I’ve spent the last couple days working on a potential ebook that I want to call Honest, Historic Christianity. If you’re a reader of this blog, I wouldn’t mind you helping me with it. It is not linked to on my web site, only here.
It’s only started, but it is about 17 pages of single-spaced writing in a Word document. The two main finished chapters are on the church and unity and salvation by faith. It won’t be real new if you read my blog a lot, but it is a unique approach to the Scriptures.
I call the approach the honest and historic approach because I have two goals.
One, honesty. I don’t want to explain away any Scriptures. I want the things I believe, hold to, and teach to be without “difficult” Scriptures. Nowadays, without the apostles to teach us and with their traditions, so honored in the early churches (2 Thess. 2:15), lost to us, it can take years of prayer and waiting to find what’s true.
Two, historical. I want to believe and teach what works. A prophet is known by his results, not his words. The kingdom of God does not consist of words, but of power. I want what I teach to be historical in the sense of being what powerful, holy, and united churches have taught in the past. I would also like it to be historical in the sense of “actual”: real and lived out.
You can see how I’m doing at this link: http://www.oldoldstory.org/Honest and Historic Christianity.doc
The only charge is feedback if you have any.
About Paul Pavao
I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity.
My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this.
I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too.
I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.