A Response to Stephen

Here was a question posed to me:

"It is worth noting that many of the early reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc) believed Mary was perpetually a virgin. Randy and Ron: do you think those guys were wrong and that you know better than them?"

This is my response:

Stephen...do you exalt these men above other men who have lived? Are these men gods...or men?

You see...we are called to exalt the Word...to exalt God...to exalt Jesus.

What does the Word say, Stephen?

Does the Word say that Mary was "perpetually a virgin?"

Why do men SPEAK where Scripture is SILENT??

Why do men suppose to answer questions that God has not posed?

Why do we seek answers to issues that bear no answer within the only established realm we can examine: the Word of God?

Does SCRIPTURE declare that Mary was "perpetually a virgin?"

No. It doesn't.

Do some MEN say that Mary was "perpetually a virgin?"

Yes. They do.

Will I base my beliefs on MEN or on the Word of God?

I will stand on the Word of God...not the beliefs of men.

So...do I think I am "better than them?"

No.

But I am WISER than they are.

Why?

I speak what the Word of God speaks.

Where it is SILENT...I am silent.

My OPINION is just that: an OPINION.

What the men you mentioned stated was an OPINION...not established TRUTH.

So...do we...as ministers of the Gospel...the Gospel which is established in TRUTH (Jesus: "I am the way, the truth, and the life...")...preach what we KNOW (truth) or what we THINK (opinion)?

Only TRUTH can make people free.

Opinion?

Well...they are like arm pits:

We all have them...and some of them stink.