Saul of Tarsus was not the most reliable witness: Why do Christians instantly believe his vision of Christ? and why do they now follow Paul's interpretation of his vision instead of the teachings of Jesus?
this is not me having a go, this is me trying to understand why Christians follow the teachings of man of whom never met their God.
http://www.worldends.co.uk/letter3.html
this site is not where I get my information or philosophy from, I have bsed my philosophy on the many books I own. I just thought this would be an easy way of getting the question across.
2007-10-24 22:24:14 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Besides
THE GOSPEL OF ST. THOMAS WAS BANNED BY CHURCH
The writings of St. Thomas who was a direct disciple of Jesus have been banned and outlawed by Church (by Emperor Constantine around the 4th century C.E) and Saul (St Paul) has been accepted although St. Paul never met Jesus. See St. Thomas here :
http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/gospel/index.html
Is there any sinister link.
St. Paul was a hardline Jew who killed many chistians but later changed himself. It appears to me Jews like St. Paul have tried their best to make Christianity , Jewish oriented.
A bulk of Torah and Jewish history & beliefs in detail were attached to bible (as OT) and a short life of Jesus is attached at the end (just like an addendum i.e. NT ). For a newcomer it would appear that the God of Jews(Jehovah) is the real God and Israel is the holy land.
Even today Christians say : Hallelujah . Which means 'praise to the God of Israelis - Jehovah'.
Roman Church had its own axe to grind to consolidate its power. It could never accept that the asians(especially indians) were capable of developing a superior theology. The idea that Jesus had accepted buddhist ideology in egypt was repugnent to the Roman church because that would have diluted their authority and the christians would have accepted Buddha's birth place in India as their place of pilgrimage & of faith.
Therefore all connections to Buddhism were snapped by the Roman church by Constantine and many original works were declared as heresey.
BTW I believe that Jesus learnt Buddhism in Alexandria in Egypt as he spent his initial 12 long years there. Many of his teachings are Buddhist in nature. See the links below :
2007-10-24 23:03:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
It is not true, that "Christians instantly believe his vision of Christ".
Paul was a persecutor of christians. So, as he changed his mind and became a follower of Jesus, many christians didn't believe him at first. It took some time, before they trusted him.
Paul stresses the meaning of Grace, this is true. According to his view, we recive faith as a gift. He had lived this experience, on the way to Damascus. He had started as someone, who didn't believe in Christ and salvation.
Jesus had also similar experiences, not about himself, of course, but concerning other people: for instance, every time he met a Gentile man or woman, who had a strong faith in God and in the power of Jesus to make miracles.
If Paul's theology would be in opposition to the heart of christian faith, the apostles in Jerusalem wouldn't had accepted it.
The site you mentioned is not reliable. Many words of Paul are distorted (for instance, food restrinctions: what Paul really say on the subject is, that relationship to food is not important to be a good christian). All words of the Letter are considered to be Paul's. It is not so. Many of the words about the behavior of women, for instance, were not written by Paul.
2007-10-25 12:36:55 · answer #2 · answered by ♫☼Anna B☼♀♪♫ Free Tibet 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good point! He took the teachings of Christ Jesus and transformed them into the bloody anti-semitic views which we call modern christianity--of course, many would argue that Chrsit was only doing the same with an older cultic faith (possibly Mithras) recast with Hebrew concepts, much as Moses is believed to have done with the Jews during the Exodus. Oy vay!
2007-10-25 12:50:28 · answer #3 · answered by starkneckid 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A long story!
Saul or Paul persecuted the christian jews
Paul after his vision went up to Jerusalem and spent time with Peter and the apostles
They accepted his apostleship
Contoversy because of accepting gentiles into the synagogue without need of circumcision, food laws etc
Eventually gentiles formed the larger 'Church' and the smaller jewish christians disappeared or were assimilated as time went on
The destruction of the Temple in ad70 scattered most.
Just a short explanation, what we have today has been handed down
2007-10-25 05:52:07 · answer #4 · answered by Plato 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Paul did not teach in a vacuum.
If his teachings didn't match up with those of the other apostles, as Jesus and the Holy Spirit taught them, then Paul would have never been accepted into the church.
I suggest you find some better reading material.
2007-10-25 08:53:22 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
You have your facts a little wrong. Paul did see the risen Lord and received his teaching directly from Him.
Paul wrote about those who saw the risen Lord and said,
1 Corinthians 15:8 [A]nd last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
And about the source of His teachings he wrote:
Galatians 1:11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Saul of Tarsus, later called Paul, was not immediately believed. Many thought it was a trick. It took a considerable period of time during which Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and was persecuted for it, before his conversion was accepted as genuine.
As for your link. It was created by someone who has an ax to grind. They have taken one thing after another out of context and distorted it. It would take an entire book to refute all the errors at the link. The fact is, Paul's letters do not contradict Jesus' teachings.
2007-10-25 05:35:52 · answer #6 · answered by Northstar 7 · 3⤊ 4⤋
The karma will have many people trust and believe one's bullshit such as Bush said he is anti-torraist and used the US force. Use force to overcome force is not the good way. We must know how the force coming up and why then we come up with a solution.
Our people is like water; there is the lower place, there is the way to go. Useing fence to stop water is not the way unless dig up the track for water to go will be the best or make it same level, water will stop.
Christ is also a budhi satva if you have time to go into some sutras in the Tibet temple.
2007-10-25 08:16:46 · answer #7 · answered by johnkamfailee 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Yes he was. He claimed to be Jesus' apostle, yet none of his teachings agreed with what Jesus taught. I don't have any idea why Christians automatically take his word as truth other than it's a large part of the NT which they believe to be the true inspired word of God.
2007-10-25 05:42:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Apparently the Council at Jerusalem thought he was credible enough when he discussed his work with the Gentiles. And much of what you see in his letters is just extrapolations on the letter that the Council wrote to all the Gentile churches.
2007-10-25 05:33:44 · answer #9 · answered by SDW 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Well, he certainly reads as one of history's truly great egomaniacs.
But then I suspect you could say that of all of history's prophets and apostles. Lets face it, if we discount for the sake of argument that god exists, then they must have collosal egos and pretty unsavory goals to preach as they do.
Mohammed is a very good lesson in point. His life story reads more as one of a military dictator than spiritual leader.
2007-10-25 05:30:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