Apostles to say that Angelsdirectly command them to do things that aren't necessarily written inthe Bible. I got a very different impression of Jesus and his religion thanPaul, after I read Jesus' written words. However, Paul's letter inPhilippians reminded me of the attitude from the Christian religionchurches that I have been accustomed to for years. Versus like: 'I cando all things through Christ who strengthens me' (P 4:13), and '..notlook out for your own interests, but the interests of others' (P 2:4).However, I felt that P 2:10 showed a direct contradiction toHebrew Scripture or any sayings from Jesus. '...Name of Jesus, everyknee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those underthe earth.' If Paul is implying that people are living under theearth, in hell, then he is adopting that belief without any backup, forthere is no one in hell now. People who are dead must wait for thecoming of God and Judgement day. Anyway, that is what + alwaysthought. The strongest, overall impression that I got after reading Matthew, Mark, Acts and Philippians, was thatthe teachings of Jesus were not very well understood/followed duringthe formation of The Church years later. Issues I discussed before,like 'punishment and Fearing God's wrath', 'wealth re-distribution'(Jesus lived as a peasant), 'the position assumed by certaininfluential apostles' seem very foreign to Jesus. It seems that many of the new beliefs in the New Testamentcan only be backed-up if you belive that Angels really did come to menon earth as often as the N.T. says, rather than looking to the HebrewScripture for validation. The rest of this class should be interesting. I expect somebig changes in my religious beliefs to come from it. ...
