16 Jun 06
1 edit
Originally posted by MythicalSkippyYour own words tell me that paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these letters.
Paul was a man chosen by God .... His insights into the nature and
mind of God are transformational if you allow them to be. His instructions to the early churches still ring true to us today. But Paul was writing letters, not the Bible.
16 Jun 06
4 edits
Originally posted by MythicalSkippyCorrect me if I'm wrong but isn't the book of Revelation also a letter writen by John to various different churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea ? Pauls letters were also written to variuos churches, Romans, Corinthians, Thessalonians, philipians, Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews. Why do consider Paul's letters unscripturual and John's letter Scripture???
But Paul was writing letters, not the Bible.....Revelation is John's vision of the end times. Paul's books were primarily written as letters.
16 Jun 06
3 edits
Originally posted by MythicalSkippyDo you hold the same standard for John's letter (Revelation)? Can we glean truths from it? Yes. Was John writing from his heart and at the urging of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Did he write the letter to us" Yes or No? Based on your argument, if a document is classified as a letter it is not Scripture, this should hold true for Revelation but yet you consider this letter Scripture. Could it be possible that both John and Paul were writng to the people of their time and us? Isn't this the beauty of Holy Scripture?
Can we glean truths from it? Yes. Was Paul writing from his heart and at the urging of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Did he write the letter to us? No.
16 Jun 06
1 edit
Originally posted by MythicalSkippyi disagree. the bible was not just written for men by men, it was divinely inspired. paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. he did not know that what he was writing would be read the world over years later, but God most certainly did! he wrote those letters to a church, but God wrote them to everyone. also, often he asks his letters to be forwarded to other churches (Collosians 4:14, for example).
If you wrote a letter to a very close friend who needed some spiritual guidance you would write it to your friend, not to an audience of millions who would read this letter for the next 2,000 years! That is my point with Paul. We need to keep in mind what he was writing and to whom. We are reading a letter intended for someone else, thousands of ye ...[text shortened]... d understanding. Does this answer your question? Do you feel I am off base in my assumption?
and Revelations is divinely inspired as is it a revelation, which is similar to a prophesy. it is, if i understand correctly, the making of divine information known, while phophesy is seeing the future. (again, that definition is my understanding of it and you really are best to look it up for yourself...) but basically Revelations is a vision which John had that came directly from God. thus, we cannot underestimate the importance of this book. while Paul's letters were inspired, this came from God.
16 Jun 06
2 edits
Originally posted by RBHILLBecause there is an entirely higher possibility that men wrote it. Men that weren't inspired by divinity. Think about it RB, you believe in the existence of god, because when you were young, you read the bible. It was probably a number of years later when you first started truly thinking about what that meant, but by then you had already committed a belief in god to memory. It was habitual and you can't say that you knew god when first you read the bible, so there's no excuse for it. Plain and simply, you believe the bible to be the work of god because it says it is, nothing more. Your entire faith is founded on an inductive, self-confirming act which happened in your adolescence and you have spent the rest of your life trying to justify (and poorly).
Why should God have to prove Himself to you?