(September 13, 2017 at 1:25 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:(September 13, 2017 at 12:56 pm)SteveII Wrote: 1. Yes, that is what he was doing. No, Paul did not found Christianity. He came later on the scene. His conversion was not until Acts 9--four years of activity before he comes on the scene. His first missionary journey was not for another fourteen years. He didn't start writing for at least another two after that. You really need to read Acts. It is actually the book written to answer these questions (Luke actually says that).
2. What kind of question is that? Constantine did not come for over 275 years (11 generations) after the first Christians. We have hundreds of surviving Christian writings from before Roman got involved.
The Paul character was the first one to write about the Yeshua character [1] (the book of Galatians, 49 A.D. https://carm.org/when-was-bible-written-...o-wrote-it). So according to the fairy tale that means that Paul saw his vision of Yeshua 17 years earlier, around 32 A.D.
According to Acts people were first called Christians in the city of Antioch, as a result of Paul's preaching.[2]
1. That is a fact not in evidence. Scholars believe there were documents before the gospels. Paul's may be the earliest writings that survived.
2. Acts 11:19-30. The church existed (v 20-21). Barnabas, more senior than Paul (mentioned in Acts 4-- ~four years earlier) took him up there around 42 AD and they taught the people there (verse 25). 42 AD is 12 years after the beginning of Acts. Paul did not start Christianity--not even close.
