> > (What some forget is that what Jesus preached in the gospels was not the doctrine for this age -- Christ hadn't died on the cross yet. He didn't preach to believe in him and what he did on the cross to be saved [as Eph. 2:8-9 and Rom. 10:9-10 teach]; rather, he instructed others to keep the Commandments to be right with God. So while the principles he taught [turn the other cheek, do unto others has you would have them do unto you, etc] are important, the specific issues of doctrine may not all apply to this post-cross time.)
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> However, those things about which he says heaven and earth will pass away first(Lemme check -- yep, still here)... hmmm... d'ya think he lied about those, or are they still valid? Here's a clue: If *He* didn't say he nullified it, it's not nullified.

You misunderstand. Read what I wrote again if you think I said Jesus lied. "Heaven and earth shall pass away" is not an issue of doctrine. It's a prophecy.

Two premises first: (1) Every word in the Bible was authored by God, including, but NOT limited to, the words Jesus Christ specifically spoke during his 33 years on Earth. (2) Not one word is or was ever a lie.

I do NOT advocate piecemeal Bible study, where verses one does not like are thrown out. However, I think a very important and oft-overlooked area of Bible study is to realize that not all of the Bible speaks to all persons. There are some portions that are specific to ministers, some portions specific to Jews, some portions specific to married couples, some portions specific to people of certain times in the past or future. We must understand which parts are directed at us. The principles Jesus preached are all applicable, then and today. The prophecies Jesus prophesied have either been fulfilled or will be. The issues of *doctrine* may have changed since Jesus died on the cross. It's not that Jesus was lying, it was that he was preaching to Jews, still bound by Old Testament law and not yet able to obtain salvation by grace through faith in Christ's death and resurrection, and consequently the rules for salvation differed.

An example of a difference in doctrine concerns baptism. That one has changed several times in the course of human history. The word "baptism" does not occur in the Old Testament, yet Mark 1:4 and Luke 3:3 preach that the remission of sins is obtained through water baptism, and Mark 16:16 suggests that if you aren't water baptized, you aren't saved. Does that mean the people that lived prior to Christ's time on Earth are not saved, because, oops, nobody told them about that baptism requirement? Does that mean that we, today, must be baptized to be saved?

The answer to both questions is "no." The Old Testament is not ambiguous about what it took for the people living in those times to be right in God's sight, and baptism had nothing to do with it. As for post-crucifixion times, the apostle Paul, sent out to preach to Jews and Gentiles alike and preach to them the gospel, preached that one is saved by grace through faith and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9, Romans 10:9-10, Titus 3:5), mentioning nothing of baptism (which is a work). Furthermore in I Corinthians 1:17, he says Christ himself sent him NOT to baptize. In verse 16, he indicates that baptism was of such little importance to him, that he doesn't even remember if he baptized anybody but one particular household.

This is a doctrinal difference between separate ages in God's dealing with mankind. Nobody was lying. Christ was preaching to Jews living in a time before his own crucifixion. Paul was preaching to Jew and Gentile alike in a time after the crucifixion. When there is a doctrinal difference, we must defer to the portions of the Bible that are addressed to us. It doesn't mean you throw out everything Christ preached, which was far, far more than simple doctrine. This mode of study applies ONLY to doctrinal issues and ONLY when there IS a biblical difference in doctrine documented in separate parts of the Bible.

S "'Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth.' -- II Timothy 2:15." am