Where Bobby Jindal And Many Charismatics Are Wrong

Religious right types are embracing Bobby Jindal unconditionally. In doing so, they completely ignore the fact that Jindal’s Roman Catholic views as represented A) by the Catholic Church’s own teachings and B) Jindal’s own writings are made fair game by Jindal’s own campaign that sold his religious beliefs as an asset. The actual reason why so many of these folks are feigning such outrage is that they do not want Roman Catholicism’s true teachings concerning Protestantism – and Jindal’s writings represent only a mild version of them – to be commonly known. Again, Jindal has a right to his faith. But Jindal’s making his faith virtually part of his platform makes examining it appropriate. So, from this link:

(1) SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION: Is sola scriptura (the Bible alone) a sufficient basis for the modern Christian to understand God’s will?

The Bible does not contain either the claim that it is comprehensive or a listing of its contents, but does describe how it should be used. Scripture and Tradition, not the Bible alone, transmit God’s revelation.

It is fitting that Jindal and his Catholic brethren would reject that notion, because the Bible itself disagrees! Acts 20:27 says “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Counsel means revelation, and that statement means that the complete, final revelation of God to man was given to the church during the apostolic era. And of course we have the famous 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” That means that scripture contains all that is necessary and sufficient for eternal salvation, holiness, good works, and to live a lifestyle that is pleasing to the Lord.

So then, are the traditions and teachings of man inherently wrong or evil? No they are not. Quite the contrary, such things may aid in understanding the meaning and intent of the scriptures more perfectly, instruct people on a practical living faith, or help the gospel spread to diverse places and cultures. The caveat is that they cannot contradict that which is given in scripture. Against that both Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7 warn: “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

So, you have Catholics on one hand with their unmarried priesthood, doctrines concerning Mary and the pope, veneration of human beings, works doctrines, and iconography. On the other hand, you have charismatics with their prosperity/Word of Faith doctrines, their “willingness to negotiate” on Trinity and other important doctrines, the claims of many that salvation or baptism of the Holy Spirit must be “proven” by unknown tongues, and their embrace of female church officers (pastors, elders, bishops, and deacons). And yes, both movements have their “mystical” elements where people claim to receive prophecies, dreams, visions, etc. that add to or contradict canonical scripture.

It is no surprise that so many people have decided that the Bible is not good enough for them and as such they have to go seeking after other doctrines and revelations. Life is hard and uncertain, filled with the heartaches and heartbreaks of outrageous fortune. The road is narrow, winding, and tough that not only oftentimes we cannot see the end, but we fear that when we get there we will suffer even worse! So it is not unusual that we would seek to put our trust in an institution that claims to be able to forgive our sins or a human that claims to have the answer.

But those things are not faith. Rather, they are substitutes for it. For all of the charismatics that need prophesying and miracles to validate their experience, have we forgotten that Israel went for hundreds of years at times without a prophet, and that when the Word of the Lord did come often it was not to a great many people or to a person of high office but to lone itinerant people who only received a few such revelations during their entire lives (with the vast majority of them working no miracles)? Yet many of them remained faithful. For the Catholics that put their trust in an institutional church, have we forgotten that the Jews lost their temple, king, sovereign nation, and priesthood in 586 BC? Yet many of them remained faithful. What about the first century Jewish Christians that had to witness the destruction of the temple, being driven out of the synagogues and from their own people? Yet many of them remained faithful.
Make no mistake, it is the sola scriptura sola fide solus christus soli deo gloria sola gratia Christians that are the remnant, the descendants of those that have remained faithful throughout the ages; the perseverance of the saints.

Thus, it is incumbent upon Christians not to be deceived, and not to allow contemporary political alliances to cause us to paper over the real differences for the sake of expediency. William Donohue would rather not have you thinking about this, because he wants you to support his political candidates, judicial nominees, and faith – based legislative and executive agenda without asking questions. Despite his partisan Republican culture war pot – clanging, he also does not want you to know that both parties are generally consenting to the “big ticket items” of his agenda. He is not the only one: there are power brokers in the charismatic movement as well, most notably Pat Robertson – he of the frequent prophecies and revelations on the 700 Club – who really would rather you not know a lot of the things that he is REALLY doing. It is incumbent upon sola Christians to keep our eyes open and on our Bibles, and to turn aside from institutions and religious leaders that tell us to deny, deny, or remain ignorant of what is written therein.

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