May 21, 2025 • 28 mins
This episode addresses the danger of dogmas that contradict the eternal truth revealed by Jesus Christ, acting as a barrier between people and God, much like the oppressive rules and requirements of the Temple authorities did in of Jesus' time.
Key points include:
- Dogma vs. Eternal Truth: Dogma is changeable and fallible, while eternal truth, as revealed by Jesus, is unchangeable.
- Criticism of Religious Authorities: The document compares modern dogma-makers to Pharisees, demonstrating how they create barriers to God's Truth.
- Scriptural Interpretation: Shows how certain Bible translations and study notes often state denominational dogma and alter Jesus' actual teachings.
- Nicene Creed and Dogma: The podcast presents a Nicene Creed that includes only Jesus' words and actions, removing dogmatic additions.
- Jesus' Mission: Was/is essentially revealing the Truth of the connection and interaction between we in the material world and the kingdom of God, rather than being cast as a victim or sacrificial lamb.
The overarching theme is a call to set aside dogma and focus on the direct teachings of Jesus, free from human-imposed interpretations and rules.
KYRIE SAYS: This replaces the first and very poor podcast. I'm also tossing out the 15-minute limit that came about so I could put them on Reddit. If people want to listen, they can come here or wherever this is hosted.
Check the transcript for clarity, some examples are hard to visualize solely through audible presentation.
THIS PODCAST IS NOT MONETIZED. LINKS:
Contact: kyriedicentis@gmail.com
CLOUD OF UNKNOWING Evelyn Underhill edition - free
HERETIC'S REDDIT HOME
Revelations of Divine Love [free PDF] Julian of Norwich
What the Gehenna?
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kyrie Discentis (00:00):
This is Dogma, Nest of Vipers, New and
Improved.
My first effort, I believe,was, in a word, really terrible.
And it's a good topic, and it'simportant for us to discuss it.
(00:20):
And I wasn't very organized,and a lot of other things
happened.
So, I'm trying to do thisagain.
I am doing it again, and wewill see if it comes out much
better. I alwaysstart with these remarks and
(00:42):
take them out, and I think thistime I won't, because I never
have a chance to just talk toyou, and I really would like to.
So I have my clinky braceletthat I can't take off because
it's one of those medical onesand it keeps hitting on the
desk.
I have warm water.
So when I start to sound bad, Ican stop and have some and hope
(01:07):
that helps.
Let's talk about vipers anddogma and danger and how to find
what we really want to find.
so that we can follow the Lord,so that we can become like him,
because that's what being aChristian really is.
(01:27):
I read that today, and I agreedwith it.
So here we go. ... Vipers?
Does that seem extreme, for athing as common as dogma?
Jesus revealed eternal truth tous, the way things work between
eternity and creation.
(01:49):
But dogma is generated by humandecision, a pronouncement of
men, a requirement of belief, ofspeech, a thing that has gotten
many killed if they didn'tagree, which we already talked
(02:10):
about in earlier episodes.
In one case, cited here, dogmalater changed.
And the guy they tortured todeath was found to be correct
and is now a saint.
Oopsie.
Dogma is not infallible becauseit is changeable.
(02:33):
No matter how many insist atone time or another that it
isn't.
Dogma that claims to know thenature or mind of God is, in
fact, the basest heresy, theAntichrist proclamations
contradicting Jesus, who clearlystated, "No man knows the
(03:00):
Father except the Son", inMatthew 11.27.
... Eternal truth is just that,eternal, unchangeable.
Jesus' mission was to reveal tous that truth, God's truth, the
(03:21):
way to perfection in Godthrough divine love.
Human agendas concernedobtaining wealth and exerting
power over life and death, andeven people's lives beyond
death.
So why nest of vipers?
Because All thedogma-maker-control addicts are
(03:47):
simply the Pharisees of Jesus'time, dressed in different
clothes.
Jesus wasn't name-calling.
There is a specific meaninghere.
From Matthew 23, ..."'Woe toyou, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites!' You lock thekingdom of heaven away from men.
(04:11):
You refuse to enter yourselvesand do not allow entrance to
those trying to enter."... Dogma and the dogma makers
keep people from God.
Jesus went on for about a dozenverses castigating the
Pharisees for their ungodlyways— imposing demands
(04:34):
antithetical to the teachings ofAbraham or Moses.
By such actions, they cannotenter the kingdom, and by such
beliefs, keep others fromentering.
Jesus said, "Woe to you, blindguides! If you say, One swears
by the altar, it means nothing.
(04:54):
But if one swears by the gifton the altar, one is bound to
his duty.
Which is greater, the gift orthe altar that makes the gift
sacred?
One who swears by the altarswears by it and all that is
(05:15):
upon it.
One who swears by the templeswears by it and by He who
dwells in it.
One who swears by heaven swearsby the throne of God and by Him
who is seated on it.
...
"Woe to you, scribes andPharisees, you hypocrites! You
(05:36):
are like whitewashed tombs,which appear beautiful on the
outside, but inside are full ofdead men's bones and every kind
of filth.
On the outside you appearrighteous, but inside you are
filled with hypocrisy andevildoing.
(05:57):
You serpents, you brood ofvipers! How will you flee from
the judgment of Gehenna?"So now we get to it.
Whitewashed tombs with deadmen's bones.
It was only by following theprescribed sequence of events
after death that the deceasedcould be assured of some day
(06:21):
awakening in the bosom ofAbraham in heaven.
Unless there were vipers.
Ah, but for those vipers.
It is in the practice of somesnakes to nest in and live in
rocks, such as those piledoutside a tomb dug into a rock
(06:42):
wall.
Some of those snakes werevipers, deadly, and their
presence could keep people away.
Unable to entomb a body intime, it blocked their
designated way to the path ofresurrection.
... All these dogma makers andrule inventors create our
vipers (07:03):
dogmatic behaviors and beliefs that, like actual
vipers, keep us from God'skingdom and so demand the
children of God serve them.
That's what they thought inJesus' time.
But Jesus knew better, tellingthe scribes and the Pharisees
(07:26):
they kept people from God.
The endless rituals and costlysacrifices were a barrier
between them and the approval ofHashem.
Just as the temple curtainseparated all but the high
priest from the Holy of Holies,in which Shekinah, the Spirit of
God, resided.
(07:47):
... That would be the samecurtain torn in two when Jesus
commended His Spirit to theFather from the cross.
Let's compare the present toJesus' initial statement.
The scribes and the Phariseeshave taken their seat on the
(08:11):
chair of Moses.
They proclaim that they speakfor Moses and so were allowed to
make new laws and dogmas andsacrifices.
But Moses only brought themGod's law.
which even I don't recallincluding how white the doves
had to be to sacrifice on analtar that didn't exist in a
(08:36):
Temple that also didn't existwhen Moses lived on earth.
Here's part of the introductionto the 255 infallible dogmas of
the Roman Catholic Church.
..."The task of giving anauthentic interpretation of the
word of God, whether in itswritten form or in the form of
(08:59):
tradition, has been entrusted tothe living teaching office of
the church alone." ... Entrustedby whom?
They just decided to sit downin Jesus' chair?
Jesus never told anyone to goask anyone else to interpret His
Word.
He was fine with people notunderstanding, as he explained
(09:20):
when he was speaking about whyHe spoke in parables.
The introduction wraps up with,"This authority in this matter
is exercised in the name ofJesus Christ." ... Is it?
Did Jesus say you could bandyhis human name around like that
to validate yourselves? To whom?
People you want to do what yousay or you'll toss them out and
(09:46):
they'll never get to heaven?
If you let them live.
Between the people and the Lordstood and still stands a barrier
of a church, which is now not aword for the group of followers
of Jesus, but a body of humanmen.
That is, the Christian faithfuldo not follow Jesus.
(10:10):
They follow the pronouncementsof men speaking for Jesus, just
as the scribes and Phariseesdid.
Claimed for themselves theright to speak for Moses.
Let's see how well they didthat. ... Among the 255 dogmas
promulgated by men claiming tospeak for God, we find #121:
(10:33):
"God, by an eternal resolve ofhis will, predestines certain
men on account of their foreseensins to eternal rejection."
Wait ...
what?
John said at 14.9, "Whoever hasseen me has seen the Father."
(10:58):
Jesus said that.
"Whoever has seen me has seenthe Father.
And when I am lifted up fromthe earth, I will draw everyone
to myself." John 12.32If you find Dogma 121 as
ludicrous as I do, then youmight ask if this, or dogmas in
(11:22):
general, can really affect howpeople understand the Gospels.
His words are the same when weread them, aren't they?
The words aren't the same,depending on what English
translations you read, butthat's the podcast after this
one.
And it's a false assumptionthat most people who say they
(11:43):
follow Jesus read Scripturethemselves.
They watch social media videosabout Scripture, maybe read a
post on Reddit or see anInstagram short.
But in the past, people? Theydidn't have copies of Gospels.
When they became available,people didn't read them.
Priests and pastors read partsthat they interpreted for the
(12:08):
people.
