MY GOSPEL

by pistolpete 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

pistolpete

Has anyone ever read the New Testament- Critically- and not Theologically? By Theologically I mean not reading the bible with the intention of understanding the nature of God and religious truth.
But instead, reading the bible by analyzing Only the facts of what is written, in an unbiased frame of mind to pull out what is actually happening in the written stories.

First of all, if you were to read the NT in chronological order, Paul’s 7 authentic letters would come Before the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Meaning, every other NT bible book following Paul’s letters would be Pauline Influenced, including the 4 Gospels.

With that in mind noticed what Paul says in his letters, (Not Acts of Apostles because that book was not written by Paul).

Paul when writing his letters to those disciples he converted, he uses the term; “My Gospel”

Not the Gospel of Jesus---but-- “MY-Gospel”

The New world translation changes the term My Gospel to “The Good News I Declare, to hid the idea of Paul’s Gospel”

But most bible translations come closer to the actual translation which reads “My (Paul's) Gospel”

One example of many reads; RSV Romans 2:16; on that day when, according to MY GOSPEL, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

As you continue to read critically, you start noticing that Paul was not preaching the same Gospel that Jesus preached. He always refers to the message he preaches as; MY GOSPEL. In fact Paul’s Gospel does not reflect the Gospel that the 12 apostles preached after the death of their Teacher-Jesus.

Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God had drawn near. This kingdom was envisioned as an era of peace and justice on earth for all humankind inaugurated by a Messiah of the descendant of the royal lineage of King David, ruling over the nations of the world. Jeremiah 33:15

Jesus described it in simple terms and taught his disciples to pray: “Let your Kingdom come, let you will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven”
Jesus had the same expectation as all the Jews had at that time, which was a coming messiah in the linage of King David, who would be the saviour or liberator of the Jewish nation in the hands of the Romans and extending beyond.

This is the message the 12 apostles taught after the death of Jesus.

This is not the same gospel Paul Taught. In fact Paul, who called himself an Apostle, never actually fit the qualifications of an apostle according to the requirements set forth in Acts chapter one. The person qualifying had to meet certain criteria.

The person being appointed an apostle had to be someone who accompanied the other apostles during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them. The person had to start associating with Jesus from the beginning of the baptism of John until the day when he was crucified and taken up from them. Also he had to become one of the persons who was a witness to Jesus’s resurrection. (Acts 1)

Paul did not meet any of these requirements. Not even one.

The way Paul qualified was that He qualified himself by saying that Jesus appeared to him as an invisible spirit and tutored him personally and regularly.

It was approx 7 years after Jesus death that Paul “Claimed” to have received tutoring from the Immortal Spirit Jesus. (This was not the same incident that the book of Acts relates about Paul’s trip to Damascus and how a flash of light blinded him. Interestingly, Paul NEVER mentions this incident in all the letters he wrote. It would only make sense that this would be something he would mention as it would help his converts be impressed on how he was chosen by Jesus.)

What Paul actually said in his letters is this;

RSV Galatians 1:12 For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. …..was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood

“These revelations were not a one time experience of conversion but a phenomenon that continued over the course of Paul’s life, involving many verbal exchanges with Jesus. Also Paul confessed that he received many extraordinary revelations of a nature that Paul was thoroughly convinced that no other human in history, including the 12 Apostles, had received.”

In fact, Paul even described some type of ecstatic spiritual experience, that he underwent and couldn’t comprehend whether it was “in the body, or out of the body” 2 Corinthians 12: 1-10

As you continue reading critically, you find that Paul and the Apostles were actually fighting with each other regarding the Message of Jesus. Paul made up a completely different Gospel that introduced a cosmic family, a Heavenly Kingdom, a Spiritual Body, and some other things that the 12 original Apostles never taught.

In fact, many of the things Paul taught were outright contradictions of what Jesus taught. For example;

Jesus said: NOT EVERYONE who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Mat 7)

Paul contradicted Jesus by saying: EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10)

One last thing that is really important.

PAUL NEVER MET JESUS.

