WHO WORSHIP WHO....
READ AND FIND OUT WHO THE REALLY WORSHIP!
Any discussion about Christianity and its beliefs and practices cannot be complete without an examination of the influence of Paul. Christian Bible scholars unanimously admit that the formulation of what is now known as Christianity did not begin with Jesus but with Paul. Every Bible produced contains more writings from Paul than anyone. In fact, all of the books written by Paul in the Bible were written before any of the four gospels. This is a very important fact. Does the layman Christian reflect on the radical differences between the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul? The gospels were written at a time when Paul’s ideas had already begun to take hold among the ‘gentiles’. We have already touched upon the prevalent religious ideologies that formed Paul’s interestingly diverse background. We know that he was a Roman citizen who was a Jew and a murderer of Jesus’ followers from amongst the Jews. He claims to have ‘seen’ the light on a road to Damascus wherein he saw Jesus and was filled with the ‘Holy Spirit’ and was commanded to preach to the masses. However, when we examine closely his recounting of this very convenient story as written by someone called ‘Luke’ in Acts, we find that there is a mountain of inconsistency in these testimonies. In the first account of the incident that appears in Acts 9:7, it is says, ‘And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.’ Just a few pages later however, the testimony changes;
Any discussion about Christianity and its beliefs and practices cannot be complete without an examination of the influence of Paul. Christian Bible scholars unanimously admit that the formulation of what is now known as Christianity did not begin with Jesus but with Paul. Every Bible produced contains more writings from Paul than anyone. In fact, all of the books written by Paul in the Bible were written before any of the four gospels. This is a very important fact. Does the layman Christian reflect on the radical differences between the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul? The gospels were written at a time when Paul’s ideas had already begun to take hold among the ‘gentiles’. We have already touched upon the prevalent religious ideologies that formed Paul’s interestingly diverse background. We know that he was a Roman citizen who was a Jew and a murderer of Jesus’ followers from amongst the Jews. He claims to have ‘seen’ the light on a road to Damascus wherein he saw Jesus and was filled with the ‘Holy Spirit’ and was commanded to preach to the masses. However, when we examine closely his recounting of this very convenient story as written by someone called ‘Luke’ in Acts, we find that there is a mountain of inconsistency in these testimonies. In the first account of the incident that appears in Acts 9:7, it is says, ‘And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.’ Just a few pages later however, the testimony changes;
‘And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.’ (Acts23:9). In these first two examples we see a major discrepancy. In one account the men with Paul heard the voice but did not see a man. In the second account, they saw ‘light’ but did not hear anything. In both examples, Jesus supposedly tells Paul to Arise and go into the city (Damascus) and there he shall receive instruction. (Acts 9:6; 23:10) Alas, just a few chapters later in his testimony to the King Agrippa, he says that Jesus actually gave him his mission and instructions in detail right there on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:16-18). Could any of this even hold up in a court of law? Are we to excuse these major inconsistencies from an acknowledged enemy of Jesus and friend of Rome? How can we not accept similar disparate witness testimony in judicial matters but in religious matters, we base our entire creed upon accounts that are shaky at best? We have already shown the vast difference between the gospel reports of Jesus painstakingly exhorting the people to stick to the letter of Moses’ law and Paul’s renunciation of the law. In Galatians 3:13 he writes, ’Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law’. And, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law’ (Romans 3:28). This is the very opposite of what Jesus is reported to have said in the gospels; Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
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