Fw: Yet Another Bible contradiction
Brian Dean bridean@worldnet.att.net
Fri, 13 Mar 1998 21:01:42 -0500 (00889862502, 19980314015327.AAA19064@briandea)
BRIDEAN
I KNEW that Ron was going to give the response that he gave below.
I would love to see you guys have fun with this. Ron's response at the
end of this post.
>Let's see. According to the Bible do we gain eternal life by following
>the law? Galatians 2:16 ",, no man is justified by doing what the law
>demands
>...for by such deeds SCRIPTURE says, 'No man shall be justified'"
>
>Since NT scripture hadn't been written yet, Paul must be refering to OT
>scripture. Let's see what the OT scripture says
>
>Leviticus 18:5 "I am the Lord your God. You shall observe my
>institutions and my laws: the man who keeps them shall have LIFE through
>them. I am the Lord"
>
>Doesn't sound like the OT says that to me. What do you think?
>
>RON
> First of all you are mixing up your metaphors. You ask about "eternal
>life", then you quote Galatians about "justification", finally you refer
>to a quote about "life" (not eternal life) from Leviticus.
> Obviously "keeping the law" would not be sufficient as, except in rare
>cases, no one under the old covenant was able to enter into Heaven.
>That's why Christ's atonement was necessary. The book of Deuteronomy,
>27:26 (as you would have read if you had gone farther in Galations
>instead of taking a verse out of context) says there is to be a curse on
>anyone who does not observe the law, keeping and "observing all those
>commandments and statutes" (28:15). The penalties are not simply of a
>spiritual nature as you will discover by reading further in Deuteronomy.
>So "life" can mean simply "life", although I would not suggest we limit
>it to that.
> Paul's point is that NO ONE was able to observe all of these anyway,
>so if they relied on the Law they would be under a curse. He then
>pointed out that faith in Christ is the only way to achieve salvation
>for those who have heard the Gospel. See Romans 2:12-29 and James
>2:18-26.
> Don't mix different words and read everything in its context. Don't
>you think Paul was familiar with Deuteronomy?
>
>EDWARDS
>I seem to recall Saul conjuring up the spirit of Samuel prior to one of his
>battles, implying that there was something beyond death even in OT times.
>Apart from that, Jesus spoke of Lazarus being in heaven while the rich man
>(named Nineveh in some ancient manuscripts, btw) was consigned to the hot
>spot. Since this parable was allegedly given before the "new covenant", it
>would seem this constitutes another exception to your general rule that
>"...no one under the old covenant was able to enter into Heaven." Were
>these the only "rare cases"?
>
RON
Prior to Christ's atoning death the righteous and unrighteous both went
to Hades (trans. Hell). Hades was divided in two with a chasm between
them. The righteous went to "the Bosom of Abraham". See Like 16:19-31
for details. Hell and the "lake of fire" are not the same. This is a
modern confusion as is the concept that Satan rules Hell. God rules
everywhere, even in Hell. As the Creed says, Christ descended into Hell
and preached to those held captive there.