Would Christianity be less weird if Paul was never taken seriously?

Would Christianity be less weird if Paul was never taken seriously?

Paul McCartney?

No, it's fundamentally weird.

Paul did it for the Law






ME i just had to say that for the chance i would never get to say that again. Dont bother thumbing me down I'm not really serious since i dint know about Paul anyways.

No David. The whole thing is "weird"

Paul?s dilemma is not rare or even that uncommon. If taken in a modern context his problems are not that difficult to diagnose. His writings hint that he likely had some sort of a seizure disorder that plagued him most of his life. We can?t be sure if this is epileptic or caused by some vascular incident like stroke or from head trauma. In his own words while traveling to Damascus he experienced a blinding light and collapsed to the ground. At the same time hearing disembodied voices that he interpreted as revelation.

People who have strokes often experience these light events along with the perception that they are hearing voices or experiencing thoughts that originate from some external source. A few even express the opinion that they are conversing with God. There have even been cases where these people suddenly begin writing complex theological dissertations that are quite convincing to themselves and others. Later in acts we read that his particular version of the message of Jesus was at times not that well received. One notable occasion tells of a stoning that he received. Stoning was a particular barbaric way of expressing ones opinion of the one being stoned and it may have exacerbated Paul?s problems. The idea with stoning is to see who can bounce the largest rock off of the head of the one being stoned. One can only imagine the possibilities for brain damage in this situation. Brain damaged people often have light events and claim to hear voices or be privy to externally generated thoughts.

The point that I an trying to make is that Paul is much maligned by many biblical scholars because they see him as corrupting the true teachings of Jesus and purposely replacing it with his theological fantasies.

I feel that for whatever the reason, Paul truly believed that he was in direct contact with God.

Had this same thing happened to him in more recent times he would have been arrested, hospitalized and most likely medicated until he was better.

Love and blessings
Don

David, I do not find Christianity weird and you may be right. Weird or not, if Christians ignored Paul's writings they would almost not have any clue what Christianity is all about. His writings give us the order of the authentic church, the armor we are to use, the faith over works, the security of the believer, the proper relationship with God, the awesome relationship with Jesus and how we are to serve him with all of our might, soul, and strength. There is so very much depth in Paul's letters to the Gentile churches that to function without these letters would cripple the church. Paul teaches us how to reach out to new communities, spreading the Gospel, the good news further and further, taking the abuse we may receive for God's grace is sufficient for us. It removes the barriers we would place in our way and still do that would partially limit our activities and efforts. We can do all things through Jesus who strengthen us---where is the barrier? We may be weird but we represent the greatest news of the world, Jesus saves.