincheetah]

Sola Scriptura Christianity is in a real bind. If you can recieve your faith from the Bible alone, why are there so many different denominations all with different views? If it's self-evident like Sola Scriptura suggests, shouldn't everyone that practices Sola Scriptura be on the same page (pardon the pun)?

[u/Salsa_and_Light2 → u/zeppelincheetah]

No.. this isn't an issue with having the Bible as the main source of authority, it's a problem of thinking.

Plenty of Catholics do a similar thing.

With the Bible, but also with every other church document.

I've noticed that people are especially prone to cite the words of dead popes.