Monday 24 June 2024

No Holy Koolaid, This Verse does not Secretly Undermine All of Christianity

There are cases of individuals who do not read the Bible with any semblance of fairness or proper representation.

A video by Holy Koolaid claims there is one verse in the Bible that undermines Christianity, the video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTnQydJ4O4k&t=358s

Firstly, Let's deal with a few things.

First, the Word Faith preachers do not represent the Bible or Christianity. Their false teachings comes from the theosophists of the 19th Century that gave rise to the New Age Movement.

Former apologist Keith Thompson demonstrates the falsehoods of this movement in two documentaries that he did.

Word of Faith Teachers Origins & Errors of Their Teaching Full Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_UGovwkkM

Joel Osteen_ Origins and Errors of His Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne34FMXm2XY

It also ignores the fact that there are teachers in the Christian Church who have opposed the garbage put forward by the word of faith movement. Such lions in Jesus Christ who have opposed this movement include but are not limited to Justin Peters, Paul Washer, John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham Jr, the late R.C Sproul and Conrad Mbewe.

The Bible not only allows us to question the Word of Faith movement and other heresies, it tells us to shun them. John even goes so far as to say not to welcome a false teacher into your home lest you partake in their wicked works. (2 John 1:11)

Second, Jesus' sacrifice isn't repudiated by his forgiving of the paralytic nor is it repudiated when he forgives the thief. Jesus forgives the paralytic to show that he as God has the authority to forgive sins. In the former case, the Mosaic Law is in operation as is the temple in Jerusalem and thus the sacrifices were still present and at the time of Jesus' death, his sacrifice would cover the sins of the thief on the cross. There is no reason to think Jesus undermines his own teaching by simply granting forgiveness or even the Christian teaching.

This was not a fabrication done as a result of a supposed Messiah who was supposed to conquer the Romans and usher in a golden age and failing, the Messiah had come to earth but not in a manner that the Jews expected.

For that matter, What scholars say that the New Testament was not written by Jesus' apostles? They were by his apostles. Once again Keith Thompson has written article on this subject: https://www.answering-islam.org/authors/thompson/gospel_authorship.html

And funnily enough, his article provides scholars and commentators that deal with this issue. 

While geared towards Muslim apologists, it adequately deals with the ideas presented by liberals, atheists and agnostics who wish to deny their authorship. 

If Koolaid wants to say one cannot use the Bible in this way. Thompson says the following regarding the Bible.

"Some Muslims may object and assert that one can not use the Bible to prove Paul. However, such a surface level objection is based on ignorance since, again, the New Testament is a collection of valuable early historical documents, many of which speak directly to this issue. To discard the 1st century documents that are in the Bible and not include them in our study would be to neglect the earliest sources we have concerning this issue. That method would essentially be to irresponsibly throw away important data, which no serious historian or researcher would ever do. If historical sources don’t count then we can’t know anything about history.https://www.answering-islam.org/authors/thompson/paul-historical.html

Though his article is geared mainly to Paul, it nevertheless is applicable to the Gospels and other writings found in the Bible.

Third, the other issues of feminism and homosexuality I write on here though fuller points on homosexuality have been addressed elsewhere: https://answering-judaism.blogspot.com/2017/11/social-justice-warriors-destruction-of.html

It is however unfair to lump those who oppose homosexuality and feminism for biblical reasons (not hate or misogyny which have been overused deflections that say nothing) with flat earthers, word of faith preachers and theocratic nationalists. It also ignores the atheistic misuse of the Bible to justify anything and everything. 

Miley Cyrus even misused the Bible in this way: https://answering-judaism.blogspot.com/2014/01/center-of-controversy-response-to-miley.html

Fourth, God the Father allowing his Son Jesus Christ to be killed by "filthy apes like us." was necessary to deal with our sin. No mental gymnastics involved. It's either Jesus Christ takes your place as a substitute or you pay for your sins eternally. It was planned in eternity past by the divine wisdom of the Holy Triune God, YHWH of scripture.

It is disrespectful and even blasphemous to suggest that God was getting some kink over the torture of his Jesus' death wasn't necessary.

Lastly, Jesus did not go to hell, he went to Sheol or Hades, the waiting room of the dead, specifically to the section referred by theologians as Abraham's bosom. Jesus went to the underworld or Sheol when he died and he didn't cease to exist, He was full conscious and communicating which can be found 1 Peter 3:19. Jesus, as the God Man, DIED, but he didn't cease to exist. 

Furthermore, After the resurrection, the saints in Abraham's bosom To heaven. Thus they were still alive, even in Sheol. Lazarus went to Sheol as well and Christ raised him.

The late Robert Morey wrote an excellent book I recommend called "Death and the Afterlife."

Answering Judaism

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