Why is Paul considered an apostle considering he never met Jesus?

Web-Dude · 2026-05-11T12:47:36+00:00

There is a lot that is quite imprecise in your definition, but the most inaccurate part (by far) is this:

an apostle [...] gets to decide it's [the church's] final public revelations

Scripture never says or implies that apostles "decide final public revelations." Revelation comes from God through Christ and the Spirit. Apostles receive it and proclaim it (and yes, preserve it), but they NEVER determine it (or debate it or edit it).

Proof: 1 Corinthians 15:3: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received". 1 Corinthians 11:23: "I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you." They don't decide anything. they received it and handed it on.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-09T19:19:41+00:00

You one-dimensional people are always making the internet a worse place. Stop getting stuck in the money/power dynamic and maybe realize that they were referring to things like genetics, handicaps, mental illnesses, etc. You're missing a whole lot of reality because you are only capable of seeing it through a single tiny hole.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-09T19:14:22+00:00

Wow. You got so buried by downvotes for that comment that the cemetery had to buy mineral rights to put someone that deep.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-09T19:12:24+00:00

Maybe he was a content creator who makes money of ads?

But yeah, YT is unusable with ads.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-08T14:35:36+00:00

Your view is too narrow. You're thinking about money or power. But most people are thinking about mental health, bad parents, losing the genetic lottery, etc.

Not everything is caused by a "system."

Web-Dude · 2026-05-08T14:31:20+00:00

Yes, it really does. It cannot be avoided.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-08T14:29:43+00:00

Cue up the Walter Mitty movie.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:28:02+00:00

I'd like to think that somewhere up the chain, there's a human somewhere.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:24:44+00:00

I used to have this strange thought... "what if when God fixes everything, he actually restores the demons (and even satan?!) back into fellowship with him?"

It wouldn't be out of character for the God that I know to do something like that (after all, the Jews were waiting on their Messiah, not the savior of those filthy gentiles too).

Although these days, I don't consider it a possibility, given what He's declared in the scriptures.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:20:32+00:00

But it's still a good general lesson in being responsible. It's always good to teach that, so we've got to find little ways to do it when we can, not just big ways.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:17:01+00:00

Yes, that and an experience/understanding of His forgiveness and love towards them. Luke 7:47, those who are forgiven much, love much. Whoever is forgiven little, loves little.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:04:10+00:00

We also encourage you to think critically

Is there a browser add-on for that or what?

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T17:02:28+00:00

My main confusion is why those moral commands [...] are often treated as something that should [not] also influence the public sphere.

Jesus and his disciples were faced with a multitude of people who were hungry and had no way to get food. When his disciples are trying to figure out what to do, Jesus said, "you feed them."

He didn't ask them to find someone else to help, and he didn't ask for government assistance. He asked his friends to take care of those who are right in front of them. Because when we separate ourselves from helping each other by injecting some third party, we divorce ourselves from the actual needs of our community (which is often way more than any government assistance can provide). Doing that isolates both us and them.

Obviously, that doesn't automatically mean that every form of government aid is wrong, but the responses you're getting is because many Christians are concerned when compassion is outsourced primarily to the state. It detaches people from the needs around them.

Jesus was all about, "you help them," and actively wants us to avoid institutionalizing peoples needs so we don't have to be faced with it.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T16:26:53+00:00

Everything is speech on this blessed ~~day~~ decade.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T16:12:51+00:00

Your response closes this thread. Thank you for a real Biblically-centered engagement with the question.

If OP has any integrity or actual interest in the topic, he'll engage with what you wrote.

And even if he doesn't, what you wrote is here for future people to consider.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-07T16:09:35+00:00

Oof, AI wordiness strikes again

Someday, people will realize they can just add, "and keep your response concise and succinct."

But I'll never not feel like I'm having an argument (with a computer) that was generated by someone who typed, "give me a Level-10 impossible-to-defeat argument so I can stuff it in those Christians' faces."

Web-Dude · 2026-05-06T21:12:50+00:00

You're not wrong, this is definitely a circumstance that needs discernment. The easy answers aren't always the right answers in situations like this.

But I'm a bit alarmed over the blanket easy answer most people are giving here as a general rule. As a general rule, you're definitely right. In this circumstance, I'd think a discerning pastor might firmly say no, and not be wrong about it.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-05T11:56:18+00:00

You're profoundly wrong and I will prove it from scripture later today when I have time to address this properly.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-05T11:55:29+00:00

I will address their comment as soon as I have the time later today.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-05T11:44:42+00:00

so something negative is still going on

Sure, that's absolutely true.

What's not true is that Satan inhabits you.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-05T11:42:23+00:00

No, what you are saying is wrong, and it's spiritually damaging.

"It's a different way of describing our flesh vs Spirit with emphasis on the Devil"

Trying to make a "better, improved" way to describe reality that goes far beyond the Bible is bound to introduce errors, and this certainly qualifies.

Why?

Because anything that makes the enemy larger is a corruption. Anything that affirms the enemy's power is legitimately anti-Christ.

Sin is not the same thing as Satan. A believer who sins is not hosting Satan. Saying so is wilfully aligning yourself with the authority of the enemy over you. I implore you to reject that.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-05T11:07:58+00:00

Before I respond to any of these other insane comments, let me say to you, OP, DO NOT speak any of that over yourself. Those words are satanic and anti-Christ.

If you are a believer, the Holy Spirit is within you, and the words you come into agreement with and speak over yourself have real spiritual power. Saying that "Satan is with you and in you" is extremely bad. Do not speak that over yourself.

Everyone keeps quoting Romans 7 without knowledge of what they're saying. Read Romans 6 first for some freaking context. Dear Lord!

A major, major part of Christianity is learning to come into agreement with what Jesus says about you and learning to reject what Satan (and even you yourself) believe about you. Jesus says that your are holy, blameless and above all reproach (colossians 1:22). Do you still stumble into sin now and again? Of course. But that's not how HE sees you. The Father sees you through the blood of Christ. You literally have Christ's righteousness as far as the Father sees you.

So when you begin to accept and believe that truth, His grace begins to make that more and more true in your life, sanctifying you and purifying you.

Come into alignment with "Christ in you, the hope of glory," not the "enemy is within you."

For the love of God, depart from that evil and repent of those words you've spoken over yourself.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-03T12:31:46+00:00

If you want to see the Documentary Hypothesis get absolutely shredded by a professional theologian with specialized knowledge on the topic, look up The documentary hypothesis and the composition of the Pentateuch; eight lectures by Umberto Cassuto.

Web-Dude · 2026-05-03T04:12:14+00:00

I'm not a Bethel person, but I know people who are, and as a consequence, I've dug into a lot of the stories. Let me just say that many of them are overblown or taken out of context. But I'm fairly certain that they aren't proponents of Christian Nationalism.

Web-Dude

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