Was Saul a Deeply Flawed Intellectual Snob
Was Saul a Deeply Flawed Intellectual Snob (Perhaps a Prude as Well)?
Does Christ's Protest Still Ring True Today?
Part 1:
I'll state my aim clearly, "I come, not to praise Paul (Christ honored?) but bury
usurper? Profane, anti-Christian's my take." Paul's account of conversion
(more fear-based than factual?) scolds all those disputing things Paul thinks fire's ember!
But logic falls short with just one voice of truth! Paul's Christ "met" him in saucer? (1)
Did early Church members fear Paul might have them killed and pray to outlast him?
Who named Paul "Apostle?" Did Paul lust for power? Are Christ's words (of Judgement!),
God's TRUTH? "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute, Me!" (2) He's apostle of Christ? I
can't know Paul's intent, but the weight of his zeal (3) feels un-Christian to me. His
voice shames all for sin while he preaches Christ's Grace as if he's God's gatekeeper
and Grace is a gift we must earn, or we'll burn. Jews cut teeth on this pablum;
were taught works salvation. (4) Was Paul so conflicted? This seems an obstruction!
Paul's arrogance crowned life throughout his reign! Faith has no legs (his deduction?)
He lectured on faith, but his 'certainty' hints that Paul fails to grok problem! (5)
Can singles like Paul grok what marriage, heart's Love costs a soul? Life's sure deeper
than anything oceans can mime. What explains why adults harm their spouses -
priests child! Might it boil down to powers that tempt us to lust for a dream's lie?
Was Paul's 'light' perversion of Christ's real intent sans a priesthood to torment
more gullible souls who might pay for relief? (6) This seems more than a fool's whim!
A loner (cold fish) and incredibly smart, Paul was more than a tosser;
still, hard to imagine a woman who'd love Paul. "God called ME, remember?"
His ego robust, it seems likely Paul viewed Christ's lament as inversion:
extreme gift of Love that just proves length God stoops to with Saint's Love to curry!
Brian Johnston
9th of May in 2023
Poet's Notes:
(1) It might help to remember that Paul was never a disciple of Christ, or sat at Christ's feet asking questions (as needed). They never met as peers in faith (my flying saucer's a joke.)
(2) Were Christ's words a call to serve Him or a rebuke of Paul's self-important demagoguery?
(3) Christ's message concerns our need to stay humble. Paul asks us to make him right!
(4) In Christ, sin is forgiven. To think you can save yourself is sinful behavior. Paul's theology and deeply ingrained Old Testament certainty turns Christ's New Testament teaching on its head!
(5) Paul shows no understanding of Christ's teaching that faith can never be certain and that doubt is more than OK. If there is no doubt in your soul, then your faith is dead, and you will never gain the moral strength you need to have to question your own interpretation of God's Word. By faith, we get saved, not works (or knowledge!)
(6) It is Paul's teaching that forms one foundation for today's dictatorship of clergy who can absolve you of your sin and must explain God's Word to you (vesting all power in themselves)! You are deemed incompetent to make such decisions yourself. Grace is foolishness! By Paul's hand, more traditional Jewish thought control gets reinstated.
Copyright © Brian Johnston | Year Posted 2023
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