(October 29, 2015 at 10:38 pm)Irrational Wrote:(October 29, 2015 at 12:28 pm)Drich Wrote: Paul was a wandering tent maker and a roman citizen in civil life. The only people that had the authority to detain a citizen had to do so under the authority of Rome. Paul even uses his status to circumvent a kangaroo court/trial in one instance, but could not escape capture and persecution by rome. Towards the end of his life Rome took a very hostile view against Christianity, and imprisioned, flogged, and executed Christians because they were viewed as enemies of the state, because most officals did not understand the religion fully, but feared the rapid growth. That is why ALL of the Apostles were eventually executed except John, who was banished to the prison Island of Patmos for the rest of his life. They all died in very bad ways as to serve as a warning to others.
Ok, suppose it's true that he was beheaded (Hard to tell if this was true or not), what exactly is special about that again? If he had schizophrenia and truly believed his views (even though they're not true), he would've still let himself be executed.
Lots of people out there who are ready to die for all sorts of beliefs. This isn't something exclusive to Christians.
Again death was simply the end result. Paul spent a large part of his ministry in jail, recovering from beatings, stonings, public caning, ect.
http://members.tripod.com/apostle_india/id2.html I cant vet the website but the content seems to be a cut and paste from the bible
