Originally posted by elohiym
You renounce both of your baptisms, and consider it sin to be water baptized? How strange, and unbiblical.
Not at all. Very normative. Very biblical.
Originally posted by elohiym
Israel's scriptures? You mean those books Paul quoted all the time?
Of course. Paul didn't write in a vacuum. Paul also quoted the pagan Greek poet Aratus in Acts 17. Big deal. The point is that Paul taught the Mystery in comparison and constrast to Israel's gospel. So naturally he would quote Israel's scriptures.
Originally posted by elohiym
Let's look at what Paul said, Hilston.
Better, "therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens, of the saints, and of the houshold of God." So, as Paul clearly states, without any ambiguity, Gentiles are now "fellowcitizens" of Israel.
The point is, there is no longer Jew nor Gentile in the Body of Christ. Complete unity. No ethnic divisions. Paul's gospel is different from Peter's. Peter's gospel (that of the kingdom of Israel) required ethnic distinctions. The earthly Jesus taught this very thing, making distinctions between Jews and Gentiles in His kingdom (in Mt. 25, Jesus calls the Gentiles "dogs"). In the Body of Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Originally posted by elohiym
So where are the "Body's scriptures", Hilston? Can you direct me to them?
The writings of Paul contain a distinctly different message than the rest of the New Testament corpus. Paul's writings are the Body's scriptures. No other author of scripture talks about this group of God's elect. Search and see.
Hilston wrote:
Those are a small sample of passages from Ezekiel's prophecy. There are tons more. By your logic, burnt offerings and blood sacrifice should be observed as well.
Originally posted by elohiym
No. That's your logic, not mine.
What a short memory you have, elohiym.
You are the one who wanted to use Ezekiel to prove water baptism for today. On that logic, blood sacrifices should be observed today as well. So now that you've proved your argument to be self-refuting and arbitrary, how will you explain yourself? Is water baptism for today or not? If so, then on what grounds do you reject blood sacrifice for today?
Originally posted by elohiym
Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice. The Jewish people will NEVER be asked by God to offer animal sacrifices for sin again.
Oh really? Then why did Paul honor Israel's program by offering animal sacrifices in the Temple in Acts 22:23-26 (cf 24:18)? Why did Peter and John go to Temple to offer their sacrifices at the hour of prayer in Acts 3? Why does Jesus command the disciples to do everything whatsoever He commanded them,
including the offerings in the Temple (Mt. 28:19,20)? Why did Jesus command them to do what the pharisees say, including tithes and offerings (Mt. 23:1-3)? The earthly Jesus never repealed these commmands, yet the glorified Jesus, through Paul's writings, abrogates them completely.
Originally posted by elohiym
Let's look closely at what the LORD tells Ezekiel:The if in the statement makes it conditional. They never met the condition. You points about animal sacrifices, or any future temple worship, are mute.
Oh, I see. Your view is that the last dozen chapters of Ezekiel are meaningless detail that have nothing to do with reality past, present or future?
Hilston writes:
It is scripture that prohibits water baptism; not me.
Originally posted by elohiym
I've never read that in my Bible. Perhaps you can point out specifically where that prohibition can be found?
Read this link and you'll see plenty of specifics regarding the prohibition of water baptism:
The Prohibition of Water Baptism.
Originally posted by elohiym
Frankly, verses like......
Ro 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead
... don't make any sense, in light of you spirit-only-baptism. Care to explain how someone is buried in spirit, and then risen out of the spirit into newness of life?
Paul uses the Greek term "jointly buried," just as elsewhere he uses such terms as "jointly seated" "jointly risen" "jointly glorified" "jointly quickened" "jointly fitted". Each of these is rich with meaning without the requirement of some symbolic ritual.
Originally posted by elohiym
As I already pointed out, Ezekiel 45:17 is a conditional command. The conditions were never met, thus the "rules" you quote will NEVER be implemented.
You have a strange and superfluous view of God's word. Are there any other parts you throw out as meaningless drivel based this fatuous logic? What do you do with Jer 31:31ff/Heb 8:8ff? Do you believe the church is somehow the fulfillment of these passages? If so, then why don't Ezekiel's prophecies apply to us?
Originally posted by elohiym
As for Colossians 2:16,17, it is not a prohibition against "anything of a ceremonial, sacramental, or religious nature" as you claim. Note verse 17 which clearly calls holydays, new moons, and the sabbath as a shadow of things to come, which is the future. Therefore, as unfulfilled types, logically Paul is not claiming that holy days, new moons, and sabbaths have no place in the body of Christ.
You're quite mistaken. Each of these is a snare which Paul explicitly warns them against, saying "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ..." Such practices (religious holydays, new moon and sabbath observances, etc.) are tantamount to angel worship, and since the Body of Christ is above angels in administrative hierarchy (1Co 6:3 Eph 3:10), it is therefore wrong to observe such things.
Furthermore, Paul warns against the ceremonialism of ritual symbolisms, such as we see in modern Eucharist observances. Note the similiarityies:
Colossians 2:20-23
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things
have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Touch and taste regulations, the very thing you see in Eucharistic observances, are prohibited by Paul. All ceremonialism is repudiated.
Originally posted by elohiym
Note Isaiah:
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Since the LORD in the book of Isaiah is speaking of the new earth in that verse, we can see that Paul was correct in stating that new moons and the sabbath were a shadow of things to come.
Those are a shadow of things to come of Israel, not for the Body of Christ. Paul prohibits Sabbaths and New Moon observances because they are Israel's shadows, not the Body of Christ's. That's the point.
Originally posted by elohiym
So basically, Hilston, you haven't made any points yet; but you have confessed to renouncing both your water baptisms as sin. Interesting.
I've made plenty of points elohiym. You don't have to agree with them to acknowledge that points have been made. Everyone one of your protests has been answered with scripture, but I wouldn't be so foolish to say you haven't made any points. It reminds me of how little kids play guns. One kid rounds a corner and sprays the other kid with a full clip of imaginary bullets and the other kid just stands there and says, "Ha ha! You missed me!" The difference here is that the bullets are quite real, and your silly claim of "haven't made any points yet" is obviously inane and everybody sees it.