Author Archives: Paul Pavao

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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.

Liturgy and “The Church”

I promise I will get back to teachings that must not be lost, but I’ve been on a trip. I need to get in a blog, and there’s nothing like a good Roman Catholic apologist to stir me up to … Continue reading

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I’m Catholic Now!

It only recently dawned on me that I have been trying to be “catholic” since the time I became a Christian. With a lot of hesitation, I am ready to announce that I … no, we … have arrived. I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in Church, Protestants, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

In the Name of Jesus

I have heard several definitions of what it means to pray “in the name of Jesus.” I have heard even more of what it means to baptize in the name of Jesus. I want to suggest that we don’t need … Continue reading

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On the Petrine Primacy

I’m sending you to another post from Mr. Theophiletos. This post is more on the subject of Peter than the pope, but it touches on the pope, of course. I’m reposting because I find it an excellent example of thinking … Continue reading

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The Argument from (Dis-)Similarity

Originally posted on Finite Reflections of Infinity:
Will the real Church please stand up?  Go to a phone directory of any moderately sized settlement and see if the listings for “churches” don’t rapidly get bewildering.  Indeed, such an exercise is often…

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The Law of Moses and the Sabbath for Christians

I addressed a question concerning the Sabbath on the Christian History for Everyman Facebook page. It’s short compared to most of my blog posts, but very long for a Facebook post. If that’s a topic that interests or puzzles you, … Continue reading

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Climate Change, Antarctic Ice Sheets, Honesty, and News

I get very frustrated with climate change news stories. Don’t get me wrong, I believe climate change is real, and I think we are causing it. Nonetheless, the reason people reject news of climate change so vehemently is because the … Continue reading

Posted in Church, Evolution, Miscellaneous, Unity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Church: Inside and Outside

The Church is a complicated subject for me. I’m glad for this opportunity to look at what the church is from all angles. What follows is a very long comment I posted in answer to a very short question. A … Continue reading

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The Church, part one

I’m not near as good at describing the Church as the Chinese that came from Watchman Nee’s Little Flock movement. I’m a pretty good storyteller, but I can’t spin the tale of the church like Gene Edwards can. I can, … Continue reading

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The Gospel: Comment Response

Let’s take a break from Teachings That Must Not Be Lost to respond to a comment. It isn’t really a break. I’m trying to put TTMNBL posts up every two days, and this is going up on an inbetween day. … Continue reading

Posted in Gospel, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments