Why is the NT Confusing & Contradictive

[Geezer]

 

Carried over from Rants & Replies

Christians will argue that the right path is obedience to god's law as laid out in the bible. And when failing (which everyone does and which apparently sanctifies if rightfully repented of), they are to fall back on the ideas that there is vicarious justification and redemption through Christ. It is a mindlessly frustrating cycle.

What are your thoughts on this, Geezer?

 

The first step, I believe, is to acknowledge that the Bible is literature not history. It does not reflect an accurate historical record of anything. This is confirmed by its literary genre. It is extremely important to recognize the distinction between literature and historical record keeping.

All the Biblical authors are anonymous. Some historians have theories about the authorship of some writings, but those are just theories. Whoever the authors were they were clearly writing stories not historical records of events or people. That clearly indicates the Bible is not an instruction manual it’s a collection of fictional stories and characters. People who do not understand that are already heading down the wrong path.

 

A major reason for the New Testaments confusing and contradictive instructions, regarding how a person becomes saved and how they retain their saved status, is because the authors of the NT books are promoting three different theologies.

 

The Gospel writer(s) are promoting Orthodox Judaism. Matthew 24:35, Luke 21:33, 1 John 2:17. Basically these scriptures are saying two things:

(1) For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

(2) The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  

The author had Jesus saying the Law would remain forever and those that follow the law will please God.

 

The Apostle Paul (or whoever was writing in Paul’s name) claims that God gave him a new theology as found in Ephesians 2-8-22 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them

  11Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 

The Epistles are offering a new theology. And this theology is Gnostic. Galatians 2:19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law--I stopped trying to meet all its requirements--so that I might live for God.

Romans 7:4
Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

 

Colossians 2:14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

 

Paul claims the law was fulfilled on the cross and believers are now under grace not law. Paul is claiming Judaism has been replaced with Gnostic theology that is based on faith and grace not adherence to the law. Paul and Jesus are clearly not on the same theological page.

 

The third theology that is found in the New Testament is Orthodoxy later to be known as Catholicism.

 

Those identified as radical religious historians take the position that both Jesus and Paul are literary characters and that neither of them were real historical people. This makes sense because it is recognized by the scholarly community in general that the Gospels and Epistles are stores and not records of any historical events.

 

The Orthodox (Catholic) favors a mixture of law, obedience to the law, and grace. They reject the idea of faith only as proposed by Paul. The Orthodox and Gnostics became bitter enemies with each group fighting for supremacy in this new evolving Christian faith.

 

Scholars that accept the premise that Paul was only a literary figure theorize that Simon Magus and Marcion of Sinope  were the actual authors of Paul’s generally recognized six authentic epistles. Paul’s epistles were miraculously “discovered” in the early part of the second century by Marcion.

 

Marcion’s Gnostic version of Christianity was wildly popular in the second century and his churches greatly outnumbered the Orthodox churches. This imbalance did not change until the Catholic Church officially excommunicated Marcion and labeled him a heretic.

 

Only after Marcion was declared a heretic and Constantine chose Catholicism as the official religion of the Roman Empire did the third form of Christianity (Catholicism) take hold and prosper. The Catholic Church recognized Peter not Paul as the primary Apostle of Christ. Paul was relegated to an insignificant position in the Catholic Church due to his Gnostic teaching.

 

Interestingly enough that all changed with Martin Luther and the reformation movement in the 16^th century. The Protestant’s embraced Paul and his Gnostic teaching and reestablished salvation by faith alone through grace. Paul, Marcion, & Simon Magus Gnostic religion was revived and has prospered in Protestant Churches throughout the world since then until today.

 

The New Testament reflects these three forms of theology that appear in the Gospels and Epistles. The mixture of Gnostic and Catholic teaching in the NT is theorized by some scholars to reflect the writings and editing of Polycarp who was a 2nd-century Christian bishop of Smyrna and a strong Catholic who bitterly opposed Marcion and Gnostic teaching. Some scholars believe Polycarp wrote the Pastoral Letters to refute and challenge Pauline teaching. Polycarp is the assumed author of other writings in the NT that challenge Pauline theology.

 

The mixture of Judaism, Gnostic, and Catholic theology throughout the NT accounts for the contradictive and confusing teaching on salvation. Baptism an essential element in the Protestant faith comes from the Jewish tradition of Mikvah, a ceremonial cleansing in water by immersion. Again, another theologies traditions are incorporated into Christian theology. 

 

And in addition to all the things I’ve listed, scholars acknowledge the Bible both OT and NT has been edited, redacted, changed, and sections completely rewritten multiple times. Additionally there are no original copies of any of the books of the Bible so there is no way to know how or in what ways the Bible has been changed. That is why scholars like Dr. Bart Ehrman say present day Bible are forgeries. Again, it is wise to remember the Bible is a collection of fictional stories with fictional characters. It is not a record of historical events or people and that fact alone should nullify any idea or belief that the Bible is in any way Divine or Sacred. 

[Geezer]

It probably should also be noted the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, & Luke reflect Jewish/Catholic theology, while the Gospel of John reflects Gnostic theology. The names Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John were not added to the four most popular unnamed manuscripts until the year 367, so those Gospels are clearly not eyewitness accounts of anything & it also confirms that Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John were not the authors of the Gospels that are linked to their names.

 

Just another example of Biblical forgery. 

[R_Collins]

Bart Ehrman has written several books that explain the cause of many of the inconsistencies, contradictions and incoherencies in the Bible. Forged,  Misquoting Jesus and  Jesus Before the Gospels each provide some well-documented answers.