Coz he was messenger of the gods! Why did he accept that name, wsnt it against his religion? And isn't Hermes/Mercury also the god of theives, robbers and liars?
2006-11-01 20:06:55 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
They didn't accept it. Read the passage.
Acts 14:8-15 says
8 ¶ In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed
10 and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"
12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:
15 "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/_PDFArchives/theological-dictionary/TD4W1003.pdf
http://www.intouch.org/index_76034.html
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/home.php
2006-11-01 20:21:35 · answer #1 · answered by upsman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I wasn't there so I can't say for sure. But I'm sure that they were using the term metaphorically. Hermes was the messenger of Zeus, so since Paul was spreading God's message, he was in effect, Hermes. Would he have been offended? Probably not. Zeus was a powerful Deity of the time and so was Hermes. I believe he would have appreciated the new title in the spirit it was given.
2006-11-02 04:12:10 · answer #2 · answered by Odindmar 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christians usually get offended easily, but i think their growing resilient to verbal attacks. Thier bibles never tell the whole story, thats the way christianity is supposed to be.
2006-11-02 04:15:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you believe everything you read? I study the greek Christian bible and found no such thing.
2006-11-02 04:15:26 · answer #4 · answered by john h 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