2006-10-08 13:24:06 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
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.
2006-10-08 13:36:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually Constantine masterminded Chrisitinity between 2 AD and 3 AD.
He took the basic "churches" that Peter, Paul and John created and developed them into the Catholics we know today.
His hand picked people decided which books went into the Bible and which books did not. He decided what rituals they would follow, etc.
2006-10-08 20:41:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read "The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity" by Hyam Maccoby
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2006-10-08 20:26:16 · answer #3 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Paul pursecuted the Church, he killed Christians, then a voice came down from heaven, while Paul, which was Saul at the time, was on his way to Demascus, ans said why pursecutes thou me , and his name was changed to paul, he was blinded at the time, and when he gt to demascus a man was waiting on him there, and told him what to do, anyways Sauls name was changed, he got his sight back, and he started living for Jesus.
2006-10-08 20:33:59 · answer #4 · answered by theladylooking 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Paul is the founder of 'Christianity'
2006-10-08 20:37:38 · answer #5 · answered by abdulaziiz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Though penned by Peter, Paul would echo these words:
2006-10-08 20:28:33 · answer #6 · answered by Bob L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He found Jesus...
2006-10-08 20:26:09 · answer #7 · answered by Faith Walker 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