(October 28, 2015 at 11:28 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: Well I'd say scapegoating is the reason Paul was beheaded, along with a lot of other Christians. Nero was insane. They're no more to blame for the scapegoating and murders than the Jews targeted by the insanity of Hitler and his followers. But, like those Jews, Paul would hardly have renounced the central belief of his identity, even after that scapegoating began.
While I agree with most of what you've written here, recently, I'd say that the willingness to go ahead and self-identify even in the face of danger indicates only the degree of zeal, but is not proof of concept. As we have pointed out in a recent thread, atheists are frequently (and openly) discriminated against in this country, yet many of us "sign our names" and otherwise identify openly as atheists because we believe we are right about this, damn the consequences. Others prefer to fly under the radar. Yet I'm pretty sure you wouldn't consider the zealous among us to be evidence that our position is correct, would you?
Ah, the flaw in your reasoning! 'Zeal' in that time for the wrong thing meant death. So to have zeal about something forbidden meant you believed in it with your very life. Now whether you believe Paul to be correct or not is not what I am illustrating. I am pointing out that Paul believed with his very life on the line that he was correct. And he uses his 'zeal' to show those who maybe afraid what belief in christ may have ment, that he was not afraid to tie himself to any and all consenquences that would come from belief. Again, even if you wish to discount what was being said at the time romans was written, no one can deny his willingness to put his life on the line durning his beatings or ultimately his execution. what romans shows us was that Paul from the beginning did not shy away from his beliefs or any consenquences that rose from what he believed.