The American Bible Society,which keeps track of such
things, defines Bible users aspeople who use the Bible at
least three to four times each*year* on their own outside of a
church setting.
And as low as that standard is,the ABS 2022 report showed the
(12:36):
number of Bible users haddropped significantly: nearly 26
million in the previous year.
As for those who want tounderstand Gospels, consider the
commentaries.
Readers of study Bibles thathave extensive notes will find
(12:58):
the notes adhere to the dogma ofthe denomination, not to the
Savior's words in Scripture.
But the users of the studyBibles don't know that, as they
are uneducated in the Gospels,which is why they are reading
study Bibles in the first place,and why they are so vulnerable
(13:21):
to the explanatory notes.
Here is a verse from thepopular Nelson study Bible,
NKJV, with no less than 66editors and contributors, over
90% of whom have advanceddegrees from a variety of
(13:42):
theological programs.
The majority represent a wideswath of the dogmatically sola
scriptura/ scripturalinfallibility set of believers.
Canonical scripture is the onlysource of Jesus' teaching for
them.
(14:02):
Now this Bible, the NKJV NelsonStudy Bible, includes many
specific and separate notes onindividual verses in the
Gospels.
Matthew 5:21 - "You have heardit was said to those of old,
'You shall not murder, andwhoever murders will be in
(14:24):
danger of the judgment'.
The NKJV, the New King JamesVersion, was first published in
in 1982, and the publisher'ssite states it is a
modernization of the King JamesVersion of 1611 using the same
(14:48):
underlying Greek text for theNew
Testament. In 1982, the publisher said: "The translators sought to (14:51):
undefined
preserve the original intendedpurity of the King James Version
in its communication of God'sword to man." ... Compare this
to the KJV, they both used theTextus Receptus, the same Greek
(15:13):
version.
.. "Ye have heard itsaid that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
(15:37):
So sometime between 1611 and1982, both using the same
source, the words got switchedaround.
In 1611, them of old time saidsomething about killing.
(15:58):
The words were from someunknown person back then.
In 1982, those of old were toldsomething about murder.
Well, so what?
Why does it matter?
BECAUSE OF THE NOTE on theverse in the Nelson Study Bible.
(16:25):
Quote, "You have heard",[that's in bold and
quoted], NOTE (16:32):
"'You have heard' refers to the teaching of
various rabbis rather than tothat of Moses.
Jesus was questioning theinterpretation of the Jewish
scholars, but not the OldTestament itself.
Jesus is referring to theteaching of various rabbis in
(16:55):
times of old or old times." Whatrabbis?
Which Jewish scholars?
Rabbis didn't appear untilafter 70 A.D.
and the destruction of thesecond temple.
Jesus could not be referring torabbis that didn't exist in
(17:20):
while he was Incarnate,especially because the Greek for
of old, *archaeos*, means (17:24):
that that has been from the
beginning, original, primal,old, ancient ... Before the
rabbis, respected elders whotaught or explained Torah or
(17:45):
commented on other scrolls werecalled *rabboni*, or teacher.
But this is a far differentrole than the rabbis who took
over leadership of the Hebrew/Jewish faith after the temple
was destroyed and the Jewishleaders were scattered or
arrested or killed.
These were the rabbis, some ofwhose writings were gathered in
(18:07):
the Mishnah hundreds of yearslater.
A highly respected book.
Commentary.
But they had to sell this point,those who wrote the Nelson
Study Bible notes, that Jesuswas questioning the
interpretation of Jewishscholars, not the Old Testament
(18:29):
itself.
You can't have scripturalinfallibility, a concrete
doctrine, if Jesus questions it.
Of course, he also says Moseswas wrong to allow divorce.
And if someone divorces aspouse, they commit adultery.
(18:51):
Also, in the very same NKJVverse, found at the Blue Letter
Bible site, there are links atthe verse to Exodus 20, 13.
"Thou shall not kill" --anyone.
which Moses himself told thepeople as a direct quote from
(19:15):
God.
You would think at least one ofall those scholars would have
known you shall not murder wasindeed something Moses said
instead of something a lot ofrabbis who didn't exist had
commented about.
(19:35):
The arguments about the use ofthe word murder here instead of
kill seem to go on eternally.
I don't want to spend 20minutes rehashing it, but in
this context, since Jesus isquoting Moses, the Hebrew here
is rendered in English Raja orRasa.
(19:55):
In the book of Exodus, thisword appears 18 times in 18
verses.
It is always translated intoEnglish as kill.
Who translated it as that inyour Bible?
Jerome, when he rewrote the OldTestament in Latin.
