Dr. James White has offered a debate challenge to the Roman communion group at the “Called to Communion” blog (mp3, you can start around 6 minutes, if you just want to hear the challenge in context).
I am laying out an open challenge to any of the people at Called to Confusion: 2013 – let’s set up a debate. I’ll take on ten of you at once, if you’d like. I don’t care. If you want to roll through the whole group, I don’t care. 1, 2, 3, 10, doesn’t matter. You simply defend the following words, ok? You defend these words:
… a truth which is founded on the Sacred Scriptures, has been fixed deeply in the minds of the faithful in Christ, has been approved by ecclesiastical worship even from the earliest times, is quite in harmony with other revealed truths, and has been splendidly explained and declared by the zeal, knowledge, and wisdom of the theologians.”
To what do we refer? Those are words from the definition of the bodily assumption of Mary, which actually began:
Since, then, the universal Church, in which the Spirit of Truth flourishes, who infallibly directs it to achieve a knowledge of revealed truths, has through the course of the ages repeatedly manifested its own faith; and since the bishops of the whole world with almost unanimous consent request that the truth of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven be defined as a dogma of the divine and Catholic faith
and then you have that following description. So will you defend the idea that the bodily assumption of Mary is a truth which is founded on the sacred scriptures? Secondly, that it has been approved by ecclesiastical worship even from the earliest times? So, will you defend the idea that the bodily assumption of Mary is founded on the Sacred Scriptures and was a part of the teaching of the ancient church in the earliest times? Now, I know factually beyond any doubt that that is a lie. It is untrue. There is not any reason on this planet to believe that, other than you have already accepted the authority claims of the bishop of Rome. Period. End of discussion.
I would second Dr. White’s challenge and his comments. I did a debate with William Albrecht on the Assumption of Mary, and in the course of the debate, it became readily apparent just how frail the Scriptural and patristic argument for Rome’s position is (link to mp3). So, if any of Rome’s apologists, either from CtC or elsewhere would prefer to Skype debate me, I’m willing to offer the same challenge.
-TurretinFan
