I'm not looking to start another argument, but this quote from Gamaliel (an UNbeliever in Jesus as Messiah) has been used on more than a few occasions to try to "prove" the Roman Catholic Church must be of God since it is still around all these years later. I have a few problems with using this statement as a proof text of sorts. First of all, there are myriad religions FAR from anywhere close to being "of God" - some that go back millennium before Roman Catholicism or all of Christianity, for that matter. Secondly, Gamaliel was NOT speaking by inspiration of God but giving his own opinion. And lastly, the second part of his statement is obviously true since no one is capable of destroying what God has determined he will do. It's just Gamaliel's first part - that if it be of man, it will come to nothing - that is provably untrue. The whole world is filled with man-made religions and, eventually, they WILL all be found to be wrong because, on that day, EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father. But, just as if Gamaliel was thinking this would happen in his lifetime, we don't know when this will come to pass so it is not a proper method to judge if a truth claim is genuine or not. God gave us Holy Scripture for that purpose.
****Gamaliel was NOT speaking by inspiration of God but giving his own opinion.*****
And how is it that you know this? Does the Bible say that? And, who heard what he said so that it was recorded in Scripture? I ask because in the 40th verse of that passage, it says that they called in the Apostles after having them scourged, so it would seem that it was not the Apostles who heard this. Do you find it mere coincidence that he was a teacher of St. Paul? Was it Paul who was among the council members and heard this?
*****First of all, there are myriad religions FAR from anywhere close to being “of God” - some that go back millennium before Roman Catholicism or all of Christianity, for that matter. *****
And exactly how many of these religions were founded by Jesus, the Incarnate Word, God the Son?
*****It’s just Gamaliel’s first part - that if it be of man, it will come to nothing - that is provably untrue.****
Really, I mean really? LOL Sorry, this is just pathetic.
Gamaliel was a respected man, Scripture calls him a doctor of the law , so respected that just by this he was able to stay the executioners of St. Peter and the other Apostles in custody.
Honestly, other religions, not founded on Jesus, the ONE TRUE GOD, are not what Gamaliel was addressing and to compare them to the Church which Jesus founded is just ridiculous beyond measure.
There is no argument here, your position is simply preposterous.
I have a serious issue with prooftexting in general. Prooftexting is the practice of using isolated quotations from a document to prove a hypothesis or position. Prooftexting rarely reflects the intent of the author.
An old joke that shows the problems with prooftexting goes like this: "A man dissatisfied with his life decided to consult the Bible for guidance. Closing his eyes, he flipped the book open and pointed to a spot on the page. Opening his eyes, he read the verse under his finger. It read, Matthew 27:5 ("Then Judas went away and hanged himself") Closing his eyes again, the man randomly selected another verse. This one read,Luke 10:37 ("Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'")