The Apostle Paul was not one of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth (Yahoshua Ben Yosef). Even by the earliest timelines, he didn’t show up on the Christian scene till ten years after the execution of Jesus. He was, however, the father of Christianity. Without Paul there is no Christianity. Modern Christianity owes more to Paul than to Jesus. In this sense, most modern Christians are followers of Paul rather than followers of the example of Christ. Paul expresses ideas which directly contradict the message of Christ. Paul introduced meat eating, the divinity of Jesus, non-equality of women, belief instead of holiness, acceptance of slavery, and harmony with Roman law.
Many people have found it difficult to reconcile the Christian message of love with all the other garbage in the Bible. The glaring contradiction between the messages of Paul and Jesus creates a cognitive dissonance that is impossible to accept until you reject one way or the other. Thomas Jefferson cut Paul almost entirely out of his edition of the bible. In his words, “Paul was the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.” The Quakers with their egalitarian sensiblities rejected the misogyny of Paul. Maybe it’s time to abolish the authority of Paul.
The Apostle Paul was a counter-revolutionary, who twisted the legend and doctrines of Jesus completely around. Consider the following biblical passages:
- In the words of Jesus:
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
In the words of Paul:
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Here are a few good quotations about the conflict between Paul and Jesus:
“Where possible Paul avoids quoting the teaching of Jesus, in fact even mentioning it. If we had to rely on Paul, we should not know that Jesus taught in parables, had delivered the sermon on the mount, and had taught His disciples the ‘Our Father.’ Even where they are specially relevant, Paul passes over the words of the Lord.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Paul substituted faith in Christ for the Christlike life.” — Walter Kauffman
“Fundamentalism is the triumph of Paul over Christ.” — Will Durant
That blinding light can be a real bitch.
Interesting. Thanks.
Awww, lay offa Paul, he made Christianity into something everybody could get into at the time –and we now have multiple ways to interpret Christianity because of the different things the bible does say. Besides, Constantine’s the guy without which there would be no Christianity. In a historical sense.
The problem isn’t so much Paul as the churchmen who put his epistles into Scripture, and the moron Protestants who removed the apocrypha but kept Paul.
Nah, I’ve heard it before — and we’ll hear it again. Jesus is the founder of Christianity. Plus this is full of blatant mistakes. For example, in your sentence “Paul introduced meat eating, the divinity of Jesus, non-equality of women, belief instead of holiness, acceptance of slavery, and harmony with Roman law” every single one was wrong. It was Peter that did the unclean food thing (Acts), Jesus proclaimed His divinity (and His humanity), Paul did say some things which have been interpreted as reinforcing the non-equality of women, but in his time and culture he was a feminist, Paul didn’t accept slavery — well, he did, however, it was more in line with being a good employee, finally, it was Jesus who said render unto Caesar, etc…)
If by Christianity you mean justification by faith alone….its all Paul and Paul alone.
In what way does the “liles of field” quotation conflict with the no work, no eat principle? The wonders of God’s creations outshine those of man, and all people are responsible for at least contributing to their own welfare. Maybe deep down inside I’m shallow, but I just don’t see the problem here.
Oops, that should be “lilies of the field”. No proofread, no eat.
Sounds interesting I’ll check out whatever you got. Thanks for that great post. Very educational.