Stephen's account...Catholicism and the Alexandrian Jews

Which Jews were God's legitimate Old Testament authority and New? How do we know? Why are the Alexandrian Jews in conflict with Aaron's priestly authority and their traditions? Why should I believe Alexandrian opinion over Aaron's priesthood in Jerusalem during Old Testament times? And why are the Alexandrian Jews in opposition to the believing Jews from Israel? The account of Stephen clearly reveals the conflict between the original Messianic Jews and the Alexandrian Jews who later were built upon by Catholic institution.

Catholic Encyclopedia says,

The "radical departure" exists because of Alexandrian broader view of Divine Inspiration. What authority allowed their expanded view to supersede Israel's central authority?

Here is the reason I cannot see Catholic institution as the Church of God.

It is important to note that no institutionalization of the Body existed within the structure of Christianity for the first 300 years after Jesus. That fact has to be considered significant for everyone knows that the closer we get to the beginnings of anything, the more pure it has to be. This means that each city had one body of believers who came together as often as they did. There was no division between true believers. If there arose divisions, each problem was addressed in each city by local church leaders through the authority of the Word as the Spirit directed.

At the same time, there was considerable envy and jealousy between the three basic groups of Jews. Hellenist Jews were loyal to Greek thinking primarily. Hellenist Jews living within Israel were represented by the Sadducees. Any Jews who had residence outside of Israel I refer to as "Gentile Jews". They largely took up residence in Alexandria, Egypt.

The second group of Jews consisted of resident Jews living in Israel who rejected Jesus as Messiah. This group can best be classified as Scribes, Pharisees and Priests.

The third group are all the resident Israel Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah. They are the first fruits of Christianity and were direct witnesses of its birth and construction of the Church's foundation. I refer to this group as Messianic Jews.

It is these same Alexandrian Jews who wrote the apocryphal books in gentile territories. Each region considered its own books to be inspired on par with Israel’s inspired writings. This belief was in direct rebellion to Israel’s Deuteronomy 4:2 that issued a warning to anyone who would add to or subtract from Israel’s Scriptures. This attitude is important to note. Whatever the Alexandrians seem to have thought and done, they considered it equal to Israel’s revelations from God. Yet God never established them as his Old Testament authority in the earth.

We see three Jewish groups interacting in the account of Stephen’s stoning. It was the Alexandrian Jews who were debating with Stephen. They were the source of debate and division. When they could not refute Stephen's wisdom, they manipulated Israel’s religious leadership in order to silence him. Stephen’s account precisely identifies the root hostilities, mind sets and attitudes between these three groups. All of which can still be seen today when you compare Christian institution, non Christian Jews and true non-institutionalized Christians.

From here God sent Israel’s believing Jews throughout the world. Many Gentile Jews and just plain Gentiles believed. It is from this secondary group that many imagined Christianity not as partakers with Israel but as its own authority having their own direct gentile connection to God separate from Israel’s foundation.

Alexandria, Egypt was then the world’s most intellectually enlightened city containing the most magnificent and exhaustive library collection ever assembled. Many of man’s most brilliant ideas independent of God came from Alexandria. Ideas such as, democracy, modern medical scientific methods, performing arts, deductive analysis and reasoning, and the belief that man’s achievements and history can serve as the divining rod for spiritual truth. This same Alexandria produced what the Catholic Church refers to as the “Early Church Fathers” who forged their Hellenistic ideas into Christianity independent from God’s workings within Old Testament Israel. A Christianity founded on Alexandrian Jewish free thinking is not founded on God’s promises to Israel.

The Jewish converts from Israel didn't bring anything but the Scriptural understandings of the Jewish priesthood. So why should I accept the "feelings" of the gentile Jews when Jesus himself didn't even bother visiting them even once during his ministry. Obviously their "feelings" to accept broader interpretations of divine inspiration caused them to be treated differently than the Jews in Israel. This is one of many reasons why I choose the understandings of the Jews from Israel over the conflicting and broader views of the gentile Jews from Alexandria.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says,

Public opinion is a Greek form of logic in order to promote Greek ideas. But God did not use public opinion when he established Israel. He did not use public opinion when he set up Israel's priesthood. He did not use public opinion when he spoke to Israel's prophets. He didn't use public opinion when he commanded those prophets to write down his words. And he did not use public opinion when he sent Jesus to earth. Therefore, public opinion has nothing to do with Scripture or God's plan.

By what authority did these Alexandrians do these things? There is no record of God sending even one prophet amongst them. God did not set up his priesthood or even personally intervene in their midst. There is no record of even one powerful display of God’s power in their midst. Jesus was clear that he was only sent to the lost sheep in Israel and never set one foot within Alexandrian territory. Doesn’t this show conclusively that God made a distinction between Israel and the Gentile Jews? Old Testament Israel is the key. Israel is the focus. Israel is the proof and the confidence that show us what is inspired Scripture.

The point which seems to be escaping many is that these Alexandrian authors of deuteros "radically departed" from Aaron's legitimate Old Testament authority and understandings. Rejecting God's legitimate authority is the same as rejecting God himself. Isn't it? This rejection automatically places deuteros into the category of non inspired writings. Certainly not a recording of the direct words of God like Israel's prophets wrote down. Therefore, deuteros are not Scripture in Old Testament era. Any writings not Scripture in Old Testament era cannot possibly be raised to that status in New Testament times. This is the conflict. Catholic opinion insists that mere common writings are somehow God's written words to men. I believe this is the error from Alexandria that caused Stephen's death.

Only by my acceptance of Catholic opinion "first" is this error removed. To me this doesn't sit well. What if Catholic opinion is wrong? Accepting that opinion first does nothing to shed light on that error. In fact, if I wanted to hide my error, I would desire all to accept my story first before considering the facts. Especially if I could convince you that I was infallible.

Jim

 

Why are there no responses? Am I speaking over everybody's head? Or are people afraid of any possible ramifications that may come out of this kind of thinking?

Jim

 

My point would be this. If the oracles of God come from the Jews, which Jews does this mean? Israeli Jews. Alexandrian Jews. Only Jews from Israel who were prophets or priests?

It seems all doctrinal divisions between denominations and individual believers can be directly tied to which group of Jews were used.

Jim

 

It also says that God was only speaking to the prophets. Were there legitimate prophets of God in the Alexandrian bunch?

If we take your generalization that any Jew is capable of producing Scriptures, then we must accept the Appocryphal books as well since they were penned by Alexandrian Jews. Is this what you are promoting?

Jim