Paul's early life and mission as found in Acts, part 4

Welcome to the new year! 2017 marks my 3rd anniversary as a nonbeliever. Now let's get back to the story of Paul,  his conversion, and commission. The last place we will look before we return to Galations is Acts 26. There Paul is supposedly on trial before King Agrippa in Ceasarea, and gets to speak on his own behalf.

*Paul starts out in verse 4 saying all the Jews know about him and the way he has lived since he was a child in his own country. The country is not named. It is interesting to note that, just as with Jesus, there are no contemporary extrabiblical Jewish accounts of Paul from the time he was living, not from any of the spots he supposedly travelled to either. Paul also says:

1. He was a pharisee- not found elsewhere in Acts or Galatians, but mentioned in Philippians 3.
2. He persecuted followers of Jesus of Nazareth, in Jerusalem and other places, on the authority of the chief priests- found in Acts 9 and 22, no details given in Galatians.
3. On the road to Damascus he saw a bright light, fell to the ground, and heard a voice- found in all the Acts accounts but not in the epistles. This is the only account that says the voice spoke in Aramaic.
4. The voice claimed to be Jesus- in all the Acts accounts but not found in the epistles.
5. The voice gave him his mission to go to the Jews and Gentiles and open their eyes so they can recieve forgiveness of sins and sanctification by faith in Jesus. Nowhere else was this speech given by the disembodied voice on the road to Damascus. In the other Acts accounts Paul was told to go to Damascus where he would be told what to do.
6. He preached in Damascus then Jerusalem and all Judea- no mention of Arabia, Tarsus, or other locations in the gentile world, where he supposedly conducted missionary journeys. No mention of any events in the decades of time that passed between his conversion and this trial.
7. He claims his preaching was no more than what the prophets and Moses said would happen- that the christ would suffer and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and the Gentiles.  Well, in the gospels others rose from the dead, came out of their graves, and walked around Jerusalem, before Jesus did. Didn't Jesus raise a few people from the dead as well? Also the books of the bible attributed to moses say nothing about a suffering christ being raised from the dead. Some of the books of the prophets do have references to a person who will be a light to the Jews and Gentiles, namely Isaiah. Like most prophesies, they are cryptic and open to interpretation.

*There is no mention of Paul's temporary blindness in this account.

We will continue on with Galatians next.

Paul's early life and mission as found in Acts, part 3

Now we will look at Paul's account of his conversion as related by the author of Acts, in Acts 22. He  is speaking to a crowd of Jews who are upset with him, in Aramaic:
-He tells them he is a Jew (Check).
-He is from Tarsus of Cilicia (Epistles- no mention, Acts  7 through 9- yes) *1
-He was brought up in Jerusalem (Epistles-no mention, Acts 7 through 9- no mention)
-He was taught the law at the feet of Gamaliel (Epistles- no mention, Acts 7 through 9-  no mention)*2
-He was zealous and persecuted the church (Epistles- yes, Acts 7 through 9- yes)
-He arrested men and women and threw them into prison ( Epistles- no, Acts 7 through 9- yes)
-He got letters from the high priest and council to go after believers in Damascus (Epistles - no, Acts 7 through 9- yes)
-On the road to Damascus a bright light flashed around him (Epistles- no, Acts 7 through 9. - yes)
-This happened at noon (Not previously mentioned)
-He fell to the ground and heard a voice (Epistles- no, Acts 7-9 yes)
-The words of the voice recorded here and in Acts 9 are basically the same. No Surprise, same author.
-Paul is blinded and led by the hand to Damascus (Epistles - no, Acts 9 - yes)
-Ananias stood beside Paul and recovered his sight. In Acts 9, he placed his hands on him. (Not in the epistles.)
-This time Ananias tells Paul his mission and orders him to be baptized "for the remission of his sins." This phrase was not used in Acts 9. Paul does not mention his baptism in Galatians. Also there is no mention here of Paul not eating and drinking for three days, as in Acts 9.
-After that he returned to Jerusalem, according to Acts 22:17, leaving out the preaching in Damascus and the narrow escape from there mentioned in Acts 9. This also eliminates the trip to Arabia found in Galatians.
-When he returned to Jerusalem, he was visited in the temple by another revelation of  Jesus, telling him to leave immediately because his testimony would not be accepted. There is no mention of the visit with only Peter and James as mentioned in Galatians. Plus there is no mention of Barnabas bringing him to the disciples and the preaching he did in Jerusalem as mentioned in Acts 9.

*1. Cilicia is mentioned in Galatians, even though Tarsus isn't. Paul supposedly travelled in that region after he left Peter and James in Jerusalem.

