Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
So you would make the church in Jerusalem into a metaphor for denominations. But the scripture makes no such metaphorical rendition related to Jerusalem.
If that is the case, then why did Paul come to them to ask for a decision about the issue? Why did he accept their conclusion as reasonable and to be followed?
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Not really - the church in Jerusalem would be a metaphor for the heavenly Jerusalem.
The Jews etc that Paul was part of before his conversion, would be the earthly Jerusalem that persecuted the church in Jerusalem. Remember, Saul persecuted the Christians, before converting to Paul.
Later on the Roman Catholic church became the persecutors of the church in Jerusalem with the Crusades and also the Jews, the people of God.
The church in Jerusalem was subject to Catholic invaders killing Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.
So Catholicism was functioning like earthly Jerusalem, just like Saul, a member of earthly Jerusalem, persecuted the Christians before.
Then came Lutheranism and Anglicanism which also persecuted the genuine believers and also the Jews, the genuine people of God. Then they were functioning like earthly Jerusalem. Luther once wrote that Jewish houses should be destroyed.
In short, Jews and genuine believers have been persecuted by European "Christians", identifying themselves with Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican etc since medieval times.
Persecution of England's Jews could be brutal; recorded are deadly massacres at London[9] and York[10] during the crusades in 1189 and 1190.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor..._and_expulsion