(April 5, 2017 at 11:34 am)Faith No More Wrote: Fair enough, except that "understanding what the NT instructs" is up to your interpretation.
It's actually worse than just sects and individuals arguing over NT interpretation. The NT itself is the result of previous disputes within the Christian world about what it meant to be a Christian, with the Pauline faction winning out and receiving official sanction. (I can't help but wonder what Jesus would have made of Paul's teachings.) Believers just take it for granted that they were basically on the same page, but they only think that because of the shape the NT eventually took. They'll argue that it turned out the way it did because of some divine plan and the inspirational workings of the Holy Spirit, etc. But that is just another claim without sufficient evidence. The 'losing' factions within that intra-religious dispute probably didn't see it that way.
