Posted on 06/24/2014 2:13:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Neither.
Christianity/Catholicism was founded by Jesus Christ on the Apostles, the first Bishops.
It's nearly certain, though, that there would be no Christianity without Paul's efforts.
I thought Ron Paul invented AquaBuddha.
I agree, he did both.
Nope. Christ invented Christianity. Man invented the Roman Catholic Church.
RE: It’s nearly certain, though, that there would be no Christianity without Paul’s efforts.
I think God chooses is own vessel. If Paul were no available, somebody else would have been.
Of course; this is a “Did you stop beating your wife” type of question. Paul converted to Christianity and promoted it with unparalleled zeal; to denigrate or impugn his efforts and accomplishments is simply satanic.
“Nope. Christ invented Christianity. Man invented the Roman Catholic Church.”
No, actually Salvation was right. No man “invented” the Catholic Church. The Church was founded by Christ Himself.
The Apostles were not the first Bishops. You can say that all you want, but the Bible does not teach that.
Salvation(the poster) is wrong. The Catholic Church is a perversion, by men, of the One True Church.
God`s irony is that Paul was chosen for his mission....in spite of his past. A miracle.
Both.
Christianity as we know it today is largely the creation of Paul. At the same time, in the words of Thomas Jefferson in his ‘Letter to William Short’ of 13 April, 1820:
“Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and firm corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart.”
Or to quote Soren Kirkegaard,
“In the teachings of Christ, religion is completely present tense: Jesus is the prototype and our task is to imitate him, become a disciple. But then through Paul came a basic alteration. Paul draws attention away from imitating Christ and fixes attention on the death of Christ The Atoner. What Martin Luther, in his reformation, failed to realize is that even before Catholicism, Christianity had become degenerate at the hands of Paul. Paul made Christianity the religion of Paul, not of Christ. Paul threw the Christianity of Christ away, completely turning it upside down, making it just the opposite of the original proclamation of Christ.”
So yes, both. It would be an interesting “What If” of history if Paul hadn’t come along - what shape would Christianity have taken? Paul was certainly the great popularizer of Christianity, but if his own theological interpretations are removed wholesale from Christianity (the Pauline Epistles, etc.) we’d likely have something that looks a like Thomas Jefferson’s edit of the Bible.
Did Paul invent or hijack Christianity?
_______________________________________
I’m a deacon in my Church. Been a committed Christian for over 50 years. But only recently did I learn that some believe Paul did indeed “hijack” the Gospel.
For instance. The Great Commission instructing us to baptize?
Doesn’t apply any more since Paul’s commission over rode that.
I have long felt that the timing and location of Jesus’s coming, together with the missionary work into Gentile regions made perfect sense from historic and strategic points of view. He was sent into the dominion of the Roman Empire, one of the most powerful and extensive empires of all time. They had made travel easier with a system of roads. The early churches in Macedonia, Greece and Asia Minor were on the crossroads of major trade routes to and from the known world. God in His infinite wisdom had a good marketing plan.
BINGO
Is the Founder of the Christian Religion Paul of Tarsus or Jesus of Nazareth?
Evidence for God ^ | 02/24/2014 | Rich Deem
Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 4:10:01 PM by SeekAndFind
The Rabbi Saul from Tarsus, having had his moment of Divine clarity handed to him in spades, did NOT ‘invent’ Christianity, nor did he ‘hijack’ that belief.
Before that moment, he was the zealot pursuer accuser of Christians, which means he had foreknowledge of their beliefs, activities, and demeanor, i.e., “he was previously exposed to it”.
His moment ‘on the road’, brought to mind, all that he had witnessed, and made it ‘his to own’, as we say, today.
Therefore, with his knowledge of the Talmud, the Ta’anach, the Torah, he was Divinely directed to bring those teachings that reinforce, and more deeply expound, ‘the teachings of the Master’. (ref: ‘I am but a slave’).
His ‘letters’ go to churches of future linkpins, in Revelations. His ‘letters’ go to those churches, that have formed from the local Pagan/Roman communities, and have had no ‘direct exposure to Jesus’, as well.
(How would YOU manage, were you to be set as a ‘remote office of one’, with no manuals or corporate directives, and only the ‘breakroom information brokers’ knowledge, to go on? No data systems, just a pen, ink, and paper, with an occasional speaking arrangement? And, as time went by, the DHS is after your head.)
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