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To: Diego1618

I am always amazed when Protestants deny what was always known and believed and claim the Bible backs them up!

Diego1618 wrote:

"There are no Biblical references of Peter being anywhere in or about Rome. Babylon in [1 Peter 5:13] means....Babylon."

Incorrect.

1) Babylon also meant Rome. It was essentially a code word.

Even most Protestants openly admit that Babylon means Rome:

"It is generally agreed that "Babylon" in 1 Peter 5:13 is a cipher for the city of Rome. The great city in Mesopotamia was no longer such in the first century. Diodorus of Sicily (56-36 BCE) writes: "As for the palaces and the other buildings, time has either entirely effaced them or left them in ruins; and in fact of Babylon itself but a small part is inhabited at this time, and most of the area within its walls is given over to agriculture." (2.9.9) Strabo, who died in 19 CE, writes: "The greater part of Babylon is so deserted that one would not hesitate to say . . . 'The Great City is a great desert'." (Geography 16.1.5) Also, no church other than Rome was claimed in ancient times to be the resting place of Peter. The Sibylline Oracles (5.143-168; 5.434), the Apocalypse of Baruch (10:1-3; 11:1; 67:7), 4 Ezra (3:1, 28, 31), and Revelation (14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2-21) also refer to Rome as "Babylon." There was a reason for connecting the Babylonian and Roman empires, as Norman Perrin writes, "Rome is called Babylon because her forces, like those of Babylon at an earlier time, destroyed the temple and Jerusalem" (Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom, p. 58)."

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/1peter.html

You also wrote:

"Peter, as well as the other twelve had received instructions to "Go to the Lost Sheep" of the house of Israel and stay away from the Gentiles [Matthew 10:5-6]. That's why Paul was selected....if you recall."

2) And if you cracked open that Bible of yours you might recall Acts 10? Did St. Paul's designation as Apostle to the Gentiles stop him from preaching to Jews? Nope. He preached to Jews FIRST in each city he visited in fact.

Protestants used to know this! Martin Luther wrote: "Did not Paul preach to the Jews, while Peter preached to the Gentiles also? Peter converted the Centurion. Paul's custom was to enter into the synagogues of the Jews, there to preach the Gospel. Why then should he call himself the apostle of the Gentiles, while he calls Peter the apostle of the circumcision?"

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/gal/web/gal2-04.html


112 posted on 12/16/2006 7:57:46 PM PST by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: vladimir998; marajade; Uncle Chip; kerryusama04
I am always amazed when Protestants deny what was always known and believed and claim the Bible backs them up!

Well, how about when Non-Protestants deny it....because I don't recall ever claiming to be one.

The great city in Mesopotamia was no longer such in the first century.

True...it may not have been, but the area "Beyond the Euphrates" was referred to by Josephus in the first century as containing the remnant of the ten tribes of Israel and their numbers were not to be estimated.

[Josephus "Antiquities" Book XI, Chapter V, Paragraph 2] "When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king's great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks to God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there; but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of his own nation that were in Media. And when these Jews had understood what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers."

And if you cracked open that Bible of yours you might recall Acts 10? Did St. Paul's designation as Apostle to the Gentiles stop him from preaching to Jews? Nope. He preached to Jews FIRST in each city he visited in fact.

Yup.....the reason for that is this: [Acts 9:15] But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel." Paul was told he could speak with both Israelite and Gentile.....Peter received no such commission.

Your turn. Give us that proof that does not exist....except in the false doctrines of your organization.

122 posted on 12/16/2006 8:24:55 PM PST by Diego1618
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To: vladimir998

Babylon existed then. How do we know Peter wasn't there at the real Babylon?


182 posted on 12/17/2006 7:50:26 AM PST by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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