(20:19):
You see, Hebrew didn't have asingle unique word that meant
"slay intentionally".
For example, in Exodus 21.14,"But if a man acts with
premeditation against hisneighbor to kill him by
(20:39):
treachery, you shall take himfrom my altar that he may die."
... They describe what we callmurder sometimes in a phrase,
but always in multiple words.
In the Ten Commandments, murderis an English word that is not
a translation of any Hebrewword.
There's only one word inHebrew, and it's kill.
(21:01):
You can use it for killing ananimal or killing a person or
probably killing your instinctto commit murder.
Enough of that.
Anyway, in the verse thatfollows the one we just talked
about, Jesus says, Matthew 5: 22, "But I say to you that (21:13):
undefined
whoever is angry with hisbrother shall be in danger of
the judgment, and whoever saysto his brother, Raca, shall be
liable to the counsel.
But whoever says, you fool,shall be in danger of hellfire."
THE NOTE on 522 (21:33):
"The scribes and Pharisees said that a person
who referred to another asraca, meaning empty head, was in
danger of being sued for liablebefore the council or the
Sanhedrin.
On the other hand, Jesus saidthat whoever calls another a
(21:56):
fool will have to answer to God.
That is not to say that callingsomeone a fool will condemn a
believer to eternal punishmentin hell.
Rather, Jesus was saying thatto utter such words is to place
oneself in a worse condition atthe time of "judgement." The
(22:16):
note saysTHEY ARE NOT IN DANGER OF GOING TO HELL EVEN THOUGH JESUS SAID THEY WERE IN DANGER OF GOING TO HELL.
... That's what he said.
Well, actually, the word isGehenna, but the NKJV uses hell
for several words they thinkmean endless punishment.
(Jesus never said any word thatmeant endless punishment.) Then
they tell us that Jesus didn't*really* say that.
(22:37):
The thing that He said that'sprinted in their Bible that
they're commenting on, where Hesays that they're in danger of
hellfire.
Then they tell us Jesus didn'treally say that, and what Jesus
really meant was, "don't callpeople names, or you'll have to
move back in line before you getinto heaven".
That is, name-calling is no bigdeal.
(23:01):
Is it?
Is it such a bigdeal, diverting people from the
gospel of Jesus Christ?
The scripture must beinfallible, and Jesus is
correcting it.
Jesus' meaning must be twistedinto something that not only
(23:24):
doesn't contradict the OldTestament, but allows people to
sin, to become angry, and callothers denigrating names.
Those who do this meet thedefinition of the word
Antichrist.
Were these commenters tryingto get black men hung from
(23:45):
trees, or a young gay man stonedto death tied to a fence?
They certainly did not recallthat name-calling,
characterizing a person or groupas lesser or unworthy or
dangerous, is how things likeholocausts happen..
Unless, of course, they hadrecalled that very well.
(24:08):
THEY LIED.
I think we all know who Jesussaid the father of lies is.
(24:32):
We could say they simply wantpeople to come to and stay in
their churches.
And it's too hard.
It's too hard.
It's too difficult.
to walk that narrow path andnever lie or call someone a name
or refuse to kill a stranger ifyou get drafted.
(24:52):
But then they are preventingpeople from knowing Jesus,
knowing the true eternal God.
VIPERS.
Here's the hard part for us,though.
How do we take dogma we've hadinserted into our minds
practically from birth and setit aside, at least for a while,
(25:14):
to objectively consider thegospel of Jesus Christ?
There are many of the 255dogmas that the Catholic Church
has unofficially set aside, butthey just stopped mentioning
them.
They had declared themselvesinfallible.
So, Like the people commentingin the Nelson NKJV, they
(25:37):
couldn't just say, "Jesus cameto give everyone the real
gospel, and well, it's just notokay to kill people." I mean,
how are you going to, you know,mount a war against Muslims
if you can't tell everybody togo kill someone?
How are you going to start up apersecution of heretics and
burn all their stuff and burnthem along with it?
(25:59):
You're not allowed to killpeople.
That's no fun.
But as far as we go, here's anexample: What if we take the
Nicene Creed and remove all theparts that don't reflect the
words or actions of Jesusincarnate?
... "I believe in one God, theFather, the Almighty, maker of
(26:25):
heaven and earth, of all thingsvisible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord—JesusChrist. For our sake He was
crucified under Pontius Pilate,suffered death and was
buried. He ascended into heavenand His kingdom will have no
(26:50):
end. I believe in the HolySpirit, and life in the world to
come. Amen."What if Jesus' Incarnation was
something more, somethingdifferent, and something very
simple to understand?
