RE: Paul's "persecution" of the early Christians?
February 5, 2018 at 8:56 am
(This post was last modified: February 5, 2018 at 8:58 am by GrandizerII.)
(February 4, 2018 at 9:57 pm)Jehanne Wrote: Paul claims to have persecuted the early Church, but, to me, his claim seems rather dubious. After all, Paul was not a Roman official or a member of the legions, and given Roman federalism, it seems unthinkable to me that Paul, a mere Roman citizen, could harass Roman subjects? It seems that not only the Roman authorities, but the local ones under Roman governorship, would object, strongly, to such behavior. Some will cite 2 Corinthians 11:24 where he states, "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.", but this claim is also odd, given Paul's Roman citizenship.
It seems to me that the story of Paul's persecution of the early Church was invented, and was (and is) pure myth.
Common behavior. How many people you know IRL who like to brag about how they used to be horrible, and now they're all godly because they're so special and shit? I know a handful of them compulsive/pathological exaggerators. I laugh at them in my head when they share with me their ... interesting ... stories.
