The great secret that was revealed to Paul is a gift of grace, a free gift. In God’s sight our sin debt has been settled, we stand in righteousness before him right now. He sees us seated with Christ in heaven, we are right now the praise of the glory of his grace throughout eternity. It follows logically that this secret must not be read into the four Gospels or into the book of Revelation.
Paul’s insistence upon the reality of our union with Christ, as having died and risen again in him. The Apostle unfolds to us, we died with Christ, our standing being complete and perfect in Christ, we cannot grow in this standing. We may grow in the knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of it, our life is the outcome of our belief.
If we are ignorant of this free gift, we are easy prey for every minister of righteousness who may rise up. Nothing more is needed to be added, their is not a ordinance on the face of the earth that can make us complete. We don’t need to pass a satisfactory examination, or take another class, we stand in righteousness before God right now.
What do you mean ‘generally’? We don’t believe in that nonsense at all!
If the introductions section is any indication, we do have a few believers among the regular membership. In all fairness though, they’re mostly diests, not believers in the silliness of the Abrahamic superstition.
The great secret that was revealed to Paul is a gift of grace, a free gift. In God’s sight our sin debt has been settled, we stand in righteousness before him right now. He sees us seated with Christ in heaven, we are right now the praise of the glory of his grace throughout eternity. It follows logically that this secret must not be read into the four Gospels or into the book of Revelation.
Paul’s insistence upon the reality of our union with Christ, as having died and risen again in him. The Apostle unfolds to us, we died with Christ, our standing being complete and perfect in Christ, we cannot grow in this standing. We may grow in the knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of it, our life is the outcome of our belief.
If we are ignorant of this free gift, we are easy prey for every minister of righteousness who may rise up. Nothing more is needed to be added, their is not a ordinance on the face of the earth that can make us complete. We don’t need to pass a satisfactory examination, or take another class, we stand in righteousness before God right now.
Thanks for any insight about this free gift.
What utter nonsense.
I have a different interpretation of Paul falling off his mule. Peter the Rock, Jesus’s brother and enforcer hit Paul with a rock from his sling and Paul learned from this to support Jesus’s mob, at that point led by another of Jesus’s brothers James. Paul even worked after this incident at finding funding outside of Israel for the gang. He had found “god” Didn’t want any more “confrontations” with this organizatiion.
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon - 10 February 2013 06:23 AM
What do you mean ‘generally’? We don’t believe in that nonsense at all!
If the introductions section is any indication, we do have a few believers among the regular membership. In all fairness though, they’re mostly diests, not believers in the silliness of the Abrahamic superstition.
Well….let’s see!
Sin huh?
Original, huh?
In the garden of eden, huh??
OK….let’s see:
1. there was no garden of eden
2. there was no adam and eve
3. Ergo, no “sin” original or otherwise.
4. No original sin, no need for any “redeemer” or “redemption” or “savior”
5. No need for god to send his son to be executed
5. No need for any perp’s “suicide by police action” (Roman’s crucifying the perp)
6. No such “redeemer” born
7. No “virgin” birth
8. No “resurrection” of dead people - including the perp
IMO, all that stuff is just in your mind…can you proof anything your talking about? For instance: Where is heaven and why did your god allow an eight year old boy to die during the Boston bombings?
This comes from someone who was a christian.
I don’t understand the OP, but Paul certainly was an extraordinary man, and may well be rightly considered one of the creators if not the creator of Christianity as we know it today. He was a sophisticated Roman citizen, knowledgeable of Judaism and the ancient pagan mystery religions involving savior gods who died and were reborn for our salvation (and also participation in communal meals in which believers partake in the god—Tarsus was one of the centers of these religions). It’s also likely he was well acquainted with stoic and platonic philosophy. In a way, he was himself the kind of hodgepodge of the pagan mysteries, philosophy and Judaism that Christianity became.
I don’t understand the OP, but Paul certainly was an extraordinary man, and may well be rightly considered one of the creators if not the creator of Christianity as we know it today. He was a sophisticated Roman citizen, knowledgeable of Judaism and the ancient pagan mystery religions involving savior gods who died and were reborn for our salvation (and also participation in communal meals in which believers partake in the god—Tarsus was one of the centers of these religions). It’s also likely he was well acquainted with stoic and platonic philosophy. In a way, he was himself the kind of hodgepodge of the pagan mysteries, philosophy and Judaism that Christianity became.
I agree and not only was he knowledgable about the pagan belief system, he singlehandedly took it on and perpetuated xtianity for future generations. Xtians should consider themselves Paulines in fact. Crossan and Reed did an insightful account of Paul’s contributions in their book “In Search of Paul” where they also reveal that women were originally to be included as disciples, e.g. Thekla. It’s a good read and explores the background of what became church doctrine.
The great secret that was revealed to Paul is a gift of grace, a free gift. In God’s sight our sin debt has been settled, we stand in righteousness before him right now. He sees us seated with Christ in heaven, we are right now the praise of the glory of his grace throughout eternity. It follows logically that this secret must not be read into the four Gospels or into the book of Revelation.
Paul’s insistence upon the reality of our union with Christ, as having died and risen again in him. The Apostle unfolds to us, we died with Christ, our standing being complete and perfect in Christ, we cannot grow in this standing. We may grow in the knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of it, our life is the outcome of our belief.
If we are ignorant of this free gift, we are easy prey for every minister of righteousness who may rise up. Nothing more is needed to be added, their is not a ordinance on the face of the earth that can make us complete. We don’t need to pass a satisfactory examination, or take another class, we stand in righteousness before God right now.
Thanks for any insight about this free gift.
Are you all right? I hope you will be on the mend soon. Get well, soon, friend.
I don’t understand the OP, but Paul certainly was an extraordinary man, and may well be rightly considered one of the creators if not the creator of Christianity as we know it today. He was a sophisticated Roman citizen, knowledgeable of Judaism and the ancient pagan mystery religions involving savior gods who died and were reborn for our salvation (and also participation in communal meals in which believers partake in the god—Tarsus was one of the centers of these religions). It’s also likely he was well acquainted with stoic and platonic philosophy. In a way, he was himself the kind of hodgepodge of the pagan mysteries, philosophy and Judaism that Christianity became.
But he was a complete dupe. Like his unfortunate followers.
If he was as knowledgeable and sophisticated as you claim he woud have seen through the fantastic, unlikely claims in an instant. Something must have happened to his mind. Perhaps he became demented. In those days few would have recognized a deterioration in intellect, especially in someone who had a reputation of being learned. It’s sad to hear of such a tragic decline.
