On that one occasion the apostle Paul, though no longer under the Law, observed the Law’s requirements by ceremonially cleansing himself at the temple.
Yes, so that the people would know that he himself observed the Jewish laws. So did he, or didn't he?
"Then everyone will know that the rumors are all false and that you yourself observe the Jewish laws."
Yes, the Temple is a representation of heaven. We, unlike Christ, are not in heaven and prefer to still have this hope that God has given us. Every time I have gone to the Temple, I have felt the power of God within its walls. The peace of the Lord permeates every room. I feel it as soon as I enter the outer door, above which is title "The House of the Lord".
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For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf."
"To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law."
Paul followed a higher law, not a lower law. The higher law includes the lower law. It is true that animal sacrifice was no longer required, but Paul was still expected to keep the commandments of God. He was still expected to live worthy to enter into the House of the Lord.
Hebrews 9:13 "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean." Humm... says nothing about the priesthood...
Hebrews 9:25,26 "Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."
Still does not say what you claim it says. It is talking about the atonement for men that Jesus suffered, not the priesthood. The animals that were sacrificed, didn't have the priesthood. Nothing here indicates that Jesus would be the last High Priest, or even what it means to be a High Priest. The whole idea of Jesus being the final High Priest is just an attempt to fill in the gaps in the Bible, while justifying the wickedness of rejecting God's servants.
Which prompts me to ask how you get to identify as an LDS High Priest? Jesus already has the job.
It's like Moses said ... It would be better if all men were prophets... Jesus would prefer all men to be High Priests.
Since it is God's word, HE determines what it contains. Man has not been permitted to change its message despite many translations. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that it has been authentically preserved down to the present day as God inspired it.
Actually, the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the scriptures have not been preserved exactly as originally written. Of course, we already knew that because there are different versions of every Hebrew book, and every Greek book. Take for example, the Book of Isaiah. The Great Book of Isaiah, discovered at Qumran, sometimes agrees with the KJV, sometimes with the Vulgate, and sometimes with the version in the Book of Mormon.
Certain currents of early “Christian” thought actually deviated from the teachings of Christ and his apostles.
That is true. In fact, it is probable that all of them did. That is what happens when a religious movement is hunted almost to extinction, and is forced to meet in secret, without any governing authority. Heresies creep in. That is why we need a prophet of God, someone who has the authority of God, and the voice of God, who can keep the heresies at bay.
You have to have faith in the testimony of one man who said he was visited by an angel and given a different kind of "good news"....you believe that Jesus didn't return to heaven at all...he went to America and invented tribes of people who never existed.
No, that's not what we believe at all. Jesus ascended to heaven. Stephen saw the resurrected Christ standing next to God. Jesus returned, and visited the Nephites, who were already a tribe, almost a year later. He fulfilled his promise, that he would visit his "other sheep" which were not of the Jewish fold.
The sacred writings of inspired scripture finished with John's Revelation. Why would we have need of "other scripture" when Revelation takes us to the present day and 1,000 years into the future?
The Bible never pretends that God would suddenly stop speaking after Revelations. That is total nonsense. The Book of Revelations itself tells us of latter-day prophets. God won't do anything without first revealing his word to his prophets.
Why would we need further revelation? Well, let's see... he told Joseph Smith that many plain and precious things had been lost, and needed to be restored. That sounds like a good reason to me.
Christian baptism is the public act of dedicating oneself to God as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As you mentioned, it is a symbolic death and resurrection, dying to one's former course in life and a rising to do the will of God, as Jesus did. It is a binding promise made before witnesses....like a marriage.
That is the very definition of an ordinance or ritual.
I accept nothing as scripture that is not in the Bible canon. God directed the collection of writings HE chose to include in his word. I have faith in that.
You have yet to tell us which is the Bible canon which is the one true bible canon. Certainly the Gospel of Phillip was in someone's Bible canon... How do you know which canon is the most true? Popular vote?
Paul made known the sacred secrets with which he had been entrusted. (1Cor 2:1; Eph 6:19; Col 1:23; 4:3, 4)
1 Corinthians 2:1 "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God."
His testimony about God was not a secret.
Ephesians 6:19 "Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,"
The mystery of the gospel is not the same thing as the gospel mysteries, and he never suggests that he will write them down. They are not found in the Bible.
Colossians 1:23) "if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."
He is talking about the gospel, which was preached to the Corinthians, but not the mysteries, which were withheld.
Colossians 4:3 "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains."
Here again, the "mystery of Christ" is not the gospel mysteries. He taught the Corinthians about the "mystery of Christ". They weren't ready for the meat of the gospel, or the gospel mysteries. He taught them that Christ suffered an atonement for all mankind, and that he physically resurrected from the dead, but that mystery is not the secret doctrines that he kept only for the worthy initiates. He taught the gospel basics, including the resurrection, to everyone.
Some things Paul only spoke to the "mature".
"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing."
"No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began."
"None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
1 Corinthians 2:6-8
It was only taught to the "mature". The rulers of the Jews knew the mysteries, but didn't understand them.
"However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him--these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."
"For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."
"What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us."
"This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words."
1 Corinthians 2:9-13
The mysteries were about "the things that God has prepared for those who love him". They were taught by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, and not by scripture reading. Human language was insufficient! New words needed to be made to explain spiritual concepts.
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."
"The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, "Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."
"Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly--mere infants in Christ."
"I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."
1 Corinthians 2:14-3:2
So Paul couldn't teach the mysteries to the Corinthians - he could only teach the basics. They were mere infants in Christ.
