paul is responsible
-his stuff is hard to understand
-unlearned and unstable people will misquote him
-they might even nail their sins to the cross
Some years ago, while discussing eternal security with a "works for salvation/works in order to stay saved" old school Pentecostal, he attempted to sway me to his view, based on PARTS OF the following passages, stripped of their overall scope and context...
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Curious about what those passages were actually referring to, I did what I often do whenever I have such a question.
I went home, grabbed an index card, numbered it from 1 to 50, and then proceeded to read Hebrews in its' entirety, that many times.
Soon into my reading, I began to note patterns in sameness within various verses in Hebrews.
One passage in one part of Hebrews shedding further light on some other passage in Hebrews.
With each reading, more and more passages began to come to mind as I was reading some other passages elsewhere in Scripture.
An aside:
Much later, when I ran into the Right Dividers, or MADs, and found we had some understandings in common, I couldn't help but be amused in a positive sense, by their same practice of both comparing and contrasting, various passages throughout Scripture, in light of overall scope and context.
In fact, where MADs hold a different understanding from that of other MADs; a failure on the part of one side as to this extensive verse comparison in light of overall scope and context practice that I have just described, is often behind it, on one side of the equation.
But anyway, only after those 50 times through Hebrews; the passages having begun to result in their own comparisons; contrasts; and light on one another, did I allow myself to begin to look at that old school Pentecostal's assertions.
And I found he had not had a solid grasp of the sense of the above passages at all.
I'll end this long wind with the following; chrysostum...
A man famous over the years throughout his country for his great lectures on the ocean, once had occassion to take some time off.
So he decided to visit the ocean.
As he stepped into the ocean, he was overheard to say "ah, so this is the ocean..."
In short, chrysostum, put away your theories and books by supposed experts, and Get - In - THE - Book!
each: ] I don't believe I need any, serp. How 'bout scratching me off your list of the demon possessed you so freely announce, and I will do the same on my end?
