Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
This thread seems to have gone off track, becoming a debate over whether or not WL's teaching that certain books lacked the divine revelation is a valid teaching.
I think if we can all agree that WL did not have the authority to determine which books were and were not part of the divine revelation then we can all move forward with the thread.
Drake feels that some of these books were given to us as examples of the kind of errors that can be made. He believes that every scripture is God breathed but that does not preclude recording human ideas and opinions. Certainly we all have to agree that the book of Job records human ideas and opinions, and we have to agree that this is a view held widely, perhaps even by a majority of believers.
As long as we all agree that WL didn't have the authority to declare this book is God's word and that book isn't, how does any further debate apply to this thread?.
|
The issue was WN "recovering the Jerusalem Principle"; i.e. imposing external control on local assemblies. James and the Jerusalem church came to mind for some. Some came to Antioch, Peter drew back, afraid, etc.
My point was merely, Be careful how broad a brush you paint with, because in Acts you see many "law-abiding Jesus-following Jews" besides James. Some of them rather close to home, if you know what I mean. The issue was not legalism versus "Gods economy" but rather imposition of one's mores and values on others. And I'm stressing that it goes both ways - it's at the core of Jesus' teachings. "Do unto others". . .
And related, it's worth noting those whose "authority" extends to making broad-based, disparaging assessments of the writers and speakers of scripture.. We're not talking marginal issues here on one or two obscure verses. We're talking wholesale dismissal, which is completely against apostolic precedent.
If you don't get scriptures, maybe it's not defective; maybe your understanding is defective. And maybe in the rush to protect "Antioch" from Jerusalem's incursions, we created the opposite. We just shifted earthly centres.
And that's relevant to the experience of Chinese believers and the Christian West. Two wrongs don't make a right. Denominationalism, though real, doesn't excuse the Little Flock and what it became.