[Drake]

Originally Posted by afazio

It is so obvious in Scripture how Jerusalem "muddied the waters" in the churches by their overarching, almost "weird" as well as "traditional Jewish" take on everything. What is it that the Gentiles must "refrain from MEAT SACRIFICED TO IDOLS" and "from things strangled"? What is it that "some came from James" to the churches in Galatia to confuse things so much that Paul had to confront Peter to his face to NOT go along with those who "came from James" (the head elder of the Jerusalem church----and, of course, Jesus' brother), and that Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, had to take such incredible pains to distance himself from those supposed "pillars" in the Jerusalem church ("whatsoever they were makes no difference to me; God is the respecter of no man's person"), and also take pains to delineate how little time he had spent with those brothers OR in the church in Jerusalem. And then, what about James' greeting to Paul, where the saints in Jerusalem eagerly boasted to Paul that: "
And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law" (Acts 21:20-21).

Easy now afazio.

Folks in these parts don't take too kindly to finding shortcomings with James.

Drake