I basically agree with your defense of our founding, but your view of red letters vs. Paul misses that the risen Lord Jesus Christ specifically called him as “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).
Jesus called Paul and thus gave him authority to teach. That’s why you have 13 letters from him in your NT. Those are Jesus speaking to YOU. That’s how he speaks, through chosen instruments.
Most of the “red letters” are Him speaking to Israel during His earthly ministry where he said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)
Paul never met Jesus before he was crucified. It’s basically a heresy to hold the words of Paul as carrying all the weight of the words of Jesus. It’s silly to give him more weight than any of the other gospels. Even the other Apostles had some serious disagreements with him that were never fully resolved.
It is proper and wise to prayerfully judge Paul’s writings for yourself, and as a Baptist, I have the right to read the Bible, and speak to god in prayer about it. I do not have to go through an intermediary.
Anyway, the risk is less that Paul was incorrect, than that his words have been incorrectly recorded, translated through the ages, manipulated by Rome, and now applied poorly by people who decide the Founding Fathers may have sinned by rebelling against the British crown. That is the actual risk.
Paul never met Jesus before he was crucified. It’s basically a heresy to hold the words of Paul as carrying all the weight of the words of Jesus. It’s silly to give him more weight than any of the other gospels. Even the other Apostles had some serious disagreements with him that were never fully resolved.
It is proper and wise to prayerfully judge Paul’s writings for yourself, and as a Baptist, I have the right to read the Bible, and speak to god in prayer about it. I do not have to go through an intermediary.
Anyway, the risk is less that Paul was incorrect, than that his words have been incorrectly recorded, translated through the ages, manipulated by Rome, and now applied poorly by people who decide the Founding Fathers may have sinned by rebelling against the British crown. That is the actual risk.