Jesus' Words Only

 

The Pleasure Trap of Paulinism 

 

God's Mercy In the Ten Commandments.

In Exodus 20:6, you will see that God gave us a principle that our conscience would normally and readily recognize as true. This verse tells us how to be saved eternally with God. It simply says God's mercy is given to those who love God and obey His commandments.

However, we are deliberately taught by Pauline teachers that this principle on mercy / grace is false. We suffer a modern constant Pauline drubbing upon the claim that we "shall be saved" by "holding in memory" a belief in three facts about Jesus, citing 1 Cor. 15:1-4.

What are these three facts which Paul says by believing them alone we will be saved eternally?

Paul says you must simply believe Jesus died for your sins, he was buried, and then rose from the dead, and you "shall" be saved. No other conditions. This is a mercy with supposedly no requirement either to love God or obey His commandments. Paul is at total odds with Exodus 20:6.

On top of this, we are brainwashed to reject Exodus 20:6 if we ever read it. This conditioning is done by scaremongering.

We are told that "adding" anything else to the supposed faith-alone gospel of 1 Cor. 15:1-4 will cause our damnation. Thus, not only is it supposedly wrong to think repenting and turning to obey God to obtain His mercy for your sins is necessary, but also you are told that merely believing it is true and then attempting to fulfill this condition of obeying God will sever you from Christ. Again, this is based upon Paul's teachings, particularly in Galatians 5, as discussed below.

 

Hence, we are now almost universally taught that obeying God with such a mental expectation of mercy from God will cause your damnation -- the very opposite of what God promised you in Exodus 20:6 for such mental attitude and behavior. 

 

For Paul tells us that obeying God for salvation will "sever" a Christian from Christ. Such an effort to obey God's principles to be right with God will supposedly cause a curse, Paul says, to fall upon you that will send a Christian believer to hell. And Paul adds that Christ will profit a Christian nothing, and you will fall from grace, by taking the path of obeying God, including obeying the sabbath day of rest, if you have the mental belief that this is a means of staying justified in God's eyes. See Gal. 1:6-12; Gal. 2:14-16 (cursed if not continue in all points of law); Gal. 3:9-12; Gal. 5:4 NASB (severed from Christ); Gal. 5:2 KJV (Christ "profit you nothing").

 

The icing on top to cement this startling view is the Pauline villification of God's principle in Exodus 20:6 as unnecessarily exposing us to the risk of boasting. Paul again is cited for this ridiculous proposition. See Eph. 2:8-9. 

When these out-of-context verses are combined with pastors flattering us falsely every week that we can be assured salvation for faith-alone (no obedience / works necessary), we end up ensnared by the pleasure trap of Paulinism. It will take a lot of spiritual studies to escape its snare. Hopefully, this article will help you begin to restore your spiritual-recognition that Exodus 20:6 is true. And it is something Jesus teaches and refers to many times, especially in Matthew 19. 

Does Exodus 20:6 Startle You?

Here is Exodus 20:6 -- God clearly stating His grounds for mercy to obtain salvation -- a verse right inside His delivering the Ten Commandments — sandwiched right between the first and second commandments: 

"[I extend] mercy to those who love me and obey my commandments." (Exodus 20:6 NKJV.)

This has both a loving and conditional aspect. The loving aspect is a promise of mercy and the conditional aspect is that we must turn to love God and obey His commandments. The Ten Commandments in context. That includes taking the day off on Sabbath. 

 

Paul's Salvation On Holding in Memory Just 3 Facts as True.

What is the opposite message we hear today? God has supposedly made a way that there is no love and obedience condition to have a right to God's mercy, but instead we must simply keep only in memory just three facts about Jesus. We thereby supposedly become saved forever. Thus, when we sin again, we allegedly need only remind  ourselves about these three factual-beliefs to restore our joy of salvation. As Paul puts it in 1 Cor. 15:1-4: 

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Cor. 15:1-4 KJV.) 

 

Please note that Paul cites himself as his only authority -- it is a gospel "I preached to you." For this significant erasure of Exodus 20:6 -- part of the Ten Commandments, Paul does not cite God nor Jesus nor the Bible for this supposed new truth. Paul just directly does away with both elements -- as if neither need ever be mentioned again -- on his exclusive authority to say so by his own preaching. 

 

Damnation Supposedly Follows For Compliance with Exodus 20:6. 

Paul goes even farther than just this. Paul emphasizes that you are cursed, and severed from Christ, and Christ will profit you nothing if you try to obey God's law as a condition of salvation. Yet as we review Paul's contentions next, please remember Paul's principles are at total odds with  Exodus 20:6.

In Galatians, Paul bemoans Galatian Christians who wish to keep sabbath as provided in the Ten Commandments -- a command specifically applicable to all Gentiles in community with Israel. See Deut. 5:12-15 ("sojourner within thy gates"); Lev. 25:6 ("sojourner settling with thee"); Exo 23:12 (sojourner).