(27:12):
Mark 1.38 "Jesus said to them,'Let us go somewhere else to the
towns nearby, so that I maypreach there also, for this is
what I came for."John 18.37 "Jesus answered, 'For
this I have been born, and forthis I have come into the world,
to testify to the truth.
(27:35):
Everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.'"
I want us...
I want us to look at theincarnation as if we were some
random first century Gentile whonever heard of Jesus of
(27:55):
Nazareth.
And we stop at an inn for thenight and sit at a table for
dinner near another table wherea few men are talking over wine
and bread and soup.
We overhear one of them.
"So then John was arrested andthis Jesus guy comes from
Galilee.
He cured some leper instantly.
(28:15):
I swear, I saw it myself.
Then he told everybody he had amessage from God.
'This is the time offulfillment.
The kingdom of God is amongyou' ..."
This is Dogma, Nest of Vipers, New and
Improved.
My first effort, I believe,was, in a word, really terrible.
And it's a good topic, and it'simportant for us to discuss it.
(00:20):
And I wasn't very organized,and a lot of other things
happened.
So, I'm trying to do thisagain.
I am doing it again, and wewill see if it comes out much
better. I alwaysstart with these remarks and
(00:42):
take them out, and I think thistime I won't, because I never
have a chance to just talk toyou, and I really would like to.
So I have my clinky braceletthat I can't take off because
it's one of those medical onesand it keeps hitting on the
desk.
I have warm water.
So when I start to sound bad, Ican stop and have some and hope
(01:07):
that helps.
Let's talk about vipers anddogma and danger and how to find
what we really want to find.
so that we can follow the Lord,so that we can become like him,
because that's what being aChristian really is.
(01:27):
I read that today, and I agreedwith it.
So here we go. ... Vipers?
Does that seem extreme, for athing as common as dogma?
Jesus revealed eternal truth tous, the way things work between
eternity and creation.
(01:49):
But dogma is generated by humandecision, a pronouncement of
men, a requirement of belief, ofspeech, a thing that has gotten
many killed if they didn'tagree, which we already talked
(02:10):
about in earlier episodes.
In one case, cited here, dogmalater changed.
And the guy they tortured todeath was found to be correct
and is now a saint.
Oopsie.
Dogma is not infallible becauseit is changeable.
(02:33):
No matter how many insist atone time or another that it
isn't.
Dogma that claims to know thenature or mind of God is, in
fact, the basest heresy, theAntichrist proclamations
contradicting Jesus, who clearlystated, "No man knows the
(03:00):
Father except the Son", inMatthew 11.27.
... Eternal truth is just that,eternal, unchangeable.
Jesus' mission was to reveal tous that truth, God's truth, the
(03:21):
way to perfection in Godthrough divine love.
Human agendas concernedobtaining wealth and exerting
power over life and death, andeven people's lives beyond
death.
So why nest of vipers?
Because All thedogma-maker-control addicts are
(03:47):
simply the Pharisees of Jesus'time, dressed in different
clothes.
Jesus wasn't name-calling.
There is a specific meaninghere.
From Matthew 23, ..."'Woe toyou, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites!' You lock thekingdom of heaven away from men.
(04:11):
You refuse to enter yourselvesand do not allow entrance to
those trying to enter."... Dogma and the dogma makers
keep people from God.
Jesus went on for about a dozenverses castigating the
Pharisees for their ungodlyways— imposing demands
(04:34):
antithetical to the teachings ofAbraham or Moses.
By such actions, they cannotenter the kingdom, and by such
beliefs, keep others fromentering.
Jesus said, "Woe to you, blindguides! If you say, One swears
by the altar, it means nothing.
(04:54):
But if one swears by the gifton the altar, one is bound to
his duty.
Which is greater, the gift orthe altar that makes the gift
sacred?
One who swears by the altarswears by it and all that is
(05:15):
upon it.
One who swears by the templeswears by it and by He who
dwells in it.
One who swears by heaven swearsby the throne of God and by Him
who is seated on it.
...
"Woe to you, scribes andPharisees, you hypocrites! You
(05:36):
are like whitewashed tombs,which appear beautiful on the
outside, but inside are full ofdead men's bones and every kind
of filth.
On the outside you appearrighteous, but inside you are
filled with hypocrisy andevildoing.
(05:57):
You serpents, you brood ofvipers! How will you flee from
the judgment of Gehenna?"So now we get to it.
Whitewashed tombs with deadmen's bones.
It was only by following theprescribed sequence of events
after death that the deceasedcould be assured of some day
(06:21):
awakening in the bosom ofAbraham in heaven.
