Gamali'el the Elder, of whom the Mishnah says “When Rabban Gamaliel the elder died, the glory of the law ceased and purity and abstinence died” (m.Sota 9.15) is recorded as giving advise in the 1st century against attacking Jesus' Apostles:
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.
Acts 5:31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Acts 5:32 “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
Acts 5:33 But when they heard this, they (the Jewish religious leaders) were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.
Acts 5:34 "... a Pharisee named Gamali'el, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.
Acts 5:35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men.
Acts 5:36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.
Acts 5:37 “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.
Acts 5:38
“So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; Acts 5:39
but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”The God of Abraham inspired every Word written in Holy Scripture. If God did not write Proverbs, it would be worthless.
Solomon, within himself alone wrote absolutely nothing.
They are the words of Solomon only in the sense that God uses the personalities and individual styles of His prophets through whom to write.
They are not puppets, as Satan would desire them to be.
Again, I attack no one, I speak the truth in love (not the huggy bear, sloppy kisses, eros love).
I lack sufficient interest in anyone to bother attacking them.
The questions I answered, you fail to perceive.
Acts 15:11 "On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Thanks be to God, Ginny, my sight is not spiritually veiled, - nor do I bear any ill-will toward anyone.
It would require more effort than I care to expend toward user names on a website.
It is your personal attack upon the Word of God delivered though His spoken messengers which I defend against, the misinterpretation and misapplication.
After routinely attacking, the Apostle Paul and his God-given message of the gospel of Jesus the Christ to all mankind,
in a manner that would be offensive to millions of the earth's inhabitants, to then portray oneself as unjustly set upon... -
Even to a disinterested bystander, this is an observable pattern, a constant.
There is no attack by yet another big, bad villain, nor is there a poor set-upon virtuous victim whenever anyone looks upon you cross-eyed.
As to whom is attacking who in reference to the Apostle Paul:
God gave to Paul the ability to truthfully analyze others' spiritual conditions. For this the Jewish religious leaders repeatedly plotted to kill him:
Acts 9:22-24 "But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him."
Acts 23:11-13 The following night the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”
When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
More than forty of them were involved in this plot."
I would be deeply honored to, in any way, be able to emulate the Apostle Paul of Tarsus.
Each verse in God's Word can stand alone, complete in thought and meaning, and a complete topic study in God's Word is a mosaic formed of verses often plucked from different chapters of different books, which fit together.
Having read God's word through for the first time, in it's entirety, at the age of nine, I know what He has taught me. That is sufficient.
Pennylynn wrote:
So very interesting..... instead of answering my questions you decide to make personal attacks. How very Pauline of you. If you read many of his letters, he spent an inordinate amount of time attacking others.
I do find it interesting that you quote Proverbs 3:5-6 to make your point. First, G*d did not write Proverbs or dictate it as He did in the "Laws", it was written by King Solomon. This is why it is classified as "writings" rather than "Law" or "Prophecy." The book of Proverbs, part of the "writings" is interesting and much can be learned from this book. So, thank you. This book is about "wisdom" an entire book of generational principles that applies to everyone. At the heart of it... seek wisdom and make wise decisions. To cherry pick a verse, in my thinking, misses the mark. To truly understand a book we need to consider it in completeness. The book opens with: "The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, (are): To know wisdom and discipline, to comprehend words of understanding; To receive the discipline of wisdom, righteousness, justice, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. Let the wise man hear and increase learning. The understanding man shall acquire wise counsels..." So many today take the quote you gave as meaning that G*d will whisper in the ear how He wants us to go as individuals, all the correct decisions without effort on our part, the decision He wants us to make. This is contrary to what is taught. We have free will to make decisions and those who are faithful, those who study and ask question, follow the laws, keep the covenant will know in their hearts what decision to make. In other words, G*d has already given us the tools to make the correct choices... apply them to daily life. Going onward, many modern people think that the verses you quoted means that we should all think of ourselves as stupid or complete idiots. This also seems counter to teachings, again... "let the wise man hear and increase in learning..." Rather this verse logically means that we are not smarter than G*d. More clearly, G*d has shown the way of wisdom, walk in it. That includes to fear him and shun evil. Do so, and you will be blessed for it. The modern view is the lazy view, it does not require much... it is easy and it can make us feel really spiritual, but it just is not true. The ancient view did not rest on feelings. In fact, it would rely more on self-control where control of feelings instead of allowing feeling to be in control. It is a life of discipline that is not easy. I suppose then I can understand why many have so often moved to an easier view and expecting G*d to make all the decisions for us.
So very interesting..... instead of answering my q... (
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