(April 27, 2015 at 3:39 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Let's be clear about something. "Paul" (or whoever) never says that he was a Roman citizen in any of his alleged epistles. That claim comes from Acts which is a pile of shit from the word "go."
I see Acts as Luke trying to write a sequel years later to his 'best selling' Gospel. But as is often the case with sequels, it does not measure up to original. Losing the main character of the original in the first chapter is not a very good start. Plus Acts does not have the driving dynamic of gLuke - sticking his tongue out at Matthew.
The scriptures are a lot more fun if you do not take them seriously but look at the different stories being told and why they are being told that way.
The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell