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Paul was mentally ill, and everything in his "Conversion" can be assigned a reasonable explanation of his illness.....
I never thought of Paul as a "great teacher" because his "Conversion" and faith rely entirely on emotion and adherance to religious dogma (legalism)/ The same Major Flaws in Christianity as a religion to this day can be traced back to Paul.
Paul never had the "enlightened" thinking that Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, Confuscious or all those other religious leaders had. I would not put him in any pantheon of great philospher's either. I really would not put his writings anywhere except the garbage can.
While many think of Paul as a "Man of God" remember this: Jesus was all about a relationship between man and God, while Paul was all about a religion, a religious doctrine full of How tos and thou shalts that totally missed the mark wherever Paul went. Paul was not a great thinker or an enlightened teacher.
That is Paul was all about religion when he was not busy boasting and bragging about himself....in which instances, Paul was all about Paul.
Advice: If you want a religious experience, Then be Like Jesus, not like Paul. There is a huge difference.
From where do you base your assumption that Paul was mentally ill?...
Paul was mentally ill, and everything in his "Conversion" can be assigned a reasonable explanation of his illness.....
I never thought of Paul as a "great teacher" because his "Conversion" and faith rely entirely on emotion and adherance to religious dogma (legalism)/ The same Major Flaws in Christianity as a religion to this day can be traced back to Paul.
Paul never had the "enlightened" thinking that Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, Confuscious or all those other religious leaders had. I would not put him in any pantheon of great philospher's either. I really would not put his writings anywhere except the garbage can.
While many think of Paul as a "Man of God" remember this: Jesus was all about a relationship between man and God, while Paul was all about a religion, a religious doctrine full of How tos and thou shalts that totally missed the mark wherever Paul went. Paul was not a great thinker or an enlightened teacher.
That is Paul was all about religion when he was not busy boasting and bragging about himself....in which instances, Paul was all about Paul.
Advice: If you want a religious experience, Then be Like Jesus, not like Paul. There is a huge difference.
There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with Paul.... the wrong is in the individuals who are claiming that Paul was a false teacher....
GO FIGURE !!
You just never know what you're going to read here in this forum these days !!
I have read several individuals lately claiming Paul was not an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.....
Heck, you can read all through this forum how the word of God is not what it is..... how it contradicts, it is not truth, etc., etc. !!
Oh, well they'll see in the end.... how and what a BIG mistake they chose !!
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2Th 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
I have to disagree with you here, brother in light of what Jeshua Himslef said:
Mat_15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
This was His primary reason for coming...
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 10:5-6)
Jesus certainly did want His disciples to preach to all nations, but wanted them to beginwith Jerusalem (the Israelites). The Matthew 10 passage is telling them that it's not yet time to preach to the Gentiles and the Samaritans. The Matthew 15:24 passage you quoted above is telling them that He was only sent to the house of Israel, but He was sent for everyone.
Isaiah 42:6 says of the Israelites, "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;"
This explains that God called the Israelites to be a light to the Gentiles (essentially, all non-Israelites). This is why Jesus dealt first with the Israelites alone.
The "Word of God" is the word of God... the word of "Paul" is the word of Paul
Not the "Word of God"
With that reasoning then the 'Word of Hawyaw' is NOT the Word of Hawyaw...The Ten commandments are the words of Moses...and anything else written in the 'Bible' are the words of the author not of Hawyaw...
I took Philosophy and psychology in HS and college so I know where he is coming from...Unlike him, I acknowledged it for what it was...Humanism...I read Kierkagaard, Buber and Barth, and Socrates, Plato, etc...All humanistic thought...
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 10:5-6)
Jesus certainly did want His disciples to preach to all nations, but wanted them to beginwith Jerusalem (the Israelites). The Matthew 10 passage is telling them that it's not yet time to preach to the Gentiles and the Samaritans. The Matthew 15:24 passage you quoted above is telling them that He was only sent to the house of Israel, but He was sent for everyone.
Isaiah 42:6 says of the Israelites, "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;"
This explains that God called the Israelites to be a light to the Gentiles (essentially, all non-Israelites). This is why Jesus dealt first with the Israelites alone.
The 'but He was sent for everyone' is an insertion by you...This is wrong...And should never be done...The verse says exactly what it says...Do not add to it...Israel WAS a light unto the Gentiles, however, they lost their way and that is why Jeshua came, for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel...He had to turn that light back on before anything else...It was the Twelves duty to take the Gospel further to the rest of the world...Jeshua came only for Israel which was a lamp unto the Gentiles...In order for something to be lost one must have posessed it first...Hawyaw posessed Israel, however, they got lost, Jeshua came to find them again and retake posession of them and re-kindle the light that they once had...Think about it...Hawyaw chose Israel out of all the nations of the world to be His people and a light unto the Gentiles...He had posession of them...They got themselves lost...He had to reclaim them...That is why Jeshua said what He said...Otherwise it would mean that He foresook Israel...He would not have made that specific comment...'I was not sent BUT to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel...
From where do you base your assumption that Paul was mentally ill?...
Well, Let me put it this way..........
If someone was referred to me and told me how they were blinded by some talking light and had this "Conversion" and this "Divine unique calling" as a result, Then I'd be picking up the phone and getting a psychiatrist consult scheduled....... Then I'd be pulling out tests , starting with the MMPI and going from there ......
Paul's dialogs Mimic that of someone who has mental illness...and in Paul's time, mentall illness was misunderstood and like Siezures, often attributed to demonic superstitions....
The fact is, if we read the works of enlightened thinkers, like Buddha, COnfuscious, even later commentary like the Yogananda and dare I say Jesus Christ (Who actually wrote nothing himself and as far as we can tell, never asked anyone else to do so) we can compare and see that Paul was NOT amongst the enlightened elite. Paul was legalistic, like a lawyer, he was also so focused on the emerging religion of Christianity and the workings of it, that he never reached the spiritual "AH-HA" Moment that others have reached....Both before and after his writings. His focus was always on himself and getting "his way" pushed over everyone.
That remains one of the many flaws in Christianity today
I really do not see how people think that something that represents such a narow view of the Christian experience some 1900 years ago really pertains to them today, especially in such legalistic terms. There were many versions of what Christianity meant to many different people. Read your history books and you will see that politics and the sword brought about the version Rome eventually adopted.
So Paul wrote his narcissistic version of how the church should be run. Big deal. I tried Paul's version of a religion many many years ago and it did not work for me at all. So I moved on. I still have trouble at times understanding why people want to follow his version of Christianity, but we all have that freedom, And to each their own. If someone says "Well it works for me" then I can respect that, unless I observe otherwise.
(I am sure all the Christians will be showing their true colors telling me how "Wrong" " lost" "Satanic" etc I am for even daring to post this!)
If he had proven himself along the way as someone who had true knowledge of "God" as opposed to just some emotional "Claim" then perhaps some of us would give him credence. But his poor showing in several books of the New Testament prove otherwise......
BUT to understand that, to fully nake that comparison, one would have to read something other than the Bible, and most "Christians" are afraid to do that.
2 Peter 3:3
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
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he was also so focused on the emerging religion of Christianity and the workings of it, that he never reached the spiritual "AH-HA" Moment that others have reached....Both before and after his writings. His focus was always on himself and getting "his way" pushed over everyone.
