One thing I love, by and large, about this forum is how people share all kinds of ideas that would seem âoff the twigâ in more conventional circles. I love the frankness, and I love the disagreements (when they are not accompanied by disrespect for anyone), as I think that intellectual disagreements are somewhat like flags indicating that deeper knowledge lurks beneath the surface. I especially love how the ideas differ, because of different backgrounds and different books that people have accessed. So, Ron64, it matters not what you think â most of us love to hear it.
Iâm not sure I would have chosen the words: âHellâ and âHijackerâ in the title of the thread â my own choice of title might have been: âSome Questions about Paulâ. My head is full of them. Which is why I have not contributed much to the conversation, as I have more questions than any solid ground for believing anything. I am open to hearing different ideas, and have been enjoying the parts of this thread where people have been sharing their own ideas (and not just some cutting and pasting from very lenthy third party documents â I felt like a fool having first thought that a forum member spent a lot of his own time researching and writing an essay for us, and then finding out that he merely cut and paste and that was not his own time or thought at all, but perhaps some other agenda related to distributing a brochure piece meal, which is inappropriate use of a forum such as this â it was a learning experience for me, that not everyone is necessarily here on this forum to engage in an exploratory discussion).
With regard to the Apostle Paul, Iâm open to the idea that he was a politician who changed affiliations during his career (Iâve seen plenty of that in Canadian politics), and even perhaps underwent a change of heart from the former Saul that he was, after a period of repentence. Some people do walk away from an unsavory past, after they repent, and move on to a better way of life. I would hope that most of us are capable of doing that. Iâm also never far from wondering whether a scribe or text interpreter may have messed about in some areas (we are sometimes told in the bible, beware of the lying scribes) that may be ambiguous. Iâm also open to some suggestion that Paul may not have been what he seemed, and that he may have tried to further his own political agenda, given that he was a skilled politician. And, Iâm open to considering that some things in the bible were presented cryptically, as a lot of killing was going on because of peoplesâ beliefs. When we were at the used bookstore, we found Laurence Gardnerâs book âBloodline of the Holy Grailâ, which describes how some parts of the bible were presented cryptically to try to prevent the Romans from understanding what Jewish people were communicating about their history. I donât understand the cryptic meanings embedded within biblical text, but I find it interesting to read about this, and learning more, as it is utterly fascinating. Sounds like you and others on this thread have been exploring this theme, and I find it fascinating what you are all sharing.
All of these ideas are fascinating to me, and I havenât decided one way or another what to believe, and feel that I have way more reading to do, including then re-reading bible passages to try to make sense of something that was incomprehensible to me for a long time. I have been finding this thread very helpful in terms of book suggestions, thoughts, and ideas, and want to thank all of you for sharing what you all think.
