"What The Bible Says is not the Issue."
Trusting "Historic Christianity" is a fallacy wrapped up in a falsehood.
It was a hot, bright, sunny June day, and I was floating around in my pool under a shade. I was listening to a debate between two Catholics on the topic of Catholicism and the Second Vatican Council. Yeah, I know, weird.
I had an epiphany.
The Root of the lasting division in Christianity results from the effort to unify through documents that become the source of division. The debate then is about the document for unity, rather than what the Bible says, instead of what this “agreement” says.
What history shows us is that it simply moves the object and subject of debate. It also causes people to know and trust these, in addition to and often instead of the actual scripture in the Bible.
A Recent Example: The Second Vatican Council
As stated in my opening, I recently heard a debate between two Catholics on the topic of Catholicism. The subject was specifically the Second Vatican Council. I have heard people in passing make negative comments about the above and how it changed Catholicism for the worse in their view. The issue in the recent conversation was this part; I will post a summary of the conflict:
“The Second Vatican Council, particularly the document Nostra Aetate, “The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims,” and “The phrase ‘enter into a state of perfect liberation’ suggests Buddhism offers a valid path to salvation or enlightenment, which some interpreted as implying equivalence with Christian salvation. This shocked traditionalists who hold that salvation comes only through Christ.
An Epiphany on Debate
They were debating the words, the meaning of each word, with great passion. I had this epiphany. These creeds, counsels, confessions, and other documents are created to bring unity and stop debate. There is no end to debate. When you make a new document, you are simply moving the subject, words, and phrases that are debated.
The Problem with Simplification
This overlooks the fact that the Bible itself is a summary. It is impossible to declare every truth to every question in the minutia of detail. Broad principles that must be accepted and believed on face value. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Yes, that includes the ants and the dinosaurs.
Concerning the words of Jesus, John wrote,
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” John 21:25
Everything in the Bible is essential. So much was not written; therefore, everything that is written is of utmost importance that the sovereign wisdom of God ensured it was there. Not in the Bible? God did not see fit to have it included.
When you attempt to summarize what is a simplification of the facts already demonstrated in all the succeeding documents, you end up with error upon compounded error.
There is a never-ending need for another confession or counsel to stop the debate, and what happens? It’s the ever-evolving movement away from what the source and point of discussion should be.
When tradition is used to establish accepted truth, it only requires a majority vote to change what the tradition is. Recently the United Methodist voted to change their book of discipline on Homo/Trans issues. In 2019, they voted and strengthened the language against. In 2024, they just deleted it. The statement that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” (added in 1972) was deleted, ending a 52-year condemnation.
This is evident in virtually every Christian tradition, as they all evolve over time.
Rejecting Absolute Truth
It is the nature and assumption inherent in tradition that perpetuates a foundational error: the notion that truth is changeable, leading to this impulse to reject absolute truth.
Each denomination, tradition, and segment of Christianity has divided and further divided.
The Fragmentation of Denominations
How many Baptist denominations are there? Pentecostal, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, ad nauseam?
Why the division? In almost every case, the division is about something that is not in the Bible, but rather some outside agreement that people no longer agree on.
How could they think they could disagree? Because the document of debate is not the Bible, but it’s an already formulated agreement that is NOT THE BIBLE.
Lessons from Jesus and the Jews
Why did the Jews miss Jesus? Why did Jesus rebuke the Jews? In summary, it was their tradition that had deceived, blinded, and divided them. So much so that when Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, came, as a group, every group rejected Him. Individuals followed Jesus despite the anger and rejection of the established divisions of Judaism.
Listen to the Criticism of Jesus of the Jews of that day.
“He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—[d]the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
He said to them, “All too well you [e]reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7:6-13
The Same Pattern Today
This same thing happens today and has been since the Council of Nicea. People divide and debate theology that rests in everything and everyone, but the actual thing the church was built upon: the Prophets, Apostles, and Jesus.
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,” Ephesians 2:19-21
Let us grasp this and hold on to a singular truth. Faith in Jesus Christ must be anchored in scripture ALONE. We must learn to view all the other books, confessions, and councils as informational, but in no way as a significant authority. Trust them like you would the newspaper. It’s simply a man and a group of men with opinions at the moment that other men in the future will not agree with and will move the line. They will. They have. They are.
When it is acceptable to “Agree” on another book that in some way shades what the Bible says, in the future, others will shade what that other document or book says.
The Original Deception
“Hath God said?”
This was the original basis for deception: questioning the actual words of God and seeking to rationalize why they were not valid, truthful, or binding.
