Gal 3:10 is a justification they use to keep the law, to me it appears to be a contradiction. First it says one is cursed if they keep the law and at the end it says one is cursed if they don't continue to keep it. I know one has to put it in line with other scriptures but so do they so one could come out with 2 different interpretations.
Galatians 3:
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."
Reading the entire chapter of Galatians 3 around verse 10 will make the context clear of course. Law Bad/Faith Only Good. However, one indeed can hunt around for Pauline statements that appear to undo this concept and revert back to the need to keep law. I suspect it is why Paul was sometimes "hard to understand" and a reason some could pick and choose the concept they liked the best. Law or Grace, Law or Faith only.
A personal favorite
Proof Texting, Scripture Cobbling, Wishful thinking and taking scripture completely out of their original context is a way the Churches of God and most literalists Christians "search the scriptures to see is these things be so." It is a natural consequence of a Book that mixes much that any human being could agree with or wish to be so , with Bronze and Iron Age insanities and inanities. It's why we end up with whole churches and denominations straining at their gnats and choking on their camels. It's also how we end up with the dangerous and terribly ignorant theologies of the Packs and Flurrys or religion gone nuts that will not end well should they continue much longer.
As a harmless example, All of Matthew's 7 "Fulfillment Statements" in Matthew 2 also fall into the category of tale weaving by taking Old Testament Scriptures grossly out of context to tell a new story.
While he harmlessly weaves a tale of how he thinks Jesus was born, other tale weavers doing the same can be very dangerous in the wrong hands and mindset. Dave Pack, again, comes to mind. Dave vomited 144 scripturally concocted sermons that contained zero reality, wasting hundreds of hours and causing tens of thousands of useless gyrations in seats that never should have anyone in them to begin with. It's what he does and if ever a man took scripture out of context it is Dave, the Master of Theological Spin. Flurry is a close second with all others we know well not far behind.
While Matthew wrote in an accepted writing style of the day (Midrash) used to tell a story the facts of which one did not actually know, it is not a way of getting at the truth of an event or matter.
Many take scriptures out of their historical, political and cultural context to the harm of many. It is perfectly acceptable to recognize that what the Bible said back then does not either apply now nor should it. The perfect time in history was not the Bronze or Iron Age nor the mentalities of the day the ideal for Christians today. "You've come a long way baby" applies to our world of knowledge having been increased, which in spite of what scripture implies about that, is a very good thing.
13 comments:
Only in the last 400 years or so have Bible-readers had a system of chapters and verses by which to break each book into smaller lengths of text. This versification was perhaps the worst possible thing that could have happened for the purpose of understanding the Bible, as it made it much easier to cite verses independent of their contexts, and thus to interpret a text in a way the author never intended.
Dennis said: Reading the entire chapter of Galatians 3 around verse 10 will make the context clear of course. Law Bad/Faith Only Good.
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While I disagree with your explanation of Galatians, I also disagree with the COG's historical explanation that the added law was the sacrificial system.
Kevin
I used to read the Bible as one might read, as an example, the covenants of a homeowners’ association. Now, when I read it, I’m looking for some good things, nuggets such as loving principles which can help break the bad cycles we often encounter in life, exemplary attitudes, examples as to how ancient people (wise and unwise) dealt with adverse situations, for an appreciation of all the modern conveniences we have today, and there must be hundreds of other reasons for reading it.
The thing is, the book had been used on us so negatively, and so manipulatively that It took years to purge all of this from my mind so that I could once again look at it freshly and objectively.
Here is another short Video WITH SOME DAVE PACK STATEMENTS TELLING EVERYONE HIS PEDIGREE JUSTIFYING HIS NEXT TO GOD POSITION.
Please Share and expose this fraud. Thank you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwec8J_7RE
Galatians is just about the earliest Christian document:
Here Paul hijacks the early Jewish Jesus Movement with a radical supersessionism
that is, at once, breathtaking in audacity and bankrupt in credibility!
Anonymous said...
Galatians is just about the earliest Christian document:
Here Paul hijacks the early Jewish Jesus Movement with a radical supersessionism
Exactly and he did it without the Gospel Down to Earth in the flesh Jesus. That Jesus he never heard much about as witnessed by his never quoting Jesus or telling a story of his life in the Gospels to help him explain something. The smartest Pharisee in the whole world, concerning the law, blameless was also not on hand in the Gospels to persecute Jesus for they may not have heard of him either or at least were not willing to include him in the grand tale.
