How can someone be a ruthless murderer of jews and followers of Yehoshua bin Yosef al Nazareth and then suddenly have an epiphany? He disappeared for 13years, returned to Peter and James(brother of Yehoshua) and then took control of the ENTIRE FUTURE of the Christian faith.
2006-07-22 17:12:02 · 8 answers · asked by Furibundus 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Convert
2006-07-22 17:15:23 · answer #1 · answered by BlackAdder_MB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You give Paul too much credit... He only tapped into what was already going on! Sure he became one of the most eloquent spokespersons for the faith, but he in no way "took control of the entire future" as you claim. Christianity was already well established, and believe me, God was in control, even in bringing this Saul (a religious Jew bent on destroying Christianity) to the new Paul, who used his great knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures to affirm that Jesus was indeed the long awaited Messiah, but not for the Jews only, for the WHOLE WORLD. He showed how that Jesus was the Passover of the new covenant, doing away with the need for sacrifices under the old covenant. He also demonstrated from the old scriptures that the Messiah must come not just the once... to set up his kingdom and vanquish all earthly enemies, but twice; the first time as prophesied (and missed in the scriptures until this day by most Jews), as the suffering Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, to pay the price for our waywardness (sins), and then the second time, (also prophesied and understood clearly by the Jews), to defeat all earthly enemies and set up his kingdom in Jerusalem. Paul in no way "hijacked" the Christian faith as you state, but rather, because of his great understanding of the scriptures, brought greater light to the authenticity of Jesus.
2006-07-23 00:46:15 · answer #2 · answered by skypiercer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For one, Paul was not a murderer, if you have a chapter and verse that states that, please share. He was a pharisee and did arrest Christians and take them to jail. If you were on a road and heard a voice from Heaven asking why you are persecuting me, you would have a major epiphany too. He went away to "God's school". He needed to spend time alone with God, to be educated and become acceptable to the apostles. They were skeptical at first, but soon accepted him as one them. He did not take control of the entire future of the Christian faith, his works were very influential since he was probably the most educated of the writers and also wrote the most letters to the churches. But his writings are no more important than Peter's, John's or James'.
2006-07-23 00:22:00 · answer #3 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Romans were well known for assimilating anything that they could not beat militarily. They recognized that Christianity had grown so large that they could not possibly stamp it out.
So they did the same thing that they always did when they found themselves in this position. Paul was roman, one of the first roman undercover agents if you will to gain prominence in the Christian hierarchy. His job was to subvert the faith correct the teachings so they were more palatable to roman tastes and take over and control as much of the leadership as possible. His cover story about being blinded and thrown from his horse was designed to play right into the Christian idea of a forceful Jesus that was the defender of the faith.
He was accepted by most of the Christian world and eventually trumped Peters wishes on many issues. Apparently everyone thought that Jesus had made a mistake in selecting Peter to take care of running the faith because Paul was and is still taken quite seriously.
Christianity is barely recognizable today if you compare it to what Jesus actually taught. If you read closely you can still see occasional glimpses of Jesus’ teaching in and among the nonsense that was overlaid on it by Paul and others. The roman conquest of Christianity took quite some time, but was completed in the 4th century around the time of the council of Nicea when the current bible was compiled.
Constantine also had one of these miraculous encounters with Jesus that lead to his conversion, but oddly continued to worship roman gods in private right up to his death. In public of course he was a true Christian.
The new faith that replaced the one Jesus entrusted peter with was called the universal, or Catholic Church. It is better known as the Roman Catholic Church. I guess you could call that a hint.
A truly brilliant plan actually. Made possible by the efforts of a roman double agent named Paul who called himself an apostle, but never actually met Jesus. For his loyalty and meritorious service he was later killed to cover up the truth.
2006-07-23 00:16:16 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Uh...Christ personally appeared to Saul. Hijacker? or a chosen messenger of the Lord, who just didn't know it at the time, and made bad choices up to the point of Christ's appearance to him? Paul was a great apostle.
2006-07-23 00:18:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's a convert. He changed because of a personal miracle. To my recollection was blinded and then regained sight and changed name to Paul. Became a new person.
2006-07-23 00:24:31 · answer #6 · answered by opinionated 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Paul did not teach anything that was contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ (and the other disciples).
Cordially,
John
2006-07-23 00:15:25 · answer #7 · answered by John 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And eplileptic, don't forget that. (Vision my foot)
2006-07-23 00:16:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