Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 8/30/2022

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We had one of the most fun discussions we’ve ever had on Monday, August 30, 2022!

Jo Ann, Dan, Karen, Randy, Robin, Dave, Norky, Merrill, Jessica, and Amy attended.  We miss Odette and hope she can be back soon after making a film.  We also missed David and Steve.  It was Amy’s second time attending and we hope she keeps coming back.

Below is a short summary of what went on written by Dan:

We had a good morning, reading the Jewish Annotated New Testament from the letter of Paul the apostle to the Philippians, chapter 1 as well as the introduction from Dr. Cook. According to the introduction, scholars are not in agreement as to where Paul was imprisoned when he wrote this letter. Some places suggested are Rome, Caesarea and Ephesus, which means it's hard to say when this was written in the life of Paul. As we read the first chapter it was notable that Paul said all of the palace guard, the soldiers, knew he was imprisoned because of his teaching about Jesus of Nazareth. We were puzzled about his mentioning people who preached about Jesus in order to make things worse for him(?), and his statement that it didn't matter, that it was all for the best.

We had notable discussions about some of the spiritual experiences of ourselves and others that we had heard of. These included feelings of being close to departed loved ones, messages from departed loved ones, out of the body experiences, the Jesus movement, and stories about heaven from a young child, among others. 

Additions from Jo Ann:

Randy told us about when he attended a Christian funeral and the pastor talked about the deceased person was having a picnic in heaven now.  That seemed strange to some of us.  We also talked about marriage in heaven and learned there is no marriage in heaven.

Randy didn’t have time to share the following which  he has given me permission to share and I have it pasted below:

“There are three ways to look at Jesus:

  1. What Jesus believed in his lifetime
  2. What the people who spread his gospel believed
  3. What modern day members of the Christian clergy believe

 

In other words, was Paul, just twenty years after Jesus’s death, already perverting his message?  And just like the children’s game “telephone”, the longer the chain, the more distorted the message.  For example, I whisper to the person right next to me, “I really like what the speaker is saying”.  By the time it gets to the end of the chain, “Randy wants to get a gang and kill the speaker”.  And people in the chain may have inadvertently misunderstood the message, or may have intentionally perverted the message in order to advance their agenda.”


Again, if anyone has anything to add to this summary, please comment.  Also, we will meet next Monday on Labor Day 9/5/2022.



 


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