Philip McPherson Rudisill
215 Piedmont Avenue, No. 304
Atlanta, GA 30308 USA
Tels. 404/351-9794 (Day) and 404/523-0970 (Evening); Fax 404/351-1491
pmr@mindspring.com - www.mindspring.com/~kantwesley
5/10/00
The Editor
Atlanta Constitution
via Fax 404/526-5610 or -5611
Greetings:
The intention of the Christian revelation is to produce the so-called Gentile Christian, the person not subject to any law except the law of love. It is only in such a person, freed from the constraint of all externally imposed law, that the Holy Spirit is able to take control without interference. It is only through such control that a person becomes an honest reflection of Jesus, i.e., a person increasingly able to love as a second nature, and thus a person increasingly delightful to God.
The most important consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the dispersion and effective elimination of the then authoritative Jewish Christian community. But this took place only after this group had declared that the Gentile adherents to the faith were subject to no law apart from the Golden Rule [along with admonishing them to be sensitive to those who still relied upon the law of Moses].
The present-day consequence is quite clear: the Christian must view the scriptures as a church-sanctioned history book of the early faith (and its background), and not a law book. Therefore, among other things, the Christian is not inhibited by strictures against contact with blood nor against homosexual relationships.
However, the present day Christian church is shackled by its failure to recognize this its birthright of freedom from law. The reason is fairly apparent: the early church, in its efforts to be palatable to the non-Christian Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem, took on the mantle of legalism and the trappings of a priesthood. The results have been a moral set-back lasting almost 2,000 years.
Sincerely,
PS Suggested captions: Blood and Gays; Scriptures not a law book?; Lawless Christians; Golden Rule Alone?
To contact the author, please e-mail: pmr**kantwesley.com (note: the ** must be replaced by @)