11.49 AM
I did the same. When I stopped attending services, I avoided the NT and devoted my bible reading to the OT. I did this to let the new testament church interpretations fade from my mind. Only then (after a decade in my case) could I read the NT, and see it through my own eyes.
"The thing is, the book had been used on us so negatively, and so manipulatively that It took years to purge all of this from my mind so that I could once again look at it freshly and objectively."
There is no denying that the Bible is a very powerful book. Simply put, It can be used for good or evil, and then only depending on the person's competency to convince others that their interpretation is correct. Find people who believe the Bible is 100% correct, and then simply discover how and why they do so, and you have them for life. This is what HWA did, he carved out or hijacked a niche.
I now believe the Bible is mostly fiction, but that doesn't make it non-useful.
DBP
COG's historical explanation that the added law was the sacrificial system
Some time ago I listened to all the COG sermons and studies on Galatians that I could find, and with one exception each made that claim, that the added law was the "sacrifices". GTA tried to joke about it, and Bob Thiel incorrectly stated that before Sinai there were no "sacrifices" (what about Abel? Abraham? the first Passover? Bob needs someone to direct his sermons and edit his videos).
And the exception? Ron Dart, who said the "added law" was the Oral Law, which Jesus generally called "the Traditions of the Elders".
8:34
I never looked into the history of verses. So it might sound stupid that the introduction of this little technical helper (before google search) caused the division in the christiam world in 2000 sects. If there are 50.000 verses we can extrapolate another 48.000 schisms coming.
Tell that to the World Council of Churches. Anyone notice the special text the pope and grand mufti of al khazar signed in abu dhabi recently.
To some a lettercof intent for a merger. Suddenly HWA sounds like my announcer of the new world order again when he said to Hosni Mubarak that they worship the same God, Yhwv and Allah.
35 years later the leaders of the world religions say the same, in an interesting document.
Nck
Ron Dart, God rest his soul, was wrong in several instances imo and his claim that the added law was the oral law is one of those instances.
The added law was the law, the whole law and nothing but the law, so help me God.
Kevin McMillen
I'm sure there are many in the church of God who will question my conclusion that the "added law" was all of God's laws, including the Ten Commandments.
They are still hung up on the old cog7th day teaching which HWA also taught that the "added law" was a second additional law besides his spiritual law. With the second added law being the ritualistic/sacrificial system.
In truth the added law wasn't an additional law, added to God's previous list of laws as many cog's claim. It was additional to the Promise. Paul makes it clear that once God had confirmed a covenant with Abraham, that specific covenant couldn't be altered. But there is nothing that says a second covenant, an additional covenant couldn't be made with Abraham's children and that is what God did.
God made the Promise covenant with Abraham because of Abraham's obedience to His voice, statutes, laws and commandments. Gen. 26:5,
God did not say, "as long as your children continue to obey me the covenant remains". No, the Promise once confirmed was unconditional. God was going to do what he promised no matter what.
But as Paul says, because of transgressions, because Abraham's children broke God's law he made an additional covenant with them that went alongside the Promise covenant, but couldn't break the Promise covenant.
In that additional covenant God made his laws a condition. As long as they obeyed then God would bless them, and if they didn't obey then God wouldn't.
God in this additional covenant even made a way for them to be forgiven. That is where the rituals and sacrifices came in to play. If they offered the correct sacrifice then God promised to forgive them. Not for salvation, but for the physical covenant.
This additional covenant made all of God's laws "required" in order to keep the covenant. We know that Israel broke that covenant but the Promise covenant remained. That added covenant was a schoolmaster til Christ came.
The ending of that additional covenant didn't end God's law. God's law has always revealed what is sin.
Under the New Covenant in Christ's blood we keep God's laws because we love him. "If you love me keep my commandments". And if we do sin we have an advocate in heaven whom if we confess, will forgive. Our sinning doesn't break the New Covenant, but a wilful, in your face, attitude of not wanting to obey God does indeed break the New Covenant.
Kevin McMillen
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