Unless there were vipers.
Ah, but for those vipers.
It is in the practice of somesnakes to nest in and live in
rocks, such as those piledoutside a tomb dug into a rock
(06:42):
wall.
Some of those snakes werevipers, deadly, and their
presence could keep people away.
Unable to entomb a body intime, it blocked their
designated way to the path ofresurrection.
... All these dogma makers andrule inventors create our
vipers (07:03):
dogmatic behaviors and beliefs that, like actual
vipers, keep us from God'skingdom and so demand the
children of God serve them.
That's what they thought inJesus' time.
But Jesus knew better, tellingthe scribes and the Pharisees
(07:26):
they kept people from God.
The endless rituals and costlysacrifices were a barrier
between them and the approval ofHashem.
Just as the temple curtainseparated all but the high
priest from the Holy of Holies,in which Shekinah, the Spirit of
God, resided.
(07:47):
... That would be the samecurtain torn in two when Jesus
commended His Spirit to theFather from the cross.
Let's compare the present toJesus' initial statement.
The scribes and the Phariseeshave taken their seat on the
(08:11):
chair of Moses.
They proclaim that they speakfor Moses and so were allowed to
make new laws and dogmas andsacrifices.
But Moses only brought themGod's law.
which even I don't recallincluding how white the doves
had to be to sacrifice on analtar that didn't exist in a
(08:36):
Temple that also didn't existwhen Moses lived on earth.
Here's part of the introductionto the 255 infallible dogmas of
the Roman Catholic Church.
..."The task of giving anauthentic interpretation of the
word of God, whether in itswritten form or in the form of
(08:59):
tradition, has been entrusted tothe living teaching office of
the church alone." ... Entrustedby whom?
They just decided to sit downin Jesus' chair?
Jesus never told anyone to goask anyone else to interpret His
Word.
He was fine with people notunderstanding, as he explained
(09:20):
when he was speaking about whyHe spoke in parables.
The introduction wraps up with,"This authority in this matter
is exercised in the name ofJesus Christ." ... Is it?
Did Jesus say you could bandyhis human name around like that
to validate yourselves? To whom?
People you want to do what yousay or you'll toss them out and
(09:46):
they'll never get to heaven?
If you let them live.
Between the people and the Lordstood and still stands a barrier
of a church, which is now not aword for the group of followers
of Jesus, but a body of humanmen.
That is, the Christian faithfuldo not follow Jesus.
(10:10):
They follow the pronouncementsof men speaking for Jesus, just
as the scribes and Phariseesdid.
Claimed for themselves theright to speak for Moses.
Let's see how well they didthat. ... Among the 255 dogmas
promulgated by men claiming tospeak for God, we find #121:
(10:33):
"God, by an eternal resolve ofhis will, predestines certain
men on account of their foreseensins to eternal rejection."
Wait ...
what?
John said at 14.9, "Whoever hasseen me has seen the Father."
(10:58):
Jesus said that.
"Whoever has seen me has seenthe Father.
And when I am lifted up fromthe earth, I will draw everyone
to myself." John 12.32If you find Dogma 121 as
ludicrous as I do, then youmight ask if this, or dogmas in
(11:22):
general, can really affect howpeople understand the Gospels.
His words are the same when weread them, aren't they?
The words aren't the same,depending on what English
translations you read, butthat's the podcast after this
one.
And it's a false assumptionthat most people who say they
(11:43):
follow Jesus read Scripturethemselves.
They watch social media videosabout Scripture, maybe read a
post on Reddit or see anInstagram short.
But in the past, people? Theydidn't have copies of Gospels.
When they became available,people didn't read them.
Priests and pastors read partsthat they interpreted for the
(12:08):
people.
The American Bible Society,which keeps track of such
things, defines Bible users aspeople who use the Bible at
least three to four times each*year* on their own outside of a
church setting.
And as low as that standard is,the ABS 2022 report showed the
(12:36):
number of Bible users haddropped significantly: nearly 26
million in the previous year.
As for those who want tounderstand Gospels, consider the
commentaries.
Readers of study Bibles thathave extensive notes will find
(12:58):
the notes adhere to the dogma ofthe denomination, not to the
Savior's words in Scripture.
But the users of the studyBibles don't know that, as they
are uneducated in the Gospels,which is why they are reading
study Bibles in the first place,and why they are so vulnerable
(13:21):
to the explanatory notes.
Here is a verse from thepopular Nelson study Bible,
NKJV, with no less than 66editors and contributors, over
90% of whom have advanceddegrees from a variety of
(13:42):
theological programs.