 

Paul then says "anathema" -- cursed -- are those who wish to be just / justified by keeping such parts of the Law, i.e., sabbath, etc. For otherwise, Paul argues, they will have to keep "all" of the Law, and not selected parts. (Gal. 1:6-12; Gal. 2:14-16 (cursed if not continue in all points of law); Gal. 3:9-12 (under a curse, misquoting Deuteronomy, as explained at this link), Gal. 3:21. 

This is especially ironic because Paul says this in part to dissuade Sabbath observance among Gentiles when Paul claims Gentiles are the focus of Paul's ministries. However, Paul appears unaware of the following Bible  promise for his target audience's entry into a new covenant: 

The promise in Isaiah 56 of salvation to Gentiles ("my salvation is about to come", 56:1) through God's suffering servant (whom was obviously Jesus) was predicated on two things: "keep the Sabbath from profaning it and keep his hand from doing evil." (Isaiah 56:2) or "who keep My Sabbaths, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of my covenant." (Isaiah 56:4,6). The word covenant there means the Ten Commandments (including Sabbath), such as that term is used in the name Ark of the Covenant, i.e., a box to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Paul's so-called 'gospel' thereby eviscerated one of the key conditions of salvation for Gentiles -- a weekly-time out on Sabbath from work -- despite Paul claiming he had the correct path of salvation for them. Oh what man cannot be led to believe! 

In the same vein, Paul says to the Galatian Christians about those who obeyed God as Christians to stay in God's grace: "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you have fallen from grace." (Gal. 5:4 NASB.)

So Paul acknowledges he is talking about true Christians. They are severed from Christ by obeying Sabbath rest as a condition of salvation as expressed by God in Exodus 20:6. Thus Paul teaches you are saved by faith alone, but become damned by obeying one of God’s commands in the Ten Commandments if motivated to satisfy the requirement in Exodus 20:6 — part of the Ten Commandments too. Paul is talking about the Sabbath command in context -- a command that was specifically extended in the Law to Gentiles aka foreigners / sojourners.

And again on the parallel topic of circumcision (which the Law necessitated a Gentile have done only if they wished to enter the Temple at Jerusalem or participate in passover), Paul says: "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." (Gal. 5:2 NIV.) Or as the KJV says, "Christ will profit you nothing." (Gal. 5:2 KJV.)

Thus, even a Christian who wanted to be circumcised solely to enter the temple to avoid being damned by defiling the Temple's holiness standard,  would actually lose their salvation for such clear sin-avoidance. Hence, Paul warned a Christian would be eternally separated from Christ by that act of obedience to an optional command  that the Law said a Gentile must follow if they wanted to enter the temple and pray.

Paul's statement is clearly a ludicrous principle -- you are supposedly damned for obeying a principle the Law said you must obey so as not to  be damned. How ridiculous!

Yet, your Pauline pastors teach these lessons from Paul as if they make good sense.

What is their core reasoning? Supposedly, by avoiding obedience to God's law as of any conditional importance, you avoid the risk of 'boasting.'  They cite correctly Ephesians 2:8-9 which indeed implies this. But Paul's saying it is so does not make it so. Paul has no quote of Jesus or authority of some inspired vision for this patently absurd view.

So why does this nonsense get swallowed without objection by almost everyone in the pew every Sunday? What's the attraction holding our minds to this silly doctrine?

 

Because It is The Greatest News Ever

Let's admit it -- Paul's message is overwhelmingly great news ....   

I get everything for nothing.

I only have to accept three facts of history as true. 

But this represents the pleasure trap of Paulinism.

Why? 

Because Paulinism uses Paul’s words to instill a belief that restored obedience as a condition of mercy (forgiveness of sin) is a frightful requirement, leading us invariably to the sin of pride ("boast"-ing). Based upon Paul, I can then justify doing nothing for God toward obedience or love. Instead, I can supposedly insist God must grant me mercy based upon my simply keeping in “memory” these three fact-beliefs which Paul specified. I can then, Paul tells me, enjoy the notion that God has to let me into heaven because I believe just these three facts of history about Jesus.

 

Jude's Curious Epistle

What does Jude -- second Bishop of the Church and brother of Jesus -- say about this idea? Jude talks of a doctrine of grace devoid of the second of the two principles we saw in Exodus 20:6 -- "obey my commandments" -- as a condition of God's mercy.

Jude equates this view with a teaching by a "wolf in sheep's" clothing who Jude says penetrated Christianity with a lawless doctrine that twists God's "grace" into "licentiousness.” This unnamed Christ-professing figure, Jude 1:11 says, shares the lessons of Balaam -- a figure alive in the time of Moses.

What was Balaam's doctrine?  

Let’s look for an answer where Jesus in Revelation references Balaam in the context of talking about a false apostle. Jesus speaks of an unnamed false apostle, and then next condemned the doctrine of a new Balaam in Rev. 2:14 who says he prophetically can declare Christians are permitted to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

Who can Jesus be talking about?

Could it be Paul?

Absolutely.

