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  • From: nanosmd AT comcast.net
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re: Questions for Paul
  • Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 20:06:32 +0000

Paul,
I am not ready to use all of my questions up, but I do want to ask one at the
moment. First, let me frame my reason(ing) for asking.

You did not come to faith in Jesus as Christ as a result of reasoned study of
Scripture or current events; in fact, you opposed the people who did so in a
definitive way that hardly characterizes the choices of most others who do
not
share this faith (as I read you, Gal 1:13-16). But then you had a miraculous
revelation that changed your mind, and the course of your life to become a
(even
"the") representative of that faith.

Yet many who look to your voice (or project their voice into yours) since
(these past few years) have understood you to be intolerant of and judge as
condemned those who do not share your later conviction, even though most
people in this world and age (including, I assume, many if not most of those
who claim to speak with if not for you) have not had similar revelations, but
simply, the kinds of arguments that you too had
not found convincing. They are judged by your followers to be "unbelievers,"
and
by many to be eternally condemned, but it is not as though they had a
revelation
like you benefited from and rejected it. And all the more so is this (sans
revelation like yours) true for the many who either never heard these
arguments
or will hear them in contexts where they do not mean the same thing they did
for
you and others who share your belief.

(By the way, not to burn a question in developing the background for the
question I wish to pose, but in anticipation of it: if Luke rightly observes
that those with you did not understand the revelation, then this just
emphasizes
my point, since they, it seems to me, can hardly be culpable to the same
degree as you for that which they did not experience; right? Why would God
obscure their vision, yet expect them to believe as do you, and hold them to
the same level of culpability?)

Now it does seem to me that the curse wishes of Gal 1:8-9 and other such
negative comments supports this kind of understanding of you as intolerant
and
condemning of those who have views other than yours, and those who, like you,
share their convictions of what is in someone else's best interests, although
to
different conclusions than your own. Unfortunately, I have observed some who
seem to relish this opportunity to judge the other instead of respect their
position on the assumption that it is as nobly made as their own (i.e., to
love
their neighbor as they would wish to be loved). Yet there is other language
in
your letters that bespeaks tolerance and respect (not least Rom 11) and puts
the
job of judging the neighbor in God's hands (and, e.g., to love their neighbor
as
they would wish to be loved). This language leads me to suspect that those
who
are so bold to judge do so too quickly for your taste. So my question is:

What is your position on those who have not had revelations like yours and
thus
do not share your faith, and those who share faith in Christ, but understand
it
differently (whether because of different revelations, or different logic)?
What
is the guiding principle for those who would seek to follow your lead in
terms
of their attitudes toward, discourse about, and actions toward them? Should
they
not be respected for the nobility of following their own convictions, for
faithfulness to the logic of that by which they are convinced, even by the
revelations they may have received?

Paul, I consider this one question! (cf. remember your asking "only this" in
Gal 3:2, then proceeding to write the questions of vv. 2-5?)

A seeker of wisdom,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
Rockhurst University
co-moderator
nanosmd AT comcast.net
http://home.comcast.net/~nanosmd
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