*2. Gamaliel is mentioned in Acts 5:33-39 as a Pharisee and teacher of the law. He was against persecuting the followers of Jesus. So why did Saul?

Also we are not told how many years after Jesus died that Saul's event occurred on the road to Damascus. If Saul grew up in Jerusalem, how is it that he never saw or heard Jesus in the flesh?

Paul's early life and mission as found in Acts, part 2

*We are at Acts 9:17.Both Saul (Paul) and Ananias have had visions about each other. Now Ananias goes to the house where Saul is staying. He put his hands on Saul. He identified the lord who appeared to Saul on the road as Jesus and says Jesus sent him to help Saul gain his sight back and be filled with the Holy Spirit, whatever that means. Scales fell off Saul's eyes. He got up and was baptized. It doesn't say why he was baptized. Today, it is generally assumed that it was to join the church, but notice that he ate right afterward. I looked at the Interlinear reference for the original word "baptized" in this passage. I found that the exact same word was used in Luke 11:38 (Supposedly written by the same author) to denote a tradition of ceremonial washing before eating!

*Next we are told Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus and immediately began to preach about Jesus in the synagogues. This is in direct contrast to what he says in Galatians 1:15. There he says that after his revelation  he did not consult anyone but went immediately to Arabia and returned to Damascus later. Galatians also has Paul going to Jerusalem three years later. In Acts, he appears to go to Jerusalem right after Damascus. He never goes to Arabia. In Galatians, Paul sees only Peter and James, none of the other apostles. In Acts, Barnabas takes Paul to meet the apostles in Jerusalem and he preaches about Jesus in the city. Because of his preaching, Acts says an attempt is made on Paul's life in both Damascus and Jerusalem. Galatians does not mention that. Acts says other believers helped Paul escape by taking him to Caesarea and sending him off to Tarsus. (They sent him home.) Galatians says that Paul went to Syria and Cilicia, it never mentions Tarsus. In Galatians, Paul states, "I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in christ." This is a direct contradiction to the events recorded in Acts 9.

*When we get to Galatians 2, we will see Paul going to Jerusalem with Barnabas...fourteen years later! Let's take a look at the timelines so far.

Galatians:
Persecuting the church
Revelation in unknown place, told to preach Jesus to the Gentiles
Trip to Arabia
Return to Damascus no people or events mentioned
Three years later, Trip to Jerusalem to meet Peter and James and no one else, for fifteen days
Trip to Syria and Cilicia
Fourteen years later, trip to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus in response to a revelation.

Acts:
Stoning of Stephen
Persecuting the church
Road to Damascus with bright light and voice
In Damascus with Ananias and disciples of Jesus
Ananias and Paul recieve visions. Ananias is told that Saul will preach  Jesus to the Gentiles.
Caused trouble with his preaching, foiled a conspiracy to kill him, escaped
Trip to Jerusalem to join the disciples there
Barnabas takes him to meet the apostles
Caused trouble with his preaching, foiled a conspiracy to kill him, escaped
Sent to Tarsus by the disciples

Paul's early life and mission as found in Acts, Part 1

*Now we will see what the author of Acts has to say about Paul's early life and conversion. We do not know who the author of Acts is, but whoever he is, he was not an eyewitness to the events we will cover. Acts had to have been written after 63 C.E. The book of Acts is written as though the narrator is omnicient. The author does not claim to have recieved his knowledge of the events from God. Nor does he claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

*Acts 7:58-9:  First we see Saul (supposedly Paul's original Jewish name, which Paul does not mention in the epistles.)  watching and giving approval to the stoning of Stephen, a disciple of Jesus. This is not mentioned in Paul's letters, but that is understandable. However, He does say he persecuted the church. In 8:3, we see Paul trying to destroy the church by dragging its adherents off to prison. In chapter 9, Paul asks the high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to "The Way, " men or women, he could take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Pause.

*One thing that stands out to me so far is that the disciples were called members of The Way and they were meeting in synagogues. This means they were probably Jews and still considered themselves Jews. They had not separated themselves from the Jewish faith. The Way was not a separate religion. Also interesting is the fact that many Eastern religions had philosophies or practices called the way or the path,  including Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shinto. I wouldn't be surprised if that concept was a component of most ancient religions, but I'm not going to look them all up.

