Author Archives: Paul Pavao

Unknown's avatar

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.

Yeah, I Won Over a Million Bucks!

I got a letter from Google Incorporation in London saying that I won a drawing that I never entered! "Wherein your email address emerged as one of the online Winning (sic) emails in the 2nd category and therefore attracted a … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Righteousness, Justification, and God’s Kingdom People

Yesterday I wrote on the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (You can use that link to see it, or, if you’re on this blog’s home page, you can just scroll down to the post below.) The … Continue reading

Posted in Gospel, Holiness | 1 Comment

Righteousness and the Man to Whom God Will Not Impute Sin

I’m going to try a very theological post for those who have struggled with some of the same questions concerning faith and works that I have. Romans 4:6-8 says: David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes … Continue reading

Posted in Gospel, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Should Gentile Christians Keep the Law?

We do not keep the food laws of the Jews, but we do keep the food laws of the Law of Christ, which is the Law of Moses brought to fullness. We do so by meditating on the Word, parting from the world, and being in fellowship with those who do the same. Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why Do We Allow Musical Instruments When the Early Churches Did Not?

You may not realize that the early churches, at least the ones in the 3rd century and later, did not allow musical instruments. The denomination that calls itself Church of Christ and claims not to be a denomination also claims … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Church, History, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Why Do I Disagree with the Early Churches on Procreation?

Anyone familiar with the early Christian writings knows that from a very early date the churches began to oppose sex, even in marriage, for any other purpose than having children. I think they were influenced by Greek philosophy, not apostolic … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, History | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Why Do I Commune With Remarried Christians?

To one who, before believing, had been loosed from a wife, she will not be counted a second wife who, subsequent to believing, is the first. For it is from believing that our life itself dates its origin. ~Tertullian, c. A.D. 200 Continue reading

Posted in History, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Don’t You … ?: Head Coverings

A friend that I’m honored even to know, who always treats me with a respect I don’t deserve, wrote me to ask why I don’t talk about the kinds of things that a lot of other early church fanatics talk … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Harmonization vs. Conflict in the Scripture

In my last post I talked a little about faith verse works. I mentioned that "faith plus works" is not a bad thing in Scripture, but a good thing. It’s only a bad thing in our fundamentalist Protestant tradition. Why … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Customs and Traditions

This post was inspired by a quote from Mark Twain: Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. How true this is. Recently, I wrote a page … Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment