[HarleyD]

I have been asking Silverlings to show me where the Old Testamant gives the Apostles authority to nullify the command of Circumcision

No one has a right to nullify anything of God-including the Apostles. That right is reserved for God alone. God showed Peter and Paul, both, that circumcision meant nothing.

Circumcision to the Jews was suppose to be nothing more than an outward sign of an inward change, like baptism is to Christians. God was furious with the Jews who went through the rituals of circumcision and yet lived their lives like everyone else. He stated:

"Behold the days are coming," declares the Lord, "that I will punish all who are cirumcised and yet uncircumcised-" Jer 9:25

God also states:

"Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else My wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it" Jer 4:4

Circumcision became a meaningless ritual for a pagan people who claimed to believe in God but denied His power and sovereignty. They called themselves Jews yet they sacrificed their children to Molech. (Not much difference than us "Christians" who sacrifice our children through abortion-but I digress.)

As 1000 rightly pointed out, this was part of the old covenant that God, Himself, tossed out. He is the ONLY one who can do so because He kept His end of the bargin. God brought in a NEW covenant and sealed His Spirit within us so that His people would be obedient. He told the apostles what He was doing and they relayed the message. The Bereans, who were more nobel than the Thessalonicans (Act 17) searched the scriptures (Old Testament) to see if what the Apostles were saying was correct, and they confirmed it based upon the scriptures.

The Church preaches a Gospel of Love, His one commandment.

With all due respect, this is not God's ONE commandment. You are to:

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and with all your strength. The second [commandment] is this "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31

You are first commanded to love God. Then your neighbor. There are others.

BTW, I like the contrast of preaching the "gospel of love" that you mention and my scripture passage from Jeremiah of how God's wrath with go out on the disobedient.

[jo kus]

Harley, I am Christian, and agree with everything you have said regarding what God has done and the utilization of circumcision as a shadow of the good things to come. But you are explaining all of this from the view of NT Scriptures, way after the events recorded in Acts 15!

My whole point, that has been either ignored or misunderstood, (sorry if it is my fault, silverlings) is that the Apostles of 47 AD made a decision based on oral teachings and the authority given to them from whom they thought was God. This decision (which they thought was from God) was NOT based in the Old Testament, the Scriptures that they then had. Thus, the decision to do away with part of God's "eternal" covenant was done WITHOUT Sola Scriptura. This is a precedent that the Catholic Church continues to this day.

If you accept that the Apostles acted without Sola Scriptura, it naturally leads one to accept that their successors continue to have this power and that Sola Scriptura was never used by the Church. Merely looking at Acts 15 and what the Apostles did thoroughly disproves the idea that the Church would ever use Sola Scriptura.

Regards