The majority represent a wideswath of the dogmatically sola
scriptura/ scripturalinfallibility set of believers.
Canonical scripture is the onlysource of Jesus' teaching for
them.
(14:02):
Now this Bible, the NKJV NelsonStudy Bible, includes many
specific and separate notes onindividual verses in the
Gospels.
Matthew 5:21 - "You have heardit was said to those of old,
'You shall not murder, andwhoever murders will be in
(14:24):
danger of the judgment'.
The NKJV, the New King JamesVersion, was first published in
in 1982, and the publisher'ssite states it is a
modernization of the King JamesVersion of 1611 using the same
(14:48):
underlying Greek text for theNew
Testament. In 1982, the publisher said: "The translators sought to (14:51):
undefined
preserve the original intendedpurity of the King James Version
in its communication of God'sword to man." ... Compare this
to the KJV, they both used theTextus Receptus, the same Greek
(15:13):
version.
.. "Ye have heard itsaid that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
(15:37):
So sometime between 1611 and1982, both using the same
source, the words got switchedaround.
In 1611, them of old time saidsomething about killing.
(15:58):
The words were from someunknown person back then.
In 1982, those of old were toldsomething about murder.
Well, so what?
Why does it matter?
BECAUSE OF THE NOTE on theverse in the Nelson Study Bible.
(16:25):
Quote, "You have heard",[that's in bold and
quoted], NOTE (16:32):
"'You have heard' refers to the teaching of
various rabbis rather than tothat of Moses.
Jesus was questioning theinterpretation of the Jewish
scholars, but not the OldTestament itself.
Jesus is referring to theteaching of various rabbis in
(16:55):
times of old or old times." Whatrabbis?
Which Jewish scholars?
Rabbis didn't appear untilafter 70 A.D.
and the destruction of thesecond temple.
Jesus could not be referring torabbis that didn't exist in
(17:20):
while he was Incarnate,especially because the Greek for
of old, *archaeos*, means (17:24):
that that has been from the
beginning, original, primal,old, ancient ... Before the
rabbis, respected elders whotaught or explained Torah or
(17:45):
commented on other scrolls werecalled *rabboni*, or teacher.
But this is a far differentrole than the rabbis who took
over leadership of the Hebrew/Jewish faith after the temple
was destroyed and the Jewishleaders were scattered or
arrested or killed.
These were the rabbis, some ofwhose writings were gathered in
(18:07):
the Mishnah hundreds of yearslater.
A highly respected book.
Commentary.
But they had to sell this point,those who wrote the Nelson
Study Bible notes, that Jesuswas questioning the
interpretation of Jewishscholars, not the Old Testament
(18:29):
itself.
You can't have scripturalinfallibility, a concrete
doctrine, if Jesus questions it.
Of course, he also says Moseswas wrong to allow divorce.
And if someone divorces aspouse, they commit adultery.
(18:51):
Also, in the very same NKJVverse, found at the Blue Letter
Bible site, there are links atthe verse to Exodus 20, 13.
"Thou shall not kill" --anyone.
which Moses himself told thepeople as a direct quote from
(19:15):
God.
You would think at least one ofall those scholars would have
known you shall not murder wasindeed something Moses said
instead of something a lot ofrabbis who didn't exist had
commented about.
(19:35):
The arguments about the use ofthe word murder here instead of
kill seem to go on eternally.
I don't want to spend 20minutes rehashing it, but in
this context, since Jesus isquoting Moses, the Hebrew here
is rendered in English Raja orRasa.
(19:55):
In the book of Exodus, thisword appears 18 times in 18
verses.
It is always translated intoEnglish as kill.
Who translated it as that inyour Bible?
Jerome, when he rewrote the OldTestament in Latin.
(20:19):
You see, Hebrew didn't have asingle unique word that meant
"slay intentionally".
For example, in Exodus 21.14,"But if a man acts with
premeditation against hisneighbor to kill him by
(20:39):
treachery, you shall take himfrom my altar that he may die."
... They describe what we callmurder sometimes in a phrase,
but always in multiple words.
In the Ten Commandments, murderis an English word that is not
a translation of any Hebrewword.
There's only one word inHebrew, and it's kill.
(21:01):
You can use it for killing ananimal or killing a person or
probably killing your instinctto commit murder.
Enough of that.
Anyway, in the verse thatfollows the one we just talked
about, Jesus says, Matthew 5: 22, "But I say to you that (21:13):
undefined
whoever is angry with hisbrother shall be in danger of
the judgment, and whoever saysto his brother, Raca, shall be
liable to the counsel.
