DAVEH: Paul to use a practice of paganism (or non Christianity) to teach a Christian principal?
Paul referred to PAGAN poets Arastus who speaks of the heathen Jupiter. Acts 17:28 Not to use it as a parrallel but he contrasts their own Pagan worship to the unknown god, with the worship of the true god, as a teaching tool. He calls them to repent of idolatry.
He also in titus 1:12 referred to the Pagan witness of one of their own, who should know about them, and is also, unlikely to slander them. Even their own testified to their bad character.
On the other hand.
LDS have taught that similarities between Paganism & the "Restored gospel" (LDS gospel) show it's truth. Look at all the things Paganism has in "kinship" with LDS theology:
Pagans believed in godhood & deification
Pagans believe knowledge is salvation, and those in the know (gnosis) enter in.
Pagans got revelation through the spirit - Burning in the bosom
Gospel Through the Ages Milton R Hunter p. 117-118
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Pagans' Concept of Knowing God
Even the doctrine of a knowledge of God as the avenue to Godhood made it's way outward from the Divine Fountain of Truth into the heathenistic religions of the Mediterranean world. The teachings of the Hermetic pagan cult sound quite familiar to those who are acquanted with the doctrine taught by Jesus, by John the Beloved, by Paul, and by Joseph Smith the American Prophet. They have a close kinship to the true Gospel which came to earth through holy prophets of God. For example, Hermes declared; "And this alone, even the knowledge (gnosis) of God, is man's salvation. This is the ascent to Olympus, and by this alone, can a soul become good." This religion taught , as did the Prophet Alma, that man must experience a rebirth. The Hermetic rebirth involved nothing less than deification. "This is the good; this is the consummation for those who have got the gnosis-they enter into God"; so declared the Hermetic teacher.
Cult members believed that such knowledge came about as a special mental or spiritual enlightenment which came to them as a gift of God. (Compare this thought with John 14:16-18, 26; 15:26; 16:13.) Thay also maintained that demons were forever present to lead the ungodly man into unrighteous desires and habits. "But to the holy and good, the pure and the merciful who lived piously, the spirit was ever presentto help them win the Father's love by their upright lives."
Note the close resemblances betweeen the forgoing pagan teachings and those of the true Gospel. For example, the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and Spirit of God being forever present to guide the righteous man along the path of truth and light and to give him a testimony of the Gospel and divinity of Jesus Christ is closely related to the Hermetic dosctrine of spiritual enlightenment through the Spirit of God. Thus we see that the true doctrine of knowing the Lord as the pathway to Godhood was revealed to man as part of the knowledge of the divine plan of salvation; and like many other Gospel truths, it was disseminated among pagan worshipers.
Dave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
David Miller wrote:
> Kevin wrote:
> > 1 Co 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized
> > for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they
> > then baptized for the dead?
> > Here Paul abruptly switches gear and refers to a group
> > outside of the Christians he had been refering to throughout
> > the whole chapter. He now uses the THIRD person pronoun "they",
> > since he is refering to PAGANs and Heathens.
>
> Excellent point. The Mormons always seem to ignore this point. I have
> not seen an answer to it. Blaine and Dave, can you give some kind of
> answer to the language used here? Why does he talk "we" up to this
> verse, then switch to "they" if he did not consider those who baptized
> for the dead to be in some other group?
DAVEH: I don't see it that way at all. I think it is more of a generic form of speech for something that was relatively commonly practiced. What good would it do Paul to use a practice of paganism (or non Christianity) to teach a Christian principal?
It does not make logical sense. Now speaking from the perspective that WE are all Christians, as much as some want to rationalize this passage, I don't think THEY can easily divorce THEMSELVES from an association of baptism for the dead and Christianity.
> We know the Corinthians were baptized. Who would argue
> that the Corinthians did not receive baptism?
DAVEH: Which only makes the usage of the baptism for the dead reference so much the more relevant. The Corinthians would relate to baptisms performed by other Christians, whereas it wouldn't make much sense if Paul was referring to non Christians who
baptized for the dead.
> Peace be with you.
> David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida.
>
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Dave Hansen
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http://www.langlitz.com
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