Thank you all for your replies. Definitely not Islam. I do believe the Law isn't abrogated by Jesus.
Well your not a Jew because judaism rejects Jesus as the Messiah and your not a Christian because you have declared Paul to be inspired by the deciever which i can only interprit as satan.. Unless you believe paul was decieved by another human being somewhere along the way..
I do not know, only God knows the truth. Whether Paul intentionally deceived or he himself was genuinely misled is beyond me. I do know that all the blasphemous doctrines that were concocted by Paul cannot be true as the Jewish Messiah was going to be the restorer of Israel and the Law, not the destroyer of the Law. Paul talks about doctrine, he is fascinated with the resurrection and vicarious atonement... not about what Jesus actually said and his message. Jesus prophesied his death but he never said you will all be redeemed with my blood!
So i can only see you as a Theist.. That pretty much just says that you believe in a god and you have accepted parts of different religions to make up your own personal religion..
I'm afraid you're right. I feel completely isolated but I do not believe it's my 'personal' religion. I simply reject Paul. Jesus is the only person who matters to me, he is the teacher and he does not have a medium. Also the Jewish law is sacred and everlasting. My religion is Jesus and the Law of God.
I did notice you quoted some NT scriptures when you said
("Why do you call me good...?") I would like to respond to this if not for your benift ( that is up to your personal free will ) but for the benifit of my fellow Christians who may be reading along with interest.
Jesus never denied his divinity when he asked the young man why he called Him good.. The young man had taken on a bad habbit of calling religious teachers ""good"" when in fact only God is Good. Jesus of course knew the young man did not know Jesus was divine and so Jesus asked him to provoke self examination why do you call me good when only god is good.. Below i will add a comentary i wrote up some years ago about the portion of scriptures where this incident happened. I hope some people are blessed by it
This is a standard Christian response, by no way do I mean that in a derogatory way but you are stretching out something that is plain and simple. Essentially what you're saying is "Jesus did not really mean what he said, he was talking from the other man's perspective." I completely disagree with your approach and it demonstrates bias confirmation. You believe in the divinity of Christ so you will go to any length to take a simple statement and turn it into the opposite meaning.
Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except
God alone. (Luke 18:19)
Your beliefs are shaped by the doctrines of Paul. I will guarantee you, if you played devils advocate and truly relinquished Pauline Christianity you would read and understand that verse like any unbiased person will.
1) Jesus is rejecting the title 'Good'
2) Only God is Good
3) [Insert logical deduction]
"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36)
Ahh so a "fully God" Jesus has inabilities. How does your Pauline lenses alter your interpretation of this crystal clear verse?
Matthew 19
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
Here we see a man whose foundation belief is achieving eternity with God by good Works. He is asking Jesus what he can do to make it into eternity with God. Of course this is imposable for any man, to justify his own place in eternity with God.
How do you know it's impossible? (Maybe impossible with man alone but not impossible for man with God's forgiveness) What part of God's forgiveness have you missed that Jesus preached about? What about God's grace in the Old Testament? "Impossible" is an extreme stance can you back that up without Paul's doctrines? Judaism the religion that Jesus followed never claimed such a thing.
So Jesus response to this man must be understood from this starting point of the conversation between the two. Now lets go to the next verse:
Matthew 19
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Remember this man was a Jew who looked upon Jesus as being a teacher a rabbi, He did not know that Jesus was The Word of God, God made flesh.
That is because Jesus never claimed to be God made flesh nor would he. So you are telling me Jesus was praying to himself? Why do you take pure beautiful Monotheism, the great sole God of Israel and taint him with man concocted doctrines?
"No one is Good but One, God."
But Jesus knew this man did not know who He was so His reply was teaching the man Never to call another human being Good because no man was good. Only God is good.
Ok, so Jesus is fully man and fully God. (even though that makes no sense 'fully'... but lets go with mainstream Christianity for the purpose of this discussion)
Is the fully man part of Jesus "not Good". So Jesus is Good and Not Good simultaneously? Does this make sense to you?
So then Jesus starts to convict the man of his inability to earn eternity bu his own righteousness, We continue:
Matthew 19
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[h] and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Matthew 19
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth.[j] What do I still lack?”
Now of course he is wrong in his reply, the man may have genuinely believed he was keeping all the commandments but as we know Jesus declared that even if you look at another woman with lust you are an adulterer and if you hate someone you are a murderer. So Jesus looking into the man knowing his weaknesses just picked something he would not be able to do. AND at the same time revealed that a man must be Perfect if he wants to have eternity with God. Something No man can achieve. The Scriptures continue:
Matthew 19
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Can you imagine how crushed the young man was at that time? He went away knowing he could not justify himself before God because God requires Perfection which no man can achieve.
Ok. God does not "require" perfection. This is completely contrary to the OT. None of the OT prophets were "perfect" and yet they acquired God's grace and forgiveness. Again you are tainting this verse with your Paul lenses. Look at it as it is, without preconceived doctrines.
That young man was now "set up" to receive the Love of the Truth of the Gospel. I imagine one day him hearing peter preaching and leaping for joy. I hope he did. But this in not where this episode ends the disciples at the time where also under the false impression that eternity with God was earned by good works and works of the law. They where dumbstruck by what Jesus said the chapter continues:
Matthew 19
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
They did say Who then can be saved but they where still thinking that being saved was something that was still earned, paid for by man to God in the currency of good works and works of the Law. They knew that Jesus said to the man that he had to be perfect. Then Jesus gave them a definitive answer in the next verse:
Matthew 19
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus both made it clear that it was Impossible for men to gain eternity by their own efforts. And confirmed that mankinds Salvation could only be achieved by Gods Works.
"With men this is impossible"
I think that is quite self evident. If the grace of God was not needed then there would be no need for God to make a covenant with Israel in the first place! Jesus was a Jew. Read what he is saying from HIS perspective, the Jewish perspective.
"with God all things are possible."
Amen. Also note "
possible". Mainstream Christianity believe vicarious redemption applies indiscriminately and with certainty, as long as one genuinely has faith in the Pauline doctrine of atonement.
God has done this by providing Atonement to cover mans imperfection through the death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.
You can believe Paul, or you can believe God:
"
The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them."
-Ezekiel 18:20