For Paul unquestionably taught Christians are free to eat meat sacrificed to idols, only restraining from doing so around a brother with a "weaker" conscience who thinks it is wrong. But you with a "stronger conscience" -- knowing it is supposedly not wrong to eat -- by you eating such idol meat in their presence, you may encourage the "weaker" Christian -- the one who Paul says erroneously thinks it wrong to eat such meat -- to do something the "weak minded" Christian thinks is wrong. But otherwise, you have the "stronger" conscience, and know it is perfectly acceptable to eat meat sacrificed to idols outside the presence of such "weak" minds. Paul insists your freedom to eat such meat should not be otherwise constrained by another's "weak" conscience who needlessly fears that eating such meat is wrong. See 1 Cor. 10:28-29 and 1 Cor. 8:4-12. See Paul's Cavalier Attitude About Eating Idol Meat at a Pagan Temple (apparently post-service free hand-outs).  See also Response to Critic About Paul's Idol Meat Passages.

George Reber, a Paul defender, in The Christ of Paul (1876) is shocked at Jude for likewise calling this obvious NT figure a new Balaam. Reber derisively said of Jude:  "The Epistle of Jude is nothing but a bolt hurled at the head of Paul." (Link.) If you want to see how Jude's proofs about an unnamed "wolf in sheep's clothing" obviously were meant for Paul and his principles, see para. # 18 at this link.

 

Scaremongering That Obedience Damns You Is The Sugar On Top.

 

The ultimate "pleasure trap" -- which I will explain later what that means -- is to define the true doctrine of salvation -- God's mercy -- so that believing in the truth of Exodus 20:6 is depicted as spiritually dangerous. Accepting the truth of Exodus 20:6 will supposedly cause you to fall into pride. Into boasting. This sin will then supposedly cause loss of salvation. You can then justify to God that you will never try to be obedient for salvation-sake ever again because such desire will supposedly always backfire and cause the very thing you want to avoid. You can now allegedly tell God that you will only obey Him when you feel some need to get a reward in heaven. 

Science Shows Paulinism Exploits Our Mental Proclivities 

A neuroscientist Tali Sharon in a Ted talk discussed studies that show people will negate a warning and accept a more optimistic projection over the warning even if the optimistic “truth” is untrue. See this You Tube at the six minute mark: https://youtu.be/xp0O2vi8DX4

 

Thus flattery combined with wishful thinking -- a pleasing “truth” -- attracts us like the porch light that attracts moths who mistake it for the light of the moon to which they are designed to fly toward. Our mind naturally seeks to be optimistic about our salvation. We gravitate toward pleasing messages that flatter us and have no cautions about what true path to take. We are thus susceptible to pleasure traps on what is the path to salvation. What are such traps? Such snares?

Pleasure Trap Defined 

A pleasure trap is anything artificially created to appear like God’s true design which is so juiced to boost attractiveness  unrealistically that true warnings are ignored. For example, as Dr. Lisle explains in his Ted Talk  https://youtu.be/jX2btaDOBK8,  one pleasure trap is where the brain turns off natural warnings / signals, and responds to eat unnaturally processed oily salty and sugary foods solely because of unrealistic and processed taste concentrations which our ancestors never experienced.

 

Stringing Together Out-of-Context Verses of Paul

Paulinism stringsverses together from primarily only Paul week after week at church, for a powerful  effect.  Paul’s words, had they instead been read along with Jesus' words being given equal or greater weight, would never have been able to persuade. On top of this repetitive narrow focus on Paul, Pauline teachers juice Paul's authority by the simple uncorroborated power-claim that Paul enjoys the label “apostle." This label is incessantly ascribed to Paul without any proof other than Paul’s self-serving claim. See link.

 

Paulinists Ignore Paul's Words That Undermine Paulinism.

Interestingly, here Paulinists are so enamored with faith-alone for salvation that they recklessly encourage a misidentification of Paul’s self-contradictatory statements. Paul contrarily utters obedience-conditions for salvation stated in the same 1 Corinthians epistle. He also does so three times elsewhere. Paul thus a total of four times gives Christians warnings that they will not “inherit the kingdom” if they commit various sins. Paul primarily cited examples from the Ten Commandments. Paul expressed frustration that the churches he seeded understood something different from something he said. See 1 Cor. 6:9, Ephesian 5:5-7, Galatians 5:19-21, and 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8. See also full discussion at this link.

 

Pilots Who Ignore Warnings Doom Their Passengers 

But this brings to mind the 2005 tragedy of Helios airline flight 522 as it ascended from 10,000 to 18,000 feet after departing Cyprus while heading for Athens. The 737 gave the pilots a sound warning of an in-flight problem which sounded similar to a ground configuration warning that only sounds when on the ground. The pilots did not recognize it was an inflight-warning sound about pressurization of the cabin which will become deadly as they ascend if not addressed.

 

Let's Dig Deeper Into the Helios Crash Parabolic Analogy. 

So why did Helios flight 522 eventually crash, killing all crew and passengers? 

 

A single mechanic on the ground checked the pressurization of a door, and to do that he turned the pressurization system from auto to manual. He forgot to reset it back to auto. So as the plane ascended above 10,000 feet, all the pilots ever had to do was flip a single switch from manual to auto to live.