Paul Is Confused

I'm reading the letters of Paul, and he is a very confused man. He alternates between the gospel as taught by Jesus, and some apparent insanity, some twisted version of Christianity. In one paragraph he speaks of love and understanding, and in the next, he speaks of turning our backs on sinners as if they could not be saved. There is the fact that he and we are also such sinners, should we turn our backs on ourselves as well?

He contradicts Christ's words and often contradicts his own. He goes on for pages how it is not the actions of man that gets us into heaven, but the action of God. He tells how those who follow the Law are trying to get into heaven by their own actions alone, and that the existence of Jesus has abolished the need for the Law. Then in the paragraphs immediately following these sentences, he lists a litany of actions that we should and should not perform that will allow or prevent our entering heaven. His confusion is wild and unchecked.

Notwithstanding, Jesus himself proclaimed specifically that he was not there to abolish the Law, but to enforce it. I will grant however, that Jesus rarely spoke plainly, as about the yeast, and could very well have meant that he was taking the Law's place. I will have to re-read multiple versions of this entry to be sure.

The wolves that Peter predicted would enter the Church did not waste time. There are no individuals that we may call wolves; no one person or group that we can suspect. The wolves are within each of us, even within the apostles. Every word a preacher speaks must be held up next to righteousness and compared to it. The problem is that the wolf is here, before my eyes. You and me, we are just as confused as Paul.

My only prayer is that one word be correct: it is an area where everyone agrees. That if I throw myself at the feet of our Lord and beg for forgiveness, for the scraps of his table, that I will receive a little mercy from Him. There is no way I can save myself, no way I could understand how, but in my begging, I will try to clean His floor with the only dirty rag that I have.

The Hardcore are Questionable

I'm reading Paul's Corinthians I, and his ideas match slightly what I see as ignorance in today's Church. He preaches such things as turning away sinners, as if those who do can be comfortable that they are perfect. He preaches leaving women out of church discussion.

But he also preaches some wonderful things: Like how my heathen wife can go to heaven because I believe, among other good words. His speech alternates between wisdom and ignorant intolerance. Modern preachers of ignorance do this: They speak of love, and understanding, and in the very next sentence speak of hatred and closed-minded stupidity.

There are those today who say the Bible cannot be taken au la carte. You cannot take the parts you like and discard the parts you do not. This speech is ignorance: Jesus himself says otherwise.

Paul was an apostle, and surely would know better God's Message than me-- but Jesus frequently told the apostles that they were wrong. He often pointed out their misunderstanding of God's Word. Even to Peter, he pointed out that he would deny him three times. Even the great Peter, founder of Christianity, was flat out wrong sometimes. And the Lord called him on it.

I feel it is important to weigh the words of all profits and preachers. In the Bible, we have the words of God from his own mouth, the words of his son, the words of prophets relaying the word of God, the words of Apostles relaying the word of Jesus, of Deciples, preaching the second hand Word from the Apostles, and the words of madmen interpreting wild and irrelevant dreams. Today the message is further convoluted by the words of men, thousands of years removed, and full of compounded misunderstandings.

It's true: we must arm ourselves with righteousness, and know exactly what it means to be a Christian. We must weigh the words of all against the intent of God Himself. When reading the words of Peter or Paul, or hearing a sermon of your own modern Church, compare the Message to the very words of Jesus and God. You will find many discrepancies.

Where Man says one thing, and God speaks another, I will turn my back on Man. To those who say we should not question the Bible, we must insist that God tells us otherwise. To those who say we should hate the sinner; we must know that the speaker, and ourselves are no better, and not to be hated.

Turn your back to sin, but dine with the sinners, because you are no better.