[b]Silent_K wrote:[/b] [quote]I don\'t want to derail a couple of other threads, so I\'m posting my questions here. Some of the discussions in the thread about Paul and the one about the Sabbath raised a couple questions in my mind about the inspiration of several books of the NT that were not necessarily authored by Paul (this is particularly addressed to those who don\'t believe that Paul was inspired, but others can answer as well). I\'m wondering about Acts, Hebrews, 1 & 2 Peter, James and Jude. Which of these do y\'all consider inspired? Acts is believed to be written by Luke. He was believed to be inspired when he authored the Gospel of Luke, do you believe he was inspired when he wrote Acts? Peter is traditionally held to be appointed by Christ as the human head of the early church and was definitely a major leader in the church. Do you believe he was inspired? Who do you believe was the author of Hebrews and what is your view of the book? James and Jude were prominent in the early church and biological brothers of Christ. Do y\'all believe they were inspired? I\'m asking these things so that I can be better informed about your position when we discuss these topics. Thanks. -Philip[/quote] Well, first I want to point out that in the Jewish way of looking at religious texts, which some Messianics follow as well, \"scripture\" is not all or nothing. That\'s the Christian way of looking at things, at least on the surface. Beneath the surface, plenty of Christian pastors get away with acting like their sermons carry the weight of G-d\'s Word, and questioning the preacher is the same as questioning G-d. All that aside, to most Christians, you have this concept \"sola scriptura\" that we have these 66 or 72 books, THEY are the foundation of the true faith, and you need nothing else. It\'s not that way in Judaism. The Torah is above everything. Paper, rock, scissors, Torah trumps it all. ;) But then you have subtle LEVELS. Solomon and David were most wise, their words are so profound, that we read them and cannot help but think that G-d inspired them. But that\'s not the same as saying G-d WROTE them or DICTATED them to David or Solomon, which is exactly what He did with Moses and the Torah. And then we go even further off, getting into the writings of the sages, and the learned Rabbis, with Mishnah and Talmud, and tons and tons of other books, according to what sect a person is in, and many such students would say these writings were inspired.... but they\'re not going to say G-d wrote it. It\'s the same. I can say that a book was inspired by G-d, and yet NOT say that every word in that book was chosen by G-d, as if He were speaking into a dictaphone or something. We have clear statements from Paul saying \"I don\'t have a command from G-d on this, but here\'s what I think.\" Clearly, then Paul\'s every word is not a direct revelation from G-d. If you want to say other parts were, okay, but when he SAYS \"this part isn\'t\" you can\'t argue it on that verse. Ack, I\'m rambling. I\'ll get back to this.

Post edited by: MattBob_SquarePants, at: 2008/03/26 03:10