A wise man will apply logical and common sense principles to Scripture with a view to understanding its teachings. If we do this, and do not bring our prejudices and pre-conceived opinions which obfuscate and obscure like smoke the plain meaning of Scripture, and do not just see what we want to see, and do not deny what we do see, then we shall really learn what God is telling us through His Word.

It seems that there are three ways by which people try to settle what constitutes the true faith and the true sense of God's Word. The first is to assert the authority of the Church, or its visible head on earth, like the Pope in the case of the Roman Catholics. The second is to assert the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the

PAGE 127

hearts of the elect, as many Protestant evangelicals claim, and to some degree those who wish to be called charismatics and Quakers. The third is through the judgment of sound reason, evaluating the Word of God through ordinary common sense and the use of our normal, sane intellectual faculties.

The problem with the first is that the authority of the Church and the Pope contradict the words of Holy Scripture. And again, when we are asked to decide whether this church or that is the true authority, is it not by appeal to reason? Even when the Pope himself settles a controversy, is it not with the help of reason, scrutinizing Scripture and tradition and investigating the consensus of the 'fathers'?

In the case of the second, the Holy Spirit of God, speaking by the apostles sent by Christ, was undoubtedly then the judge in controversies over religion. But even then what the apostles taught by the Holy Spirit was presented to be judged with the help of reason by people examining the divine words of Holy Scripture. The example is given of the Bereans who are commended in Acts 17:11 for doing just this. Moreover, the Holy Spirit was normally given after the people had heard and obeyed the faith and not before. Claiming to possess the guidance of the Holy Spirit is easy and we have the common spectacle of different charismatics, glorifying themselves with a fanatic and fantastic spirit, all claiming spirit guidance, all claiming to be right, yet all drawn into absurdities and contradicting one another. And a circular argument is used - the true sense of Holy Scripture is determined by the indwelling Holy Spirit, yet this very indwelling of the Holy Spirit is proved by appeal to the same Scripture!

There remains only the third possibility -- that the Truth of the Bible can and should be discerned by every man through sound reason with which God has endowed us.

290