Paul’s qualifications was based on his personal account of what he experienced. His visions and tutoring by the Immortal Spirit Jesus, were experiences that only Paul himself could account for because there were no eye witnesses to testify that what Paul said was actually true.
There was no evidence or eyewitnesses, that Jesus actually appeared to Paul and had lengthy, regular, tutoring sessions, on the Kingdom, the resurrection, angels, the devil, and that humans would be resurrected with a spiritual body to rule the universe and judge angels. Basically the entire foundation of what Paul taught is based on Paul saying;

“Immortal Spirit Jesus appears to me regularly and talks to me.”
truth_b_known

Well done, PistolPete! This is a fascinating topic. I too have come to the same conclusion.
Modern Christianity is based on a religion that received its teachings from Paul and not Jesus.
wozza

Good read Pete ,I think it is hard to read the new testament and study it to make sense of it because people have pre- concieved root beliefs which could account for different understandings of what is read.
Yet what if an extremely powerful computer of AI ability (as far as science is capable of today) were to analyze the NT with as few as possible programmed predjudices and define the text and explain the meaning and if there are any real truths to the text. Now that would be interesting to see ,an explanation of the text without human predjudice and corrupt interpretation.
Some christians might say what the computer came up with is wrong because it has no soul or human mind to fathom gods things. But that is the thing is'nt it? No human is perfect so the very writings themselves are corrupted by who put them down and who deals with the copies afterwards, and in the future who corrupts the original thoughts by believing in the text the way they want to like Paul.
A computer readout of it's analysis and explanation of the texts failures would be illuminating. Why do I say "the texts failures" ? Well with 40 odd thousand christian beliefs all catering to human belief systems self serving their own narcisisstic ways, the core of the problem may well be the HUMAN condition that created the text.
pistolpete

Here is another point of interest that shows Paul was not preaching the same thing that the Apostles in Jerusalem were teaching.
The author of the book of Acts tries to paint a rosy picture of harmony between Paul and the Apostles. He tries to give the impression that Paul and the Apostles were all preaching the same gospel message.

At the very end of Acts, Paul visits Jerusalem for the last time and it seems that the author of Acts reveals more than he intended.

The truth finally comes out. The Apostles had heard some bad rumors about Paul. They had heard that Paul was preaching a different gospel than the one Jesus taught them to preach, and they were concern that Paul was not only lying about what Jesus taught, but was also stumbling a lot of believers.

When Paul arrives in Jerusalem, James and all the elders who had become believers in the gospel of Jesus wanted to dispel that Rumor that Paul was teaching the new converts that the Law of Moses had been abolished. This is what the account says:

RSV Acts 21: 18-22; On the following day Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law,
21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

Now this is important to James, the rest of the Apostles, all the elders who had come to believe in the gospel of Jesus, and all those others who had come to believe in the gospel of Jesus as well.
The reason being because Jesus made it plain that he did not come to abolish the Law of Moses. That was not part of his Gospel.

AMP Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

James then proposes to Paul that something needs to be done to prove the rumor is false. So this is what happens.

Acts 21:23-24 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law.

During this time Paul keeps silent. He neither denies or confirms that he has been preaching that the law of Moses has been abolished. He just goes along with it saying nothing, so as not to be labeled an apostate and thus lose all his converts.

Paul had a way of living a double life and using what the Watchtower calls Theocratic Warfare. In other words he lied when he needed to.

1 Corinthians 9:20 o the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law.

So the apostles had heard through the grapevine that something was not right with the Gospel Paul was preaching about Jesus Christ.The book of Acts reveals this point about Paul's Gospel. That it was different than what the Apostles or even Jesus actually preached.
smiddy3

Very,very interesting read pistolpete .
Abraham1

pistolpete
That was a wonderful Christmas Gift! You have nailed it beyond doubt—Paul was teaching a different Gospel. He did not remain in teachings of Jesus. (Mathew 13:24-30)
Jesus had God’s view with regard to women as equal to men. (Genesis 5:1) He chose to reveal the most important spiritual truths to a woman who was from a “low” caste community called Samaritans. (John 4) He declared that projection of woman as inferior was the result of “hardheartedness” of some ancient men, which obviously has nothing to do with Scriptures. (Mathew 19:4-8) He praised woman as having keener insight into future and spirituality than men (Mathew 26:10-13 Contrast John 6:60) and appointed woman to impart vital spiritual truth to men. (John 20:16-18)
In contrast, Paul’s view of woman (as a creature to be silent and a machine for pregnancy) fits with the need of Church dominated by male superiority. (1 Corinthians 14:34) Hence Church wanted a person like Paul to sound its doctrines to be inspired, as coming via Paul, from Jesus.
pistolpete

