Nationalistic Churches of the Sola Scriptura

After the rise of the Aglipayan Church, the first nationalistic church in the Philippines, it was followed by the currently still prominent Iglesya ni Cristo (a Corporation Sole registered Church) founded by Felix Y. Manalo. And from this latter church came other denominations that are anti-Catholic and fundamentalistic, of which Eliseo Soriano's Ang Dating Daan is numbered. The Pentecostal outbreak in the Philippines brought in by American charismatics also spawned other "ministries" that are markedly fundamentalist. Of these are to be numbered the Church of Davao's Quiboloy and the group of Presidential candidate, Eddie Villanueva.

While the Born Again groups and the Aglipayan Church are not openly hostile to the Catholic Church, the Iglesya ni Kristo and the ADD have become famous because of their open hostility towards the majority Church int he Philippines. Born Again groups have a particular approach: they invite Catholics to their free Renewal meetings, smother them with love and affection, move them to an emotional high and then tell them about alleged atrocities of the Catholic Church, all in the spirit of love and concern for their salvation. This honeyed approach has helped them effectively brainwash people. Quiboloy, for example, can now preach that he is the Son of God for these times to the applause and approbation of the crowds he draws.

The Iglesya ni Cristo and the Ang Dating Daan groups have become prominent through the air waves and other means of mass communication. While it is true that the Iglesya ni Cristo seems to be more concerned now about the "Paham" of Ang Dating Daan, they still manage to attack the Catholic Church in their programs, especially when dealing with topics touching on the Divinity of Christ and the Trinity. This they do more because there are already ex-Catholics in their midst who would like to get out of their Church and return to the Catholic fold.

Eliseo Soriano's Ang Dating Daan has also been attacking the Catholic Church but only because it seems he has to keep up the appearance that the Catholic Church is in the wrong. His main target at the moment is the Iglesya ni Cristo which has piled lawsuits against him for his Ang Dating Daan program. I must admit however that compared with the three stooges of Network 54's Ang Tamang Daan fame, I am more inclined towards Soriano's explanation of the Scriptures. When attacking the Iglesya ni Manalo doctrines, Eliseo Soriano ably uses the Bible and shows a particular sensitivity to the intent of the author, to the literary nature of the sacred page and respect for the immediate and greater context of a particular passage. He drops all these however when criticizing this or that Catholic doctrine as evidenced by this blog.

Except for the Aglipayan Church and the Born Again groups, I'll be dealing more with the latter two groups in these blogs. I'll be monitoring them here because my special interest is in the way they use the Scriptures in legitimizing their claim as the true Church. The fact that there are many churches using the "sola scriptura" principle and calling each other false is evidence that the one faith and one communiion that the Lord intends for His Church cannot be based on that principle. Hence, in this blog, I won't be dwelling too much on whether ministers practise what they preach; I would however be studying the Scriptures as the INC and Eliseo Soriano explain them and show in these blogs where they are wrong or right.