The Cult of Paul

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“It is frankly more than a bit disappointing to see how Paul hardly ever allows the true Jesus of Nazareth to get a word in ... Indeed, the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount is in all truth completely opposed to the manipulative ramblings of his selfprofessed apostle.” ~ via Carl Jung & Martin Buber “Paul himself stands in the twilight of heresy. In reading his letters, one immediately encounters a major difficulty – namely, that whatever Jesus had preached never entered the content of his missionary proclamations. In truth, the deeds and sayings of Jesus' ministry play little role whatsoever in Paul's understanding of Salvation.” ~ via Helmut Koester 38
Jesus & Paul: a look at their preaching ... It can come as no surprise that two men with such dramatically different upbringings would develop such dramatically different personalities, and it can come as even less of a surprise that such dramatically different personalities would reflect themselves in such dramatically different styles of preaching … Consider the following examples: Contrast #16: Paul's pious boasting & Jesus' humble quietude … While there are admittedly exceptions to this generality found within the Scriptures – with Paul sometimes writing reservedly (a la his letter to Philemon) and Jesus every now and then booming his message with fervor (a la Matthew 23 or Luke 11:37-52), for the most part it holds true that Paul was fond of brash boasting while Jesus preferred the peace of calm teaching or spiritual solitude. Whereas Paul regularly enters local synagogues to cajole, debate, &/or argue (see Contrast #17 that follows), Jesus is far more often seen retreating to pray alone (see Matthew 14:23, Matthew 26:36-39, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:46, Mark 14:32-25, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:18, Luke 22:41-42, & John 17 et al) … Whereas Paul frequently compliments himself and “boasts in [his own] sufferings” (Romans 5:3 – also 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, Galatians 1:24, Colossians 1:24, & 1 Thessalonians 2:2 et al), Jesus encouraged his followers to do exactly the opposite (see Matthew 5:10-11, Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 10:39, & Luke 6:22- 23 – as well as his “Father ... not my will but yours be done” prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:42, Matthew 26:39, & Mark 14:36)… Whereas Paul openly “glorified [his own] ministry” (Romans 11:13), Jesus refused to do so; stating quite plainly that he could “do nothing on my own” (John 5:30), that he “accepted the glory of no human beings” (John 5:41) and that “if I glorify myself, that glory means nothing” (John 8:54 – see also Matthew 4:10, Matthew 18:3-4, Matthew 23:12, Mark 10:18, John 6:15, & John 12:44 et al) … Whereas Paul encouraged others to loudly praise Christ & publicly worship Jesus (see Romans 10:9-13, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 1 Corinthians 14:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, Philippians 2:10-11, & Colossians 1:15-17 et al), Jesus encouraged his followers to pray only to God and to do so in secret silence (see Matthew 6:5-6, Matthew 6:33-34, & John 4:23 et al) … Finally, whereas Paul saw “signs & wonders” as proof of his divine apostleship (see Acts 14:1-3, Romans 15:18-19, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, 2 Corinthians 12:12, & 1 Thessalonians 1:5), Jesus often refused to engage in such showboating (see Matthew 12:38- 39, Matthew 16:2-4, Mark 6:4-6, & Mark 8:12 – also Matthew 24:24, John 4:446- 48, & John 20:29's “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”) and frequently refused to accept responsibility for any of his supposed “miracles” (see Matthew 8:1- 3, Matthew 9:22, Matthew 9:23-24, Matthew 9:29-30, Matthew 15:28, Matthew 17:19-20, Mark 1:40-44, Mark 5:19, Mark 5:34, Mark 5:36-39, Mark 7:36, Mark 8:26, Mark 9:23, Mark 10:52, Luke 5:12-14, Luke 8:39, Luke 8:48, Luke 8:50-52, Luke 17:19, Luke 18:42, John 5:19, John 6:15, & John 11:4). 39
Page 1 and 2: The Cult of Paul examining the cont
Page 3 and 4: “For the time is coming when peop
Page 5 and 6: “I have set you an example, that
Page 7 and 8: Forward … the WHY of it all While
Page 9 and 10: And yet as far as this particular t
Page 11 and 12: An introductory look at Paul of Tar
Page 13 and 14: “Now as Saul was going along and
Page 15 and 16: A few of the Bible's“smaller hint
Page 17 and 18: *Paul downplays the innate holiness
Page 19 and 20: "Paul avoids quoting the teaching o
Page 21 and 22: As the previous pages have shown, t
Page 23 and 24: In marked contrast, Jesus is seen t
Page 25 and 26: Contrast #04: their affiliations wi
Page 27 and 28: Contrast #07: how they dealt with t
Page 29 and 30: Jesus & Paul: a look at their perso
Page 31 and 32: Contrast #12: Paul's condemnation &
Page 33 and 34: In quite marked contrast, Jesus Chr
Page 35 and 36: And finally, where Paul is frequent
Page 37: *Paul lied to King Agrippa about hi
Page 41 and 42: Jesus Christ, on the other hand, ma
Page 43 and 44: In marked contrast, while it is tru
Page 45 and 46: *Paul was inconsistent in his teach
Page 47 and 48: *Just as revealing, every single on
Page 49 and 50: Jesus & Paul: their conflicting the
Page 51 and 52: Conflict #03: Paul guided by conven
Page 53 and 54: In truth, in the Gospel of Matthew
Page 55 and 56: Conflict #05: Paul believing God to
Page 57 and 58: And yet the nature of God is not th
Page 59 and 60: Conflict #06: Paul believing God to
Page 61 and 62: Conflict #08: Paul equating the “
Page 63 and 64: Finally, and in full harmony with t
Page 65 and 66: Even the parable of The Sower in th
Page 67 and 68: Paul: an apostle of delightful iron
Page 69 and 70: “There is, on the one hand, the a
Page 71 and 72: Conclusion: Returning to The Way of
Page 73 and 74: As such, now that the dichotomy bet
Page 75 and 76: “The body that is sown is perisha
Page 77: “I praise You, Father, Lord of he

The Cult of Paul

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