Here is another interesting point that proves that Paul was preaching His Own Gospel and not the Gospel that Jesus taught his Apostles.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he told them specifically that the Gospel he preached to them about Jesus, was not the same Gospel that “Human” Jesus taught the Apostles.
In other words, what he was telling the Galatians was that the Gospel that Jesus taught the Apostles was obsolete, because the New Spirit Jesus has personally appeared to him, (Paul) and had given him another Better Gospel.
In fact Paul told the Galatians that it was not even necessary for him to confer, or meet with the Apostles in order to deliberate together or compare views. Notice this in the book of Galatians.

ISV Galatians 1:1 From: Paul—an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah,

Notice in this verse that Paul qualifies himself as an Apostle.
The apostles in Jerusalem Never appointed Paul as an Apostle.

Now notice in this other verse that Paul defiantly tells the Galatians that the Apostles in Jerusalem who were taught by Jesus personally were not the ones who taught him. Instead Paul tells the Galatians that Spirit Jesus PERSONALLY TAUGHT HIM THE NEW GOSPEL.

Galtians 1:11-12 11 For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah

Now in this other verse Paul goes as far as saying that God has chosen him before he was even born. Which trumps the other 12 apostles because they were not chosen before they were bore.

Galatians 1:15 But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles,

Then to finally seal the deal that the 12 Apostles were NOTHING compared to him, he says that the 12 Apostles had no authority over him regarding what the TRUE Gospel was. So there was no need to ask for permission from the 12 apostles.

Galatians 1: 17; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me.

This is why there was so much division among the early congregations of Christianity. Paul was causing chaos and confusion between the Gospel that the 12 apostles taught by Jesus---- were teaching, and the Gospel Paul was teaching.

The reason many Gentiles believed that Spirit Jesus was speaking with Paul in secret, was because they were already primed for believing such things, considering that gentiles back then believed in many Gods, spirits of the dead, and demonic spirits of the underworld.
Thus it was no big deal for Gentiles to believe some stranger who was saying that an invisible Spirit Jesus was teaching him the New Gospel of salvation.
pistolpete

Here is something else to consider. The Gospel of Mark was the first written gospel, not Matthew.
Luke was written several decades after Matthew, perhaps at the end of the first century. And John was written much later.
That being the case the Gospel of Mark was the cleanest of them all. By this I mean no extra embellishments.
A good example of this is the Gospel of Mark did not have the story of Jesus's birth and the three wise men or whatever you want to call them. Mark also didn't have the killing of all the babies, or the young Jesus teaching older men story.
Reason being is because these stories had not been "Created" YET to embellish the life of Jesus. So the stories were not in circulation when the Gospel of Mark was written. Meaning that the author of Mark had not heard of such stories. Those stories came years later. Remember the author of the Gospel of Mark was not an EYE WITNESS.
DoubtingThomas

Interesting mixture of Fact & Fancy...
EdenOne

Also, consider the fact that Mark doesn't seem to know anything about a resurrection story ... in fact, this was so shocking and embarrassing that some scribes took it up upon themselves to add a spurious "short conclusion" and a "long conclusion" to Mark, in order to at least make it seem that Mark knew something about it.
Also, about Paul and his feud with the apostles in Jerusalem ... I have the feeling that Paul could easily have considered that the apostles framed him in the Jerusalem Temple episode ... that the good (in fact, terrible) advise they gave him order to prove his jewish orthodoxy obedience to the Law was in fact a ruse to have him arrested or killed by an angry mob (remember who started the riot? The "Jews from Asia", possibly the same people whom Paul had unsuccessfully attempted to convert in Ephesus - Acts 19:8-10) Even if it wasn't that the intention of the apostles (I think it's not entirely impossible, if they really thought he was an apostate, in which case they were in agreement with orthodox Jews), at the very least Paul could see the chain of events in that way, and that can explain the extremely harsh tone he employed in some of his letters to refer to the apostles and the "jewish Jesus movement" followers as opposed to his Christ movement followers. (Compare to Phillipians 3:2, where Paul calls these "dogs")

MY GOSPEL

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