Hey John,
Tonight, I was looking back through some passages from The Great Apostasy book (Going to Jesus.com – The Great Apostasy” How believers’ rejection of Paul’s gospel led to the formation of Christianity).
In the second paragraph from the end of “The Tunnel” portion, beginning with “In A.D. 70,” you wrote that believers entered the tunnel a charismatic community with some ceremonial aspects, glorifying Moses and rejecting Paul. But they emerged from the tunnel a ceremonial community with some charismatic aspects, glorifying Paul and rejecting Moses.
Please clarify this for me, as I thought they would now be rejecting Paul and glorifying Moses, because they became more of a ceremonial community with some charismatic aspects when emerging from the tunnel. Thank you
Jim K.
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Hi Jim.
Good question, Jim; thank you for sending it in.
The NT record clearly shows that the body of Christ, as a whole, rejected Paul’s gospel, being convinced of their need to submit to circumcision, that is, to the law of Moses. The references for that biblical fact are too many to mention, but Paul’s statement to Timothy, “All they [believers] in Asia have forsaken me” (2Tim. 1:!5) represents what was happening everywhere. Part 5 of my book, The Jerusalem Council (Going to Jesus.com – The Jerusalem Council ), goes into great detail on that from NT books.
In the second century, what we find in the documents which Christians have allowed to survive is an exaltation of Paul (but not the same gospel he preached) and a complete rejection of the law of Moses, and in some cases, virulent anti-Semitism.
That is the historical record. Anyone can look it up. For examples of the anti-Semitism of some second-century leaders of Christians, one can go to The Apostate Fathers at GoingtoJesus.com (Going to Jesus.com – The Apostate Fathers).
The fact that those second-century Apostates were still practicing rituals is really a different subject from the specific one I was discussing in The Great Apostasy book. You are correct in saying that second century believers were still a ceremonial community with some charismatic elements, but the ceremonies they were practicing then were new and had nothing to do with Moses’ law. In fact, those new ceremonies had – and still have – nothing to do with the real Jesus or Paul. Christians made up those rituals to replace the ones from the law that they had stopped practicing. God was not in it.
I hope this explains the section on The Tunnel that you mentioned. Thank you again for asking.
Pastor John
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Jim’s question was perceptive and earnestly inquisitive, and I instantly empathized with him, as it seemed confusing to me, too.
Your answer really clarified that situation about Paul, his true doctrine, and the “Church’s” introduction of new rituals in place of the Law of Moses.
We’ve been so immersed in your books this past year that I need a drone’s view of them all, to truly see the history in chronological order. A visual timeline would be helpful, I think. Whew!
Brad
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Give me a white board and some markers, and we will do it!