Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
Not "some came from James". but "some JUDAIZERS came from James". If James was a Paul, then I'm sure that James would have sorted out those Judaizers and told them it's not right for you to circumcise Gentiles. To me the answer is obvious, it is the reason why 48% of our New Testament is written by Paul, and only 4% by James.
|
I get your point, but to be fair we must eliminate Paul as well. Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus, and penned one of his most famous and enduring epistles to them, and yet John, writing after Paul had passed, said that the Ephesian church only had objective doctrine but no reality. No first love, merely letters.
So Paul also fell short. And since Timothy, next in line as MOTA, never lived up to the billing, Paul's lineage fell off and the True Apostle John then assumed control, via his disciples Polycarp and Irenaus.
Of course I am being facetious. But that is the Just So Stories we get from Lee. A completely biased and subjective, and self-serving understanding is read back upon the text, and leads the captive followers (stuck on the One True Ground, and unable to move because, "even if he's wrong he's right") away from the text and into fable-land.
The whole thing is a Jungian dream, where unresolved fears are placed onto the Shibboleth, or Other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
All this was supposed to end with the advent of Jesus, who tore down all walls of separation. Instead we place faux walls of purity, as if that was the name of the game. Of course denominations are horrible! So is the world. So is politics, art and sport. So is everything. I know - let's create our imaginary worlds in the corner, where we're free to condemn everyone else as grossly deformed, and expel all who doesn't get it, and conform absolutely, in order to maintain our putrid - sorry, purity - freudian slip! Yes, indeed.
And what was the problem with James, again? He had concepts, right? Natural, fallen human concepts. Thank God for raising up His Humble Bondslave on the virgin soil, free from all natural concepts. Now we are free in the duck pond. On the proper boats.