But whoever says, you fool,shall be in danger of hellfire."
THE NOTE on 522 (21:33):
"The scribes and Pharisees said that a person
who referred to another asraca, meaning empty head, was in
danger of being sued for liablebefore the council or the
Sanhedrin.
On the other hand, Jesus saidthat whoever calls another a
(21:56):
fool will have to answer to God.
That is not to say that callingsomeone a fool will condemn a
believer to eternal punishmentin hell.
Rather, Jesus was saying thatto utter such words is to place
oneself in a worse condition atthe time of "judgement." The
(22:16):
note saysTHEY ARE NOT IN DANGER OF GOING TO HELL EVEN THOUGH JESUS SAID THEY WERE IN DANGER OF GOING TO HELL.
... That's what he said.
Well, actually, the word isGehenna, but the NKJV uses hell
for several words they thinkmean endless punishment.
(Jesus never said any word thatmeant endless punishment.) Then
they tell us that Jesus didn't*really* say that.
(22:37):
The thing that He said that'sprinted in their Bible that
they're commenting on, where Hesays that they're in danger of
hellfire.
Then they tell us Jesus didn'treally say that, and what Jesus
really meant was, "don't callpeople names, or you'll have to
move back in line before you getinto heaven".
That is, name-calling is no bigdeal.
(23:01):
Is it?
Is it such a bigdeal, diverting people from the
gospel of Jesus Christ?
The scripture must beinfallible, and Jesus is
correcting it.
Jesus' meaning must be twistedinto something that not only
(23:24):
doesn't contradict the OldTestament, but allows people to
sin, to become angry, and callothers denigrating names.
Those who do this meet thedefinition of the word
Antichrist.
Were these commenters tryingto get black men hung from
(23:45):
trees, or a young gay man stonedto death tied to a fence?
They certainly did not recallthat name-calling,
characterizing a person or groupas lesser or unworthy or
dangerous, is how things likeholocausts happen..
Unless, of course, they hadrecalled that very well.
(24:08):
THEY LIED.
I think we all know who Jesussaid the father of lies is.
(24:32):
We could say they simply wantpeople to come to and stay in
their churches.
And it's too hard.
It's too hard.
It's too difficult.
to walk that narrow path andnever lie or call someone a name
or refuse to kill a stranger ifyou get drafted.
(24:52):
But then they are preventingpeople from knowing Jesus,
knowing the true eternal God.
VIPERS.
Here's the hard part for us,though.
How do we take dogma we've hadinserted into our minds
practically from birth and setit aside, at least for a while,
(25:14):
to objectively consider thegospel of Jesus Christ?
There are many of the 255dogmas that the Catholic Church
has unofficially set aside, butthey just stopped mentioning
them.
They had declared themselvesinfallible.
So, Like the people commentingin the Nelson NKJV, they
(25:37):
couldn't just say, "Jesus cameto give everyone the real
gospel, and well, it's just notokay to kill people." I mean,
how are you going to, you know,mount a war against Muslims
if you can't tell everybody togo kill someone?
How are you going to start up apersecution of heretics and
burn all their stuff and burnthem along with it?
(25:59):
You're not allowed to killpeople.
That's no fun.
But as far as we go, here's anexample: What if we take the
Nicene Creed and remove all theparts that don't reflect the
words or actions of Jesusincarnate?
... "I believe in one God, theFather, the Almighty, maker of
(26:25):
heaven and earth, of all thingsvisible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord—JesusChrist. For our sake He was
crucified under Pontius Pilate,suffered death and was
buried. He ascended into heavenand His kingdom will have no
(26:50):
end. I believe in the HolySpirit, and life in the world to
come. Amen."What if Jesus' Incarnation was
something more, somethingdifferent, and something very
simple to understand?
(27:12):
Mark 1.38 "Jesus said to them,'Let us go somewhere else to the
towns nearby, so that I maypreach there also, for this is
what I came for."John 18.37 "Jesus answered, 'For
this I have been born, and forthis I have come into the world,
to testify to the truth.
(27:35):
Everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.'"
I want us...
I want us to look at theincarnation as if we were some
random first century Gentile whonever heard of Jesus of
(27:55):
Nazareth.
And we stop at an inn for thenight and sit at a table for
dinner near another table wherea few men are talking over wine
and bread and soup.
We overhear one of them.
"So then John was arrested andthis Jesus guy comes from
Galilee.
He cured some leper instantly.
(28:15):
I swear, I saw it myself.
Then he told everybody he had amessage from God.
'This is the time offulfillment.
The kingdom of God is amongyou' ..."
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