 The rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation was comprised of the “three solas:” sola gratia, sola fides and sola scriptura. Sola gratia means grace alone and refers to the message that salvation is bestowed on man by God by His grace alone, through faith alone, that is, sola fides. These two principles are presented in elegant simplicity in Ephesians 2:8,9, which read, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
For most Protestant Christians these two solas are universally embraced and celebrated. Unfortunately, the same cannot really be said for the final sola. While it is true that most Christians would say that the scriptures alone serve as their guide to life and faith, the rampant biblical illiteracy and theological incompetence of Christians—particularly American Christians—argues to the contrary. The fact is that most people really do not understand what it means to truly live out sola scriptura. To put this another way, to live by scripture alone is to live a truly biblical world view, in which everything— life, death, love, work, politics, ministry, worship—is continuously examined through the lens of scripture. Sola scriptura also means that the Bible is one hundred percent adequate for any and all evaluations of speech, actions, feelings, desires, philosophies, society, politics, problems, sin, policies, etc. Sola scriptura means that the wise Christian has no need whatsoever of the “wisdom of man” as a partner for the word of God. When sola scriptura is not given a place of primary importance in our world view, then it becomes neglected, then ignored and finally abandoned completely. Failing to protect our embrace of sola scriptura opens us to syncretistically accreting all manner of worldly philosophies, which we then assign equal or greater importance within the framework of our world view.
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This essay by Philosophy professor, Dr. Kelley L. Ross, explores some of the ideas suggested by J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter series. Since scripture is very clear that the follower of Jesus must have nothing to do with witchcraft, and because of the current rise of the occult and lack of discernment that is natural in children, I do not recommend Christ-centered families have their children read the Harry Potter books. However, for those who wish to study popular culture and hold it up to the light of God’s Word, these books provide good material:
As the story has developed, we know that there is a conspiracy on behalf of Lord Voldemort; we know that some people are definitely in it (the "Death Eaters"); we know that some people are definitely against it (the Order of the Phoenix); and we don't know, for certain, about many other people. As Order of the Phoenix begins, the Government, in the person of the Minister of Magic, denies that there is a conspiracy or that Voldemort is a threat (or even exists). The Government is therefore actively trying to obstruct and discredit the people who are alive to the threat and who have called for action against it, with the identities of many of the Death Eaters in hand. The Government thus functions as an effective ally of Voldemort, intentionally or not, believing and corrupted by known Death Eaters. Once upon a time, there was a situation much like this in Britain and America. Agents of a mass murderer… |
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