*In Acts 9, as Saul is travelling to Damascus, a light from heaven (How did he know it was from heaven? My first thought is to wonder if this is a description of being struck by lightening. Some people think it sounds like he had an epileptic siezure.) flashed around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice say,"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He answered the voice and said,"who are you, lord?" You want to be polite and respectful to disembodied voices that come with flashes of light, but how would Saul know if the owner of the voice was good or evil? The voice then said it was Jesus, whom Saul was persecuting. How does he know it's not a demon playing a trick on him? He was to get up, go into the city and he would be told what to do. Men travelling with Saul heard the sound but did not see anyone. It is not clear if they heard words or just noises. Saul got up from the ground but could not see, so he had to be led to Damascus by the hand. For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. The Bible just loves three day stretches. Saul would have been pretty weak after three days of no food or drink. None of this is mentioned in the epistles.

*In Damscus there was a disciple called Ananias. The lord (God or Jesus?) called to him in a vision. How did he know it was the lord? We must take the author's word for it. The author must take the word of the person who told him. If Ananias existed, someone had to take his word for it. Ananias is not mentioned in Paul's epistles. God (or Jesus?) gives Ananias specific instructions about how to find a man from Tarsus named Saul. He was told that Saul was also having a vision of Ananias coming to heal his blindness by placing his hands on him. Paul never mentions he is from Tarsus in the epistles.

*Ananias speaks back to his vision, saying he has heard of the damage Saul has done to the people who are calling on the lord's name. Oh, I guess it is supposed to be Jesus, whom christians would have us believe is actually God in the flesh. But a vision doesn't have flesh, so how could a person distinguish between God and Jesus? Anyway, this lord tells Ananias that he has chosen Saul to carry the lord's name before the Gentiles, their kings, and the people of Israel. As an added bonus, he gets to suffer for the name.

I've run out of room. To be continued...

Paul's early life and mission in his letters.

*Today we will look at the claims Paul makes about his early life in the letters (epistles) in the Bible that are attributed to him. Some of the letters are considered by some experts to be forgeries, but we won't get into that now.

-Almost every letter begins with Paul claiming to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, appointed by God.

-Roman 15:17-21, Paul claims he is obeying God by preaching to the Gentiles, and that his ambition is always to preach where christ was not known, so he is not building on someone else's foundation. That also is convenient, because he won't have knowledgable people contradicting him or calling him a liar. He can indoctrinate them into his own way of thinking before anyone else gets to them. The ignorant are easier to sway. Remember, in Galations chapter 1 Paul pronounced a curse on anyone who teaches a different gospel. That's one way to ensure that the superstitious remain faithful.

-1 Corinthians 9:1-2, Paul claims he has seen Jesus the lord. Plus, he may not be an apostle to others, but he is an apostle to the Corinthians. He says they are the seal of his apostleship. This leads me to wonder if others were claiming Paul was not an apostle.  When Paul says he has seen Jesus, it was not in the flesh but must have been in a vision if some kind. Are visions trustworthy?

-1 Corinthians 15:5-11, Paul names those who saw Jesus after his resurrection. He says Peter was first, then the twelve, then five hundred believers, then James (this James must not have been one of the twelve), then to all the apostles (??? That's strange. Aren't the apostles supposed to be the same as the twelve disciples?). Last of all, Jesus appeared to Paul, obviously in a vision. Paul says he is the least of the apostles and doesn't even deserve to be one because he persecuted the church, confirming what he said in Galatians 1:13. Nevertheless, Paul claims to have worked harder than all the other apostles preaching Jesus's death burial and resurrection.

-2 Corinthians 11:22-23, Paul says he is a Hebrew, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and a servant of the messiah, just like others who claim to be apostles. Plus, he's worked harder and been through more hardships than any other apostle.

-2 Corinthians 12,  Paul claims to know a guy, obviously himself, who was caught up to the third heaven, or paradise. He's not sure whether it was an out of body experience or not. While there, he heard inexpressible things, some things which he is not permitted to tell. Fascinating. Also, so he wouldn't be conceited about this marvelous privilege, Paul was given a "thorn in the flesh" to torment him. This thorn in the flesh is not described by Paul, though there has been plenty of extra-biblical speculation. Paul also claims to be just as much an apostle as any other by virtue of signs, wonders and miracles he has performed.

-Philippians 3:5-10, Paul says he is a circumcised Hebrew, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, he is legalistically faultless,  and once was a persecutor of the church. But none of that means anything to him compared to the righteousness found through faith in the messiah, which he hopes will somehow help him attain resurrection from the dead.

*If some of that seems rather vague, I can't help it. That's as much as I could find in Paul's letters. He does not mention the events on the road to Damascus, found in the book of Acts, which I will discuss in the next post. Details about his conversion are conspicuously lacking. Also, there is no mention of his birthplace, supposedly Tarsus, or his Roman citizenship, or a divinely appointed name change. At no time in his letters. does he say his name was once Saul. Also, his mission appears to be to teach about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, not about Jesus's actual life, miracles, or teachings.