Paul never met Jesus in his life. In his early life before his 'self-professed' Christianity, his name was Saul and he used to be a persecutor of the Christians. On the road to Damascus, while on assignment to harass the Christians (after Jesus had left the world) according to his own claim, he saw a vision of Christ, after which, he claimed, that Jesus gave him the authority of teaching in his name.
Paul's vision, containing his claim of being appointed a messenger of Jesus, is recorded at least three times in the New Testament; ACTS 9:3-7, ACTS 22:6-9, and ACTS 26:14. The description each time is different though, with contradictory details. In any court of law, in any civilized country, these claims would be discarded as being falsifications. However, over 1200 million Christians accept the claim unquestionably. This claim led to the developement of a whole new religion. A religion that wasn't preached or taught by Jesus, but INVENTED by Paul. Let's look at the descriptions of Paul's vision.
These are different verses and different stories i.e. CONTRADICTIONS.
If you're going to change the religion and invent a new one as Paul did, you're going to have to change the laws as well. Our Paul here has traveled far and wide, and he's come up with several ways to do so. In CORINTHIANS 10:25, Paul allows everything to be eaten, regardless of what the Law says. In GALATIONS 2:16, he says that the Law will not bring any justification but a man will only be justified by faith in Christ Jesus. The same is the case in ROMANS 3:28. In ROMANS 7:14, he goes so far as to say that 'Christians' are dead to the Law of God through the body of Christ.
When Paul broke from God's Law, he needed something to fill in the void. His solution: make up his own rules when he feels the need. Take for example the verses concerning his 'judgement';
"Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgement as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy." 1 CORINTHIANS 7:25
In an earlier verse, he makes up his own rules, or, commandments again;
"Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the Churches." 1 CORINTHIANS 7:17In contrast to the above, consider what Jesus says:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets; I come not to destroy but to fulfill, for I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one dot shall in no way pass away from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever will break one least of these commandments and shall teach men so shall be called last in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you unless your righteosness exceeds the righteosness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven." MATTHEW 5:17-20A careful reading of Jesus' words shows that what he says in the Bible, predicts that the person who teaches against the Law (Paul) might not make it into Heaven. It also shows that the Law is in place till the last day. Since the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (who were Jewish) was based on works of the Law, there is no way to exceed their righteousness than to keep the Law even more strictly than them. It is impossible according to the words of Jesus for a 'Christian' to enter Heaven except till his righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Something else worth mentioning; When Paul says that Christians are dead to the law, does this mean ALL laws or just God's? If it means just God's laws then which laws should a person follow? If it means all laws, then Paul was the first anarchist. And in light of Pauls view, why do Christians insist on quoting the Ten Commandments? Aren't we 'dead' to those now?
According to Paul, just professing that Jesus is Lord and that he was raised from the dead will result in the person being saved (ROMANS 10:9). Jesus however says;
"Not all who say unto me; 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven,..." MATTHEW 7:21-2It's interesting that this verse contradicts the most quoted Bible verse among missionaries and evangelists; the one verse that is directed towards non-Christians daily: JOHN 3:16.
In MATTHEW 19:16-17, Jesus links salvation to the keeping of the commandments.
Paul initiated the whole doctrine of atonement based on the concept of 'original sin' (ROMANS 5:12, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:21-22). Such a concept which states that every human being is born stained with the sin of Adam and Eve, is against the Justice of God. If you want to know more about this absurd concept, go back to the first page and click on 'ORIGINAL SIN: THE HEREDITARY STAIN'.
PAGAN BELIEFS AND THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIANITY "Normally, the accumulation of folklore among people of primitive culture takes many generations; it is also a gradual process spread over centuries of time."So writes Simon Kistemaker, Professor of Bible at Dorot College, in The Gospels in Current History. Kistemaker would have us believe that because the New Testament was written within just over a generation (60-90+ yrs), folklore, legends, or other myths didn't have time to be created, so therefore, the New Testament is free from them. But our question is this; what if the New Testament was taken from pre-existing folklore or even paganism, only this time, the characters were changed? A brief study of ancient myths and pagan cults reveals some striking resemblance's to 'Christianity'.
The concept that Jesus was the 'only begotten' son of God, and a 'savior' who died for the 'sins of humanity', and was who was 'God in the flesh', and who 'arose from the dead', can be traced back to pagan cults that existed about other individuals long before Jesus. Some of the more popular cults were;
- Attis of Phyrgia (later called Galatia in Asia Minor): was regarded as the only 'begotten son' and 'savior'. He was bled to death on March 24th at the foot of a pine tree. His votaries believed that his blood had renewed the fertility of the earth, and thus brought new life to humanity. He arose from the dead and his death and resurrection were celebrated by his followers.
