As Christians say, I read the following in Context, but, the TRUTH is glaring. Didnt Paul fabricate the story?

Question

Acts 9: 1-7: And Saul...and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?...Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Acts 26: 12-18 And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen,...Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,....sanctified by faith that is in me.

Be honest. In the 1st verse Jesus told him to go to the city to find out what Paul must do. In the 2nd verse, we see Jesus already telling Paul what he must do!

Please read both the above in CONTEXT and the CONTRADICTION is still staring at you right?

Answer 1

I don't see what you see.

Saul is told that he must go into the city to be told what he must do next. Then Jesus told him why He appeared to him. Jesus also told him what he must do in general terms, you are correct.

So Saul / Paul didn't need to go into the city, because Jesus already spilled the beans, or jumped the gun?

So if my son is standing outside the house with me, on his birthday, and I say to him 'son its your birthday, go in the house so that I you can find out what you're going to do today,' then I tell him, 'son, its your birthday, and you are going to have a great time celebrating with everyone.'

Since I've told him in general 'what' is going to happen, he is wasting his time going into the house? If this happened, I'm sure he'd say, 'dad, you're wasting my time, you already told me what I'm going to do today. I'm not going in the house, there is no need.'

And now I can sit back and watch you pick someones answer who agrees with your view that there is a contradiction.

Answer 2

You haven't read Acts 26:12-18 carefully enough. This passage doesn't relate Jesus telling Paul what he should do; it tells him what Jesus' new PURPOSE for him is: to preach the Gospel.

Acts 9:17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Answer 3

Acts 9: 1-7 This is the author (believed to be Luke) telling what had happened.



Acts 26:12-18 This is Paul giving a speech of what happened.

Answer 4

Firstly, You are screaming, "CONTEXT" yet you left out much of the passages which you now refer. Since you use the word, "context" in your case, shouldn't you at least abide by your own standards?

You should read everything, not just bits and pieces. And you should search out any other Scripture related to those accounts.

You must also read what happens when he 'goes.' There is a lot more to the story. The account is given in more than a few places and when you read the ENTIRE account you will glean the whole truth.

Here is a modern day hint for you to consider while reading: I can tell you that you have to go manage a million dollar department store, but not tell you, yet, how you are going to actually do that. In fact, I would send you to your regional manager for that, wouldn't I?

Answer 5

No, you apparently have a problem with reading something in context cause you think these are verses that actually go together, as you seem to think Acts 9 is 1 and Acts 26 is 2.. There are quite a few you've left out between verses 9 and 26, don't ya think? Reading comprehension classes might help.

Answer 6

Do you know what a contadiction is?

Read Chapter 9...ALSO read 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and then 26...

What was happening in the 15 CHAPTERS before that?

Answer 7

Are you looking for a contradiction? Because if one carefully studies the Bible (which God wants us to do), you find that there aren't really contradictions. Paul had a great conversion experience on the road to Damascus. At that time, he knew his life had completely changed. He would be preaching the Gospel and no longer persecuting Christians. But how would it all come together and happen? God sent him to Ananias, who was in the city. Paul was blind at the time and really didn't know how he would begin to preach and to minister, but God had prepared Ananias for Paul's arrival and THEN things started to fall into place as per God's plan. Paul's sight was restored -- he spent a few days recouperating from the experience and then started preaching in the synagogues.

So what if the second text you referred to reveals more details about the experience Paul had. That doesn't make it a contradiction.

Answer 8

Okay, somehow I managed to skip over the fact that you were naming two completely different chapters. Sorry about that.

Anyway, no, I don't see a contradiction. In the first, Luke was the narrator, speaking about what happened to Paul. In Acts 26, Paul was speaking for himself. He merely summarized everything. He was on trial, remember? Besides, those actually were pretty close to Jesus's words, and since Paul went to Ananias, Ananias probably told Paul about his vision. That's pretty likely. So, rather than make it a long drawn-out story, Paul simply summed it up. You'll notice if you read more of the things that he wrote that that was his style. He tried to just get to the point.
Who could blame him?

Answer 9

There is no contradiction. What is stated in Acts 26 summarised the details of Paul's calling which came from the mouth of Jesus Himself which Paul could have heard over a period of time.

Answer 10

Very simple. Read John 1:1-? Jesus Christ was, is, and ever will be God. God spoke to Saul. The Jews and Christians know and understand the meaning of this verse. Mary, you are fixed on trying to prove the Bible is a falacy and you cannot understand what it says because of your bias, Try looking for the truth rather than spurious contradictions