“Paul was the very first corrupter of the doctrine of Jesus Christ; a doctrine very different from the one practiced by those who would call me infidel while elevating themselves as preachers of the Gospel … Indeed, these “Christian” impostors have compounded from the Halcyon Mysteries a religious system fully beyond the comprehension of humankind, one of which the greatest ethical reformer of the Jews, were he to return to Earth today, would not recognize a single feature.” ~ inspired by & via Thomas Jefferson

“Paul’s soul is not the soul of a truly free man. He speaks rarely of Jesus’ life, nor does he repeat his recorded words or reflect his championed teachings. Indeed, Paul strikes boldly – actually recklessly, and often blindly – with his own chipped hammer upon the Anvil of Truth; doing so in the name of one he clearly does not know and indeed never once even met.” ~ via Kahlil Gibran

 

And now we come to the crux of the matter. For just because the Bible clearly shows that Jesus & Paul had very different upbringings and led very different lives – and just because the Bible just as clearly shows that these two men exuded very different personalities and effectuated very different preaching styles, does not necessarily require that their spiritual philosophies contradict. That having been said, just because Paul repeatedly says that he is a follower of Jesus Christ and a proponent of Jesus’ Way does not mean that he actually was the same.¹ Paul was fond of saying that God had appointed “apostles and prophets and teachers” (see 1 Corinthians 12:28), that he was one of the aforementioned appointed (see Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1, Galatians 1:1, & Colossians 1:1 et al), and that his followers should “imitate me, as I am in Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 11:1 – also 1 Corinthians 4:16 & Galatians 1:2). And yet Jesus himself made it equally clear that “Many will come in my name, saying that I am the Messiah” (Matthew 24:5) and that “you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students” (Matthew 23:8). And in truth, all sincere students of the Scriptures can readily see that Jesus warned his followers of those who preach like Paul, if not even specifically of Paul himself – telling all to “beware the yeast of the Pharisees” (see Matthew 15:13-14, Mark 7:6-8, & Luke 12:1) when Paul was a self-professed Pharisee (see Acts 23:6, Acts 26:5, Galatians 1:14, & Philippians 3:4-5), warning that a false prophet(s) would “come in his own name” (John 5:43) when Paul did just that – not only altering his name from Saul to Paul depending upon his audience (via Acts 13:9) but also preaching his own unique Gospel (see Romans 10:9 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 et al) for his own self-aggrandizing ends (see Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Corinthians 11:5-10, Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:24, Philippians 1:7, & 1 Thessalonians 1:6). Jesus also foretold in Matthew 24:24-26 of a deceiver “in the wilderness” (like the obviously false “Jesus” who spoke to Paul on the Road to Damascus in Acts 9) who would speak personally & privately (as in Galatians 1:11-12, where Paul claimed that his personal “revelation” did precisely that). Just as intriguing, the Bible shows that Paul himself (albeit inadvertently) warned others against his own false teachings, nowhere more notably than in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 when he warns of “boasters” (which he himself openly boasted of being – see see Romans 5:3 – also Romans11:13, Romans 15:17, 1 Corinthians 4:9-13, 1 Corinthians 9:15, 1 Corinthians 15:10, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, Galatians 1:24, Colossians 1:24, & 1 Thessalonians 2:2) who both “disguise themselves as apostles of Christ” (which he himself did far more than anyone else in the Scriptures – again see Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1, Galatians 1:1, & Colossians 1:1 et al) and “disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (like he himself unabashedly did in 1 Corinthians 3:10 et al) …

Of course all this evidence means nothing if the theologies of the two men are in fact somehow in harmony; if they do not in fact contradict one another. And yet contradict each other they do – both fully and quite dramatically. As proof thereof, please consider well the well-researched examples of conflict between them that follow …

“In the teachings of Christ, religion is completely present tense: Jesus is the prototype and our task is to imitate him; to enliven his teachings and thereby ourselves become his disciples. And yet then through Paul came a fundamental alteration; with Paul drawing attention away from imitating Christ and fixing that attention on the death & rebirth of Jesus. What Martin Luther failed to realize is that even before Catholicism came along, Christianity had become degenerate at the hands of Paul. By making it a religion about worshiping Jesus instead of enlivening the internal Christ, Paul turned Christianity into the religion of Paul. In essence, Paul threw the Christianity of Christ away and completely turned it on its head, morphing it into a religion lauding the exact opposite of the original proclamations of Jesus.” ~ via Soren Kierkegaard

 

 

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Filed under: Jesus & the Cult of Paul by Scaughdt