Should Paul's writings be ignored?

[Guest douggarb]

Daughter -

Might I ask you what you actually believe about Jesus and about sin and redemption and Christian living?

I believe that many will go to hell and few will go to heaven. I believe it takes more than the belief in Jesus Christ as an automatic ticket into heaven. He will judge us on all our sins. Do I think that I might go to hell if I steal? Possibly. If I am lazy? Possibly. If I do not give any money away to the poor? Possibly..........

these are a couple of the posts that caught my eye. DOK dont you think the blood is enough to cover all the above offenses? if it is not how are you going to cover them. do you beleive that Jesus died for your sins?

[growing]

I believe that many will go to hell and few will go to heaven. I believe it takes more than the belief in Jesus Christ as an automatic ticket into heaven. He will judge us on all our sins. Do I think that I might go to hell if I steal? Possibly. If I am lazy? Possibly. If I do not give any money away to the poor? Possibly..........

I accepted Jesus as my Savior at the age of 9. I was all alone, no one helped me pray, I didn't walk down the aisle and I didn't really feel any different. I spent the rest of my childhood wondering if I was really a Christian, had I really done enough? Why didn't I feel any different? Each time there was an invitation I wondered if I should go forward. Finally when I was a teenager a few things fell together, I hope they will help you understand God's love:

Ephesians 2:8,9 For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith-and this NOT from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.

(We're nearing Christmas when we'll receive gifts. Do we do anything to earn those gifts? No, the only thing we have to do is accept the gift. Salvation through Jesus is a gift all we have to do is accept the gift)

I'd known this verse for years, but I still didn't feel like a Christian, then one day I found this:

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

It all came together. God's word says that all I need to do is accept His gift and I will have eternal life. I may not always feel like a Christian, but God's word says it's true, so it is. It's that simple. Accept the gift and you are a Christian. You don't have to do anything else. Stop worrying, stop fighting the truth, just accept the gift. None of us will ever acheive perfection and God knows that, that's why He sent His Son, it was the only way we could ever be good enough to enter Heaven. It's been explained to me like this: we will still sin, but if we accept Jesus, God will no longer see our sin. When He looks at us He sees us through Jesus (instead of rose-colored glasses, I imagine God looking at us through "Jesus-colored" glasses). We still need to try not to sin, because it was our sin that caused Jesus to have to die for us, but our sins have been forgiven, they will not keep us from heaven as long as we accept Jesus as our Savior.

I pray that you accept the truth and that through God's truth you will be able to find the strength and desire to live the life that God has designed you for.

[Guest mylittlelambs]

No they should not be ignored, maybe read and listen to what the man has to say. Step up and stop playing a christian be one. It id no that hard.

[WillingToDie]

I've actually encountered a man on another message board who would swear up and down that Paul was the anti-Christ.

He claimed that, while Christ taught a works-based salvation, Paul taught a faith-based salvation. In this man's eyes, Paul's writings gave us unlimited "get out of jail free cards", and we could do whatever we wanted.

[Gerioke]

I've actually encountered a man on another message board who would swear up and down that Paul was the anti-Christ.

He claimed that, while Christ taught a works-based salvation, Paul taught a faith-based salvation. In this man's eyes, Paul's writings gave us unlimited "get out of jail free cards", and we could do whatever we wanted.

I'm sure Paul's message was not an easy one to convey. Look at all the arguments over interpretations of any scripture.

[aaronjm]

The apostle Paul is probably my favorite writer in the Bible, he did write half of the new testament, but that is not the reason why I like him so much. He is a very humble man, and I think Yeshua chose him because he saw something awesome in this man, that could help many, and he has. A lot of his writing has to be associated with the times in which it was written. He was writing to these churches/towns/groups of people, to help the early churches of Christianity. At first Saul/Paul is persecuting, and even murdering Christians before Yeshua appeared to him. At that point, Paul was humbled greatly, and his writings convey that message, and the message of genuine love of our L-rd Yeshua. The early churches were having a tough time accepting the fact that they are saved by grace alone, all they knew was following the law, and to suddenly not have to do all the things that they are used to had to have been hard on them. When Yeshua died, they were set free, and everybody that believed there after. Just like when things change in our lives, you always have to get used to it. I have heard many bad things about Paul, but I think, and know that he was a wonderful Christian, that gave everything he had for the Church, and his people.

[nebula]

In this man's eyes, Paul's writings gave us unlimited "get out of jail free cards", and we could do whatever we wanted.

Ummm . . . Romans 6? Hello?

[WillingToDie]

In this man's eyes, Paul's writings gave us unlimited "get out of jail free cards", and we could do whatever we wanted.

Ummm . . . Romans 6? Hello?

Yeah. We tried to point that out. He ignored it.

[Lionroot]

Greetings DOK,

I understand exactly what you mean about Paul's writing. I struggled with this issue myself for many years. Like many Christians my first focus was on the words of Christ. (After all, isn't that why his words are highlighted.) When we do that we read his words out of context, and make a very natural mistake of creating context, usually from our own lives. God had been talking to men since the very beginning, so in away this is very much like catching the end of a conversation other people are having. There is a huge possibility for misunderstandings. Though to his Jewish listeners, they had an awareness of all that had come before.

It reminds me of the old show, Threes Company. There was a repetitive gag where someone (usually Jack Tripper) would over hear the end of a conversation, misunderstand what's being said, and then create funny moments as they reacted to the other characters through their own misunderstandings, the hilarity would begin. We the viewer though had seen the whole show, and understood the misperception.

Consider what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the tenth chapter:

1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Is it any wonder than that much of what Jesus said is quoted straight from the law and the prophets, the books we call the Old Testament?

Paul did not write in a vacuum either. He was a Pharisee and had a strong foundation in the Law and the Prophets. It is no wonder that much of his writing is peppered with the OT scripture. He was already steeped in the Old Testament. He also taught the same Gospel.

2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they (the Israelites) did;-Hebrews 4:2a

I make no attempt here to straighten out the specifics of your post, except to say that Paul was in complete agreement with Christ. Where you see a discrepancy you can be sure that there is a misunderstanding. Take care not to take interpretations of Paul as "gospel truth".

Consider what Peter said about Paul:

15Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.-2 Peter 3

In my own walk it was the time spent reading all of the word that reconciled the differences that I had previously perceived.

I hope that will help you.

God Bless,

Robert

[Arthur Durnan]

"Purists," wafflers, fence sitters and Johnny-come-lately know-it-alls, prepare to cave! Paul can help you - "serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears & trials...and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you...for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Acts Chapter 20. To be sure, that's good enuf for this observer.

http://arthurdurnan.freeyellow.com