Romans is also a major mine field for them. I dearly love them both to defend the truth with.
Of course, Paul was denouncing the heresy of Gallatianism, which is indistinguishable from Adventism.
Well with that advice, I will turn now to the Book of Romans. I probably should have read that before, since I have been to Corinth, which is purportedly where Paul wrote Romans. It's actually kind of funny: I am attending a new liturgical Church (And I attended Episcopalian for the past 15 years and cannot say enough good about them). Neither my present Church nor the Episcopalians really encourage Bible reading. Which, as you can imagine, after what I have been through, was very welcome. I have to say, that in spite of both Church's lukewarm approach to Bible reading, I have truthfully read more in the last month than in the last 30 years. And I am actually finding it incredibly fascinating, in light of the summer I spent in Greece and Italy, visiting virtually all of the towns and cities that Paul haunted: Athens, Rome, Corinth, Thessaloniki, Ephesus, Antioch, Galatia, Colossia, Phillipa, Jerusalem. I have even been to the Street called Straight in Damascus.
I highly recommend it: As I am reading through the New Testament I have some pretty strong memories of what those places looked like, and it really helps me to stay focused on the actual writing that Paul wrote for each of those places. I have actually been mesmerized by reading Paul's Epistles now. Incredible! In fact, I had some very profound spiritual experiences in a number of those places, and most especially, in Rome. I have written up a description of what happened in Rome, which 23 years later I still can never get it out of my head. It was amazing. Someday I will share it on this site. Pretty amazing part of the world over there that most Christians just do not have a first-hand basis for understanding.
And that is too bad. When I think of Paul arguing at Mars Hill, he was citing the Greek God Zeuss for at least 25 percent of his speech, denouncing Zeuss for his "unknowability," and even more ridiculous was the monument to the "Unknown God." Paul, in his flawless urban Greek, just enthralled his Greek audience. The Greeks have a strange recollection of what happened, and their point of view on the way they heard it. This strange Jew had come from many miles away just to tell them about the fulfillment of the mysterious Zeuss, which according to him happened with this half-human/half God creature that killed itself and then Resurrected itself. And then to top it all off, he tried to kill this movement off before he joined it! They were lined up 100 deep to "sign on the bottom line," and join this new movement of self-sacrifice, brotherly love, and unlimited forgiveness. The Gospel was truly Good News for them.
The Gospel spread like wildfire among the Greeks, like it never had in Jerusalem. Paul was a man with a mission. He had no time to lose.
