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First, let me point out that Peter, who experienced Jesus and his teachings first hand, supports Paul's teachings in 2nd Peter 3:14-16. It would appear that Peter finds Paul's teaching consistant with the Gospel message rather than a new doctrine or belief system.



Okay. I just looked at 2 Peter 3:14-16. I still have the Life Application NIV Study Bible in my lap {the one I used all the time when still a Christian} as I am writing this.

Yes. I agree. This specific part of the Christian text does make the statement that Peter finds Paul't teaching consistant as you say. Thus, the Christian viewpoint would be such.

However, since I am a non-Christian-- and since I am one that questions authority, period---I have questions.

1. What letters is this man speaking of? Do we have all the letters that Paul wrote that this man read? To whom were all the letters written? And what were the nature of the letters? What did the letters address?

2. What are the things that are hard for people to understand? The man didn't make it clear what specific things he was talking about.

3. Are we sure that this is Peter who had personal experience with Jesus?
There is a note in the Study Bible that I have. It says that the authorship of this particular Christian Scripture has been disputed and because of this dispute, 2 Peter was the last "book" that was admitted into the Christian canon.
I also remember this from the Christian studies that I had one before, but I don't own the material anymore. I would have to do research online. And I am not going to do that at this time. Though, I am sure there are interesting information from Christian scholars about this.

I am actually looking forward to well thought out and original Christian response to the question orginally presented.


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Clarification on the "New Jerusalem Church" would be helpful.

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I have never researched to see if there is documentation of the missionary trips of Barnabas and John AKA Mark, who had parted ways with Paul.


I don't know if anyone can really answer this because humans do not have certain capacities. How do we know what might have happened if history didn't work out the way it did? We can only guess.


Shalom,
Gretta