abolishing Hell? ("all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire...")

[ScaliaFan]

ScaliaFan,

All Jesus did was usher in a new covenant.

The Jews are still God's chosen people but the Gentile believers were added through Christ. The Jewish unbelievers were removed.

Paul uses a vine as an example and speaks of branches that cut off and others that are grafted.

It is all one religion but the Jews that reject Jesus follow a path of heresy.

That is why the teaching about Hell in Scripture is actually a Jewish teaching.

the teaching of Hell is not for Jews alone but for all.. so dont get what u mean

and anyone who loves Jesus is "chosen"

 

[epostle1]

ScalliaFan,

All of what you say may hint at Peter being the one Jesus loved "most" but being hints they are not a convincing argument.

In the scroll of Acts it is James, Jesus' brother, that acts as Paul's leader by giving him advice, not Peter. In both Acts and his letters Paul treats Peter as an equal and a dear friend not as a leader.

The evidence that the church leadership was of twelve co-equal apostles. James would in that case serve as chairman at the time Paul came to Jerusalem but Peter served as the spokesman on Pentecost.

Peter's primacy has nothing to do with “being loved the most”. Jesus asked him 3 times if he loved Him, and said each time “feed my sheep”. Jesus was not talking to any body else. Feed who? And feed them what? Here are some 70 NT verses showing Peter as leader and spokesman for the Apostles.
Equality and jurisdiction are not the same thing; this is what is so confusing for Protestants. Peter is "First among equals" which may explain it better.

Jesus actually stated that his people were not to be ruled over like the Gentiles though that is most likely a reference to the fact leaders are to serve the community of believers. Jesus symbolized this idea by washing the feet of the twelve.

This "dominating dictator" image of the papacy is a Protestant invention. The Pope washes feet every Holy Thursday, often prisoners and drug addicts.

Jesus certainly did not plan for the inflated and corrupt popes of the popular imagination. He intended to found a church, but the church was not democratic in structure. It was established with clear individual leadership. In Matthew 16.18-19 Jesus says to Simon Peter, “You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” So, Jesus established his church not on a congregational model, but on the model of personal leadership.


Note: The RCC hierarchy structure seems to be similar though more rigid than the Jewish one of Jesus' time with the Pope being the equivalent of the High Priest and the College of Cardinals the equivalent to the Sanhedrin. It also has some similarity to the Roman Senate which theoretically elected the Emperor in conjunction with popular assemblies though the Jews may have something similar with their high priest.


Was this a monarchical papacy? In a way it was. In Matthew 16 Jesus goes on to say to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This is a direct reference back to Isaiah 22.22, where the prophet recognizes Eliakim as the steward of the royal House of David. The steward was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom. The keys of the kingdom were the sign of his personal authority delegated by the king himself.

Jesus never intended a monarchical papacy in the corrupt sense of the Pope being an absolute worldly monarch, but the church leadership Jesus intended was ‘monarchical’ in the sense that it was based on his authority as King of Kings.

The essence of the structure has not changed in 2000 years.
Jesus promised the gates of hell will not prevail (overcome) over the Church. That does not mean the gates of hell will not attack, and it has in many ways, but never prevail. Protestantism says the gates of hell did prevail, with false theories of the Church going astray. Did Jesus lie? Or did He go on vacation for 1500 years?