re: Venial Sin my butt!

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Trent went directly to it in his opening comments. White (and Protestantism) must accept that there was some "middle Truth" that existed to govern, instruct, and bind actions of believers AFTER Christ's resurrection but BEFORE Scripture was canonized.

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Of course, and White addressed this. Sola scriptura speaks to God's revelation being ultimate, and that when it is codified, it forms the authority that all further revelation (or claimed revelation) must agree with.

The oral teachings of Jesus and the Apostles always conformed to the existent Word of God. Once Jesus ascended to Heaven, God's revelation through the Apostles' teachings were authoritative for the Church, and those authoritative teachings were then codified in what we call the New Testament, which is the "deposit of faith" that the Church is bound to obey and believe.

Sola scriptura actually teaches that since the death of the Apostles, God has ceased providing revelation and the Scriptures that were written for instruction of the Church are final. The canon was closed with the last writing of the last Apostle, and those writings are what God has given the Church in terms of ultimate authority, not some undocumented oral tradition that Rome can't even document to this day.

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Overall, I find Dr. James White to be tiresome and too willinging to fall into the no true Scotsman arguement. He comes off as petty and shallow. Ortlund is also false, but appears more reasoned in his approaches. I see a chance that Orltund will evolve and accept Rome. White on the other hand is a direct descendent of the peddlers of Black Legends. He is weak and inflammatory.

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He has become more grumpy as he has aged and less patient with his debate opponents. He is certainly more prone to make personal attacks, but he has had many great debates against enemies of the truth for decades. I find him entertaining at times, as well, even though I don't agree with him on everything.