NT

This is what Jesus said about seeking Signs: JESUS SAID Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas

On the contrary, it is written (Acts 2:22): Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know

God can change his mind at any time.

On the contrary, it is said, that in God "there is no change nor shadow of alteration" (James 1:17).

I don't take pride in my sins. There are sins that are not fatal and sins that are fatal (1John 5:16-17)- like abortion and murder. It is a cause for remorse and repentance, not pride and celebration. We are called for repentance now. There is no chance of repentance after death

1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

My favorite so far:

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Catholics are allowed to reinterpret, but Protestant theology holds to a "plain reading" so... oopsy

Protestants got that covered (2 Peter 3:8): "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Adam lived to be 930 years old, but that was still one GOD DAY. Simple!

There is no sin greater than the other. All sins are equal.

On the contrary, it is written (1 John 5:16):

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

2 John 

The Second Epistle of John has fewer verses than any other book in the Bible, and almost as few words as his Third Epistle. Unlike 3 John, this epistle is not addressed to a single individual, despite appearances, neither does the author identify himself as John. When the "elder" greets the "elect lady" he is not addressing a literal woman but a certain church. This is supported by the final verse, which says, The children of thy elect sister greet thee.

There is a theory that the elect lady is actually Mary the mother of Jesus, who was given by Christ himself into John's keeping at the foot of the cross. If John needed to speak to her, then, it would have been in person rather than with a formal letter, and since she would be living in his own house, or at least in a nearby household that was maintained by John, he would hardly need to tell her in a letter to refuse admittance to false teachers as he does in verses ten and eleven when he commands: If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

In verse eight he says: Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

This reveals that the "elect lady" is a plurality rather than a single person, and also that this plurality should attend to their own righteousness that they keep their crown in heaven. Of all the persons in the world, one would think that the mother of Jesus would not have to worry about her reward in heaven.

Second John also differs from 3 John in that it actually contains doctrine. The errors of Doceticm and Gnosticism had crept into the church in the latter half of the First Century. Some said that Jesus never incarnated, but only had the appearance of flesh, because they were scandalized that Divinity would soil itself by associating so closely with mere flesh. Others said that Christ was raised as a spirit only, and did not experience a bodily resurrection. John made a point of addressing these issues in his Gospel, when he declared that Jesus was the Word, co-equal with God, made flesh, and described him eating fish and bread with the disciples after the resurrection, which a spirit could not do.

In this epistle he condemns such doctrine in no uncertain terms with a restatement of something he declared in his first epistle where he said: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

3 JOHN



The Third Epistle of John is the shortest "book" in the bible by word count, with 299 words, but the preceding book 2 John has fewer verses (thirteen) while 3 John has fourteen verses.

It is addressed to a certain man named Gaius (a layman who was a member of a church in Asia Minor) as credentials for a traveling party headed by one Demetrius. The unnamed author wanted Gaius to receive this party into his church, and he is confident that Gaius will do so.

He contrasts the famous charity of Gaius with one Diotrephes, the bishop of that same Church, who did not receive the author and his party of evangelists one time. Diotrephes used to shoot off his mouth and use malicious words against the author, and not content with that, he proceeded to cast the author and his party out of this church, which is something he won't soon forget.

In the meantime, the author needs to do this end-runaround through Gaius so that his men will have somewhere to stay.

There are other Gaiuses named in four other places in the New Testament, but they (or he) were associated with Paul and Greece, not John and Asia. And Gaius was a popular name back then. Caesar's full name, after all, was Gaius Julius Caesar.

There is no doctrine laid out in 3 John, it is strictly a personal letter, but the overall theme is the importance of hospitality, especially when it comes to men who were working to spread the gospel. Gaius, for his part, seems to have been a wealthy man. The author did not think it would impose unduly on Gaius to put these travelling preachers up for a spell.

Some scholars believe that the John who wrote the second and third epistles was not the same John who wrote the first epistle and the gospel of John. They make a distinction between John the Evangelist and John the Presbyter who wrote these short letters. But there are certain repeated characteristics of Johannine writings which come out clearly here, such as his catch-phrase, "thou walkest in the truth". Also, John typically wrote with an extremely clear, ultra-simplistic, almost condescending tone, with a teaching style that reminds one of a parent speaking to a child.

"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God..."

"...and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

John also says he had many other things to write, but he'd rather tell them face-to-face than commit them to paper, which is unfortunate because 2000 years later all we have is the paper.

JUDE



Jesus had two disciples named Judah. One was surnamed Iscariot (Yudah of Kerioth) and he was the famous betrayer. The other one was simply (as spelled out in John 14:22) the Judah who was not Iscariot. Since he has been overshadowed and overlooked throughout history, Catholics have made him the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. Often, when newspapers were still a thing, you would find a prayer to St. Jude in newspaper classified ads asking him to intercede in the sale of a house or the like.

He was known as Judas the brother of James in Luke and Acts, and since James was the brother of Jesus, that makes Jude the Judas who is identified, with Joses, Simon, and at least two sisters, as siblings of Jesus. There is a Thaddeus in the list of the Twelve contained in Matthew and Mark, and Jude has traditionally been identified with him to make everything work out.

Jude urges his readers to "Contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." This postulates that the entire deposit of Christ's doctrine was delivered and closed by the time he wrote, with no further revelation possible.

When he says, "remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ" he seems to be locating the apostles somewhat back in time, and excluding himself from that group, which is the forger letting his forgery slip.

He uses the same language that the author of 2 Peter uses to answer concerns that the Lord seemed to tarry: "How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts...' This is so close to 2 Peter 3:3 (which reads "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts") that many believe the author of 2 Peter used Jude as a source.

There is a doctrine among Protestant circles that Christians are "saved" (past tense), and can never lose their salvation, which gives God very little to do on Judgment Day. But Jude asks the reader to recall "how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not" as well as the angels who "kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude is saying, sure, no one can take us out of the hand of the Lord once we have been grasped by him...except ourselves, by falling into unbelief.

Jude quotes from the book of Enoch, "seventh from Adam", which is not part of the Bible canon. He cites Enoch prophesying, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Since Jude is part of the canon, that makes this small part of the book of Enoch canon too.

But Jude softens it up a bit, soft-peddling the "destroy" part of the original passage in 1 Enoch 1:9 which reads, "And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly, and to convict all flesh af all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

He also paraphrases an incident in a book that has been lost about Satan and Michael quarrelling over the body of Moses. If the holy angel Michael did not rebuke Satan himself, but only said "the Lord rebuke thee" how much more so should we not rebuke human enemies of the faith but only pray for the Lord to make the rebuke. But at the same time Jude calls unbelievers "filthy dreamers" who "defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities" so go figure. 