The Ongoing Deception
This same method of deception is still in use today.
The oldest Christian group is the Catholic Church. It is also the largest Christian organization with the longest history. I will only use them because the nature of tradition, to change what is accepted as accurate constantly, is demonstrated in great relief. There are thousands of things that Catholics believe that are not in the Bible, were not in anyway referenced in the Bible and in some instances are in direct contradiction to what the Bible says. How could this happen?
Beware of Religious Tradition.
There are 23 distinct books in the Oral Tradition that are recognized across all Jewish sects.
A few crazy things in Jewish Tradition?
Reincarnation, Rabinic Decrees override the Torah, and God loses debates in heaven. Just to name a few.
Today, there is one minuscule segment of Jews that rejects Jewish tradition. Karaite Judaism:
Rejects the Oral Torah (Talmud) and relies solely on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) for religious law.
Small, with ~30,000–50,000 members globally, mostly in Israel and small communities in the U.S. and Europe.
This tendency to replace the actual words of God with an alternative view started in Genesis 3. It has ballooned into quite a monstrosity today.
What is a parallel to this in Christianity? This impulse is evident in every group in Christianity. The oldest, unsurprisingly, has the most outstanding examples.
If you were to list only the Catholic-oriented creeds, councils, and confessions, there are 65 creeds, councils, and confessions.
If you were to expand that to include those of major denominations older than three hundred years, the Lutheran Church, which began with Martin Luther, has 17 recognized. The Anglican/Episcopal there are 15. Eastern Orthodox. The Reformed, Presbyterian, and other designations are 8 unique to them.
This could become just a list of how many different documents exist under the umbrella of anyone and everyone who claims to be Christian; it is a number that is unknowable.
What’s the Point?
When one deviates from the Scripture, one will find oneself in a world of confusion, division, and strife.
God warned all of us in scripture about this very thing,
“Beware lest anyone [e]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8
This is not an isolated warning that is relevant to this discussion,
“ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be [a]accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8–9
Consider the above and add to this scripture in light of what has happened to Christianity today.
“Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,” 1 Timothy 4:1–2
For a Final Text,
“.. not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.” Titus 1:14
Here is where the rubber meets the road.
How many sincere and insightful Christian leaders will read and explain scripture, and at some point, they will undercut what they say and believe, and will default to “Historical Christianity”?
Statements like this,
”Who am I to reject ‘Historical’ Christianity and think I am smarter than them and disagree with decisions and doctrines that have been declared and agreed upon?
Here's why this kind of statement is such a huge cop-out.
If they spent just a little bit of time on critical thinking and studying the absolute disaster and blasphemy that has and is happening in “Historical Christianity.”
A few examples in Historical Christianity that most understand were and are great error.
It was hard to summarize this because there are thousands of such “doctrines” in “Historical Christianity.”
Unam Sanctam (1302): Papal submission for salvation.
Crusade Indulgences (1095–13th century): Salvation via military service.
Exsurge Domine (1520): Condemning Luther’s biblical reforms.
Cum Nimis Absurdum (1555): Ghettoizing Jews.
Ad Extirpanda (1252): Authorized torture for heretics.
Dum Diversas (1452): Endorsed enslavement of non-Christians.
Execrabilis (1460): Banned appeals to councils.
Regnans in Excelsis (1570): Excommunicated and deposed Elizabeth I.
Mortuorum Capita (1231): Ordered exhumation and burning of heretics’ remains.
Vox in Rama (1233): Authorized extermination of alleged Satanists.
Etsi Judaeos (1205): Blamed Jews for Christian sins.
Ad Apostolicae Dignitatis Apicem (1318): Condemned Franciscan poverty as heresy.
In Coena Domini (1363–1770): Annually excommunicated heretics and rulers.
Romanus Pontifex (1455): Reaffirmed slavery and conquest.
De Judaeis (1215): Mandated Jewish badges and isolation.
Quo Primum (1570): Imposed Tridentine Mass as perpetual.
Licet ab Initio (1243): Established Papal Inquisition.
Super Specula (1478): Authorized Spanish Inquisition.
Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio (1559): Nullified heretic rulers’ authority.
HOW DO WE AVOID these, because there are these same kinds of excesses, errors, and deviations from Scripture in every established group that has doctrines that have been created in the Vacuum of Religious tradition.
Can we all agree that we should lay aside every doctrine, declaration, confession, council, and creed and get back to the only dependable, infallible, and authoritative book we know as the Bible?
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:” Ephesians 2:19-21
This is a link to a boatload of information on creeds, councils, confessions and the like in the major denominations.