Paul ?
In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful
More contradictions
FAITH
and / or
WORKS ?
Does this represent your idea of Salvation ? :
{in Ephesians 2: 8-9 }
"for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast."
Or is THIS what you believe about Salvation ?
{ in Matthew 7: 18-23 }
"Thus you will know them by their fruits. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 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 in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' "?
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Paul sometimes makes it clear that by "works" he means the "works of the Law", i.e. the requirements of the Old Testament. At other times, he appears to be talking about all works, including those required by the New Testament, and those performed by others who might not believe in either Testament, but follow what their own consciences tell them that they should do or avoid doing.
Let us first look at what Paul says about the "works of the Law" and compare that to what Jesus says regarding that subject.
{ in Galatians 2:16 }
". . . a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law" ?
{Romans 3 : 28 }
For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.
{ Romans 4: 3 - 5: 2 }
For if Abraham (who came before the Jews were given the "the Law" at the time of Moses) was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin." Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness." How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised (i.e. the gentiles) and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised. For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be". He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness."
Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
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While Christian Conservatives insist that there cannot be any contradiction between the teachings of Jesus and Paul (despite all evidence to the contrary), their way of dealing with the conflicts is to enthusiastically embrace and endlessly repeat Paul's teaching about "the Law and the Prophets" (above), and then quietly ignore Christ's teaching, (as you will see below).
According to those who follow PAUL, what is most important to God is what we believe. According to those who follow JESUS, what is most important to God is what we do. Even while those who follow PAUL talk a great deal about JESUS, what they believe about him is not what JESUS said about himself and what he expects of us. but what PAUL said about JESUS and what PAUL expects of us.
{ Matthew 5: 17-22 }
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. "
{ Luke 16:16-17 }
" The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of Yahweh is preached, and every man presseth (forces his way) into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."
{ Matthew 23: 1 - 5 }
" Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others;
{ Luke 10: 25-37 }
One day an expert on Moses' laws came to test Jesus' orthodoxy by asking him this question: "Teacher, what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven?" Jesus replied, "What does Moses' law say about it?" "It says," he replied, " that you must love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself. " "Right!", Jesus told him. "Do this and you shall live!"
{ Mark 7: 6-9,13 }
"He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! . . . 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this."
If Jesus felt that strongly about the requirements laid down in the Hebrew Bible, just imagine how he will treat those who play down his own requirements! (most of which are spelled out on this web site).
Speaking of Isaiah, those who know the teaching of Jesus will see the great similarity of his teaching with the following from the great prophet he quoted above:
{ Isaiah 58: 1-10 }
"Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast; tell my people of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and are so delighted to hear the reading of my laws -- just as though they would obey them -- just as though they don't despise the commandments of their God! How anxious they are to worship correctly; oh, how they love the Temple services! ; 'We have fasted before you,' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? Why don't you see our sacrifices? Why don't you hear our prayers? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
I'll tell you why! because you are living in evil pleasure even while you are fasting, and you keep right on oppressing your workers. Look, what good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. is this what I want -- this doing of penance and bowing like reeds in the wind, putting on sackcloth and covering yourselves with ashes? Is this what you call fasting? The kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and destitute. clothe those who are cold, and don't hide from relatives who need your help.
If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you. Your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! "Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day."
While claiming to be "Christians",
Conservatives give lip service to Jesus,
and then ignore Jesus' teaching
about Faith proven by "works",
in favor of Paul's teaching
about Faith without works :
http://liberalslikechrist.org/about/forsalvation-2.html