Apostle Paul Greece
May 24th, 2008
Question: What was the main concern of the book of Timothy?
"The Pastoral Letters, I and II Timothy and Titus, are now generally accepted by biblical scholarship as having been composed by a disciple of Paul who wrote in the apostle's name to indicate that he stood in the same tradition. Date: around 100 AD. Place: possibly Asia Minor or Greece.
The main concern of I Timothy is to counteract the influence of Gnostic teachers.
The Gnostic teachings were of a mixed hellenistic and Jewish origin. Gnostic heresies included dualism, contempt for material things, dependence on knowledge (=spiritual experience), not faith, as a way to salvation, secret doctrine reserved for the elite few and restrictive teachings about sexual practice. "
see womenpriests.org
Answer: Since the Gnostic teachings pre-existed before the writing of the NT gospels and the pastoral letters and since scholars state that the Jewish Gnostics recorded the words of Christ directly, perhaps the real heresey was the mixture of Roman-pagan traditions with the emerging cult of "Pauline" Christianity.
Socinian; Religions are institutions of man, not of God. Christian tradition has created a religion of "Biblicans", "Paulines" and "Cruxifictianians" that have been taught to worship a book, a man's doctrine and/or a symbol which has lead very few to seek and find God within themselves as both Jesus and the gnostics taught.
St. Bridget Church facing tough choices
The dwindling congregation of St. Bridget Catholic Church can no longer afford to stay in their building on Mark Street in Rochester.
Greece, Apostle Paul, Christianity
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