- Adonis of Syria: was born of a virgin mother. He also suffered death for the redemption of mankind. He rose from the dead in spring (Easter?).
- Dionesius, or Baccus, of Greece: was termed as the 'only begotten' son of Jupiter. He was born of a virgin named Detemer on December 25. To his followers, he was 'redeemer' and 'savior'. His story contains his death, descent to hell, and resurrection. He was called "Alpha" and "Omega".
- Orisis: This Egyptian 'God' was born of a virgin mother on the 29th of December. He was betrayed by Typhen and slayed. He was buried, remained in Hell for two to three days and nights, and then rose from the dead.
- The Eleusinians have a story similar to the crucifixion and rebirth. Demeter (the goddes of grain) had a daughter with Zeus named Persephone (the goddes of spring). Hades (the god of the underworld) one day took her, Persephone, to the realm of the dead. Because of her extreme distress, Demeter denied fertility to the earth and humanity was threatened with famine. Zeus finally ordered Hades to return Persephone to her mother Demeter. Hades agreed reluctantly but tricked Persephone into eating a pomengranate seed. She was in his debt as a result and had to spend four months of each year with him in the underworld. But each spring, Persephone was allowed to return to her mother on earth and she brought back flowers as a symbol of natures rebirth. God=Detemer, Jesus=Persephone. The four months gone and return to earth mirrors the story of Jesus dying and returning to earth. Christians celebrate in spring the rising of Jesus.
- Dionysus Zagreus, the divine son of Zeus and Athena. The story goes that Zeus so loved his son that he announced a plan to make him ruler of the whole world. Angry, the Titans seized the boy, tore him to peices, and devoured bits of his body. Athena saved the heart of the dead son and gave it to Zeus, who ate it. Later, Dionysus Zagreus was born again as a symbol of rebirth and immortality. Members of this cult rerfrained from having sex and eating meat, except the sacrificial meat representing the flesh of the martyred son, which they ate in their rituals.
- In many of the Egyptian cults, we find animal symbolism. A few Egyptian gods and goddesses are Horus the falcon god and Hathor the cow god. Christianity too, incorporates this practice of animal symbolism. Which animal do you suppose represents meekness? The lamb. Christianity has portrayed Jesus as a lamb (JOHN 1:29) Which animal do you suppose represents evil? The serpent. Satan is portrayed as a serpent.(GENESIS 3:1-24)
Most, if not all, of this should sound very familiar to our Christian friend. It should be noted that Paul visited ALL of the above mentioned places and more than likely knew rather well all of the 'religions' of the lands that he visited. One last pagan 'God' is directly responssible for Christmas. He was a Persian 'sun-god' named Mithras. In his U.S. News and World Report article,In Search of Christmas, Jeffery L. Sheller writes:
"How December 25 came to be recognized (as Christmas) is unclear. A Roman document from 354 AD list's December 25 as Jesus' birthday. The most widely held view is the view that the holiday was an international 'Christianization' of Saturnalia and other pagan festivals, because in the third and fourth centuries AD, the Church in Rome found itself in fierce competition with popular religions and mystery cults, most of them involving sun worship. In AD 274, Emperor Aurelian decreed December 25 as natalis solice invicti (birth of the invincible sun), a festival honoring the 'sun-god' Mithras.Mithras' birth of a virgin mother took place on the 25th of December. This was a cultivated move by the Church because by placing Christmas (Christes Maesse, Festival of Christ) to late December, when people were already used to celebrating, Church leaders ensured widespread observance of Jesus' birth. Sheller continues:
"Over the next one thousand years, Christmas observance followed the expanding church from Egypt to Northern Europe. In Scandinavia, it became entwined with a pagan midwinter feast known as 'Yule'. It's no wonder then that the Puritans pointed out that Christmas was 'nothing but a pagan festival with a Christian veneer.'"CONCLUSION "In this, they (Christians and Jews) imitate what the unbeleivers of old used to say."The Holy Qur'an 9:30-31Most of the above cults were prevalent in the Mediterranean long before Jesus was born. With the help of Paul, all of these myths became cumulated and were melded into one and are now called 'Christianity'. All of the above have absolutely nothing to do with God's plan for us. It's all just made up. We strongly urge you to give up these erroneous beliefs and find out what God really wants for you.
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