----------------------------------- Oxyrhynchus Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:42 pm ----------------------------------- Jinn, Generaly speaking its seems that you see these issues from an angle which does not take account of the bigger picture. Perhaps I can offer some aspects which you may not have thought of, and I pray that you may find them useful or worthy of further consideration: God is one First, we Christians, just as Paul did, believe and affirm ONLY ONE GOD. We agree with you there. Lets get that clear! The concept of this One God is how we differ. Let me use a couple of illustrations, if you look at a cube from one angle only, seeing exactly only one face of the cube, you will say its a square, but if you move around it, you see that a cube has more than one side to it. Another illustration is a triangle, we see that a triangle has three corners to it, if we take one corner off, its no longer a triangle, doesn't matter which one you take off, it will no longer be a triangle. Another illustration, water or chemically known as H2O can have three forms, liquid, gas (steam), and solid (ice), it can exist as three forms but its still H2O. Now God is far more than a cube, triangle or water, therefore we do not, and should not limit God. Should we? is there anything beyond God's ability to do? Hence, what Jesus taught as quoting the Torah "God is one" does not contradict what is revealed by God the Holy Spirit through Paul in the Epistles "Jesus ... equality with God". To us, Paul is as much a nabi as Abraham and Moses was. And their testimony having come from God (by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit) naturally do not contradict unless you see only part of the picture. OR you choose to see only one part of the picture and ascribe the rest as false, lies and from Iblis. The Unforgivable Sin If you read the passage just before it or a little wider (Mat. 12:22-32), you can see a picture where Jesus just performed a miracle, but that He perceived the thoughts of some of the people there watching, the large crowd thought and said its confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah, but the Pharisees said no its by the power of Iblis that Jesus performed the miracle. So this passage you quote has this background, and what is unforgivable is ascribing Jesus' works and miracles to Iblis, instead of God, by which God the Holy Spirit is blasphemed. The lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Mat. 10:5,6) Again I would like to suggest to you that a good way you read most of the bible (except the Zabur) in order to understand it, is to read not just a short part of it, but in context, that is, in ever wider segments. I guarantee that you will find less and less alleged contradictions if you do this. We do not have to widen our reading here so much that we have to use other books to answer this issue. Note that this command is a temporary one and was issued temporarily for the 12 disciples. Jesus wants to proclaim a specific message, the coming of the Kingdom of heaven (10:7) this is a specific message for God's chosen people as promissed to Israel alone. The credentials, to prove that is from God is found in the next verse 10:8. Jesus is the King of that Kingdom. But the prediction is rejection. We come to the Unforgivable Sin passage in Chapter 12 also to illustrate this point, where Jesus' as King and Messiah is rejected. But after Jesus was crucified, burried and resurrected, His new command is found in Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” NASB Now Paul's letters no longer contradict the Injil. Paul's letters cannot be said to have taught what Jesus forbid. Elementary teachings of THE Christ (Hebrews 5:13 - 6:1) First it is uncertain that Hebrews was written by Paul. Secondly this book was written with consideration of a particular theme... to show that the Christ is superior to the prophets! Thats the background you need to take into account. Thirdly, the way I understand this passage (difficult as it is) is to mean that it is elementary teaching to teach about Jesus as the Christ, it is elementary to learn about Jesus as the Messiah that was spoken of by the prophets, it is elementary to acknowledge that the Christ must be the only one that brings salvation to all, and yes, to you and me, it is elementary to know and accept this. The author is now encouraging its readers to learn more mature stuff. If you love and respect Jesus, the Tawrat, the Zabur and the Injil, then take the warning as written in Matthew which is part of the Injil. I am not offended if you do not respect what is written and call them lies or a book full of errors and contradictions, because it is the Holy Spirit whom you have to answer to. He is the real author behind the writers, He is the author that inspired nabi Paul. I humbly ask you to carefully check its contents again and reconsider. Although we may not know all the answers, I and others here will be willing to go through any difficult passages with you to weigh its testimony honestly.