This past week, we have been reading Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Because the Bible speaks so well towards the human spirit, it makes many points which are so relevant today. Some of the more obvious items are political psychological and sociological. Basically, our daily lives.
Who is Paul
The quick videos I made this past week features the ideas which were put forth by Paul. Paul grew up in modern day Turkey and became a very well-educated Jewish leader Defending Jewish tradition and law intensely… So much so he actively went out to stop the nascent Christian derivative of Judaism. You can tell in his writings how dedicated he is to things he though most important.
In other accounts and letters, it is spoken of Paul’s conversion to Christianity and the reasons for this. It boils down to humanities ongoing quest for truth. Those big questions we have always asked, who am I? Where am I going? and what is my purpose?
Gospel of Christ is Truth
Paul (And I) feel that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth. Some people look at just the first layer of the Gospel message and just read the Gospels and hear the homilies. This shows us the right and wrong how we should treat one another and the like. While this is a part of the truth these things have been known for thousands and thousands of years. Non-Christians know these truths as well.
So, there must be more to cover the entire world with Christians than this. And it relates to those big questions. The truth is that we are Children of the most powerful just and merciful God. The destination we seek is to be with God forever and always and to be sure everyone else knows this great news about themselves as well.
Learning the truth
There is a big gulf there between those two sets of ideas. Right and wrong and our entire purpose of being. This is where we must be constantly learning about God and all of the ideas though out the world helping us learn more about God and those things that drive us away from God. This gets much deeper than what they tried to teach us in seventh grade religious Ed classes, if one made it that far.
Paul highlights some of these truths in his letter. But one of his biggest warnings is humanity will always begin looking to the world and then coming up with their own ideas to supplant the truth that is God. As one reads through the letter Paul is upset by someone coming into the community and spreading falsehoods and working toward their own benefit, much like the politicians of today. They work to distract and to have people do things to benefit themselves and steer us away from the truth.
The Truth of Christ versus the Folly of man
The Christian message is that we have a future and our lives are not futile. When we clothe ourselves in Christ we work toward that future. Following false gods made by man and the world gets us nowhere. Throughout Paul’s letters we see communities facing life eyes wide open and looking to learn. Paul directs them (And us) to learn everything we can learn about Jesus, because he is the Way the Truth and the Life. Read these masterpieces for what they are… the Truth of God.
