Paul

[hollis]

I have always struggle with the enigma that is that epistle writer Paul. While on the one hand, his writings are beautiful (for the most part) and show a person truly devoted to worship of God. On the other hand, I feel that he was a legalist and his influence on the resulting Christian churches shifted focus from God onto ceremony. Thoughts?

[Adam]

le·gal·ism (lg-lzm)
n.
1. Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code, as of religion or morality.
2. A legal word, expression, or rule.

Well Hollis I don't agree. Clearly John is a servant of God (Immanuel).
Note: Even after John was an Apostle of Jesus. Clearly John is big time.

1. Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

[Adam]

Oops - My thoughts have been on John and not Paul. Yes I do think that Paul was into legalism. This is a big goof on my part and all I can say is sorry about that.

My thoughts on Paul is simple: It might have been better that he talked to Father before speaking for Father.

[Caligastia Lanonandek]

Dave

Paul had one distinction from the other Apostles - he was a Roman citizen - the others weren't. He had returned to Jerusalem where the priests set upon him and took him before the prefect of the moment wanting him executed. As he was a Roman Citizen - they couldn't touch him without very bad consequence. Rather than let the prefect make his judgement, he invoked Caesar. In doing so - he had to be shipped to Rome where his trial would be held by Caesar. This ultimately cost him is life as Caesar became convinced that Christians were a threat to Rome. The prefect would have dismissed the charges and released him.

In this case, what you call a 'legalistic' mind set - didn't serve him well.

Paul's goal, however, was to teach the word in Rome. At that time, all Christians were banned from being in Rome. Again, as a Roman citizen, he was exempt.

[hollis]

I guess Paul was an example of a perfect storm. This makes my brain beg the question: did Jesus/Michael really appear to him on the way to Damascus? Did He recognize Paul has having those "perfect storm" qualities of Roman citizen and loudmouth necessary to spread the word among the churches?

[Caligastia Lanonandek]

Paul was struck blind and then healed. Then he did a 180 and instead of persecuting and killing Christians - he became one. He definitely saw something that inspired him.

[hollis]

I just wonder who or what it was that he saw...

[Caligastia Lanonandek]

Well he said he saw Jesus.

[e-Male]

Hollis,

In the FWIW department, "recently" I read a book entitled "The Mythmaker" by Hyam Maccoby, a Talmudic scholar. Maccoby argues that what we now know of as Christianity was formed by Paul and his followers. Let me give you the inside jacket writeup here (and forgive my transcription errors as we forgive those who transcribe against us):

Who was the founder of Christianity? The answer seems obvious -- Jesus Christ. Yet for the Talmudic schalar Hyam Maccoby, this answer is wrong. In "The Mythmaker" -- a work of revolutionary import to New Testament schalarship -- Maccoby contends that Jesus was no more the founder of Christianity than the historical Hamlet was the author of "Hamlet". Rather, Christianity was the invention of St. Paul, who used elements of Judaism, Gnosticism, and pagan mystery cults as his materials, fusing them around the story of Jesus' crucifixion.
Throughout "The Mythmaker", Maccoby wages warfare on time-honored beliefs about the origins of Chritianity. He holds that Jesus -- in the Gospels a fierce opponent of the Pharisees -- was himself a Pharisee; that the self-proclaimed Pharisee Paul never was one; that Jesus' disciples never had any thought of founding a new church; that they never embraced such ideas as Jesus' divinity and the Eucharist, which were brainchildren of Paul; and that the heretical Ebionite sect was really a continuation of the "Jewish Christianity" against which Paul had rebelled.
In progressing from failed rabbinical student to self-appointed apostle, Maccoby's Paul displays the wiliness and, often, the unscrupulousness of a picaresque hero. Yet Maccoby grants Paul a rich, indeed mythmaking, religious imagination.
As exciting in its revelations as it is exacting in its methods, "The Mythmaker" is essential reading for anyone interested in the problematic historical origins of Christianity.

ISBN 0-76070-787-1

/e

[hollis]

I am adding that to my to-read mountain of banks. Thanks e.