The Apostle Paul

I've been thinking about how much credence to give to Paul's writings.  As a Christian, as a believer in
the resurrection, you almost have to give him more credit than any other biblical writer.  Christianity as
we have it today wouldn't even be around if not for his taking it to the gentiles and starting all the churches
he started.  And yet he never really wrote (unless it's been hidden away or destroyed) any gospel, or
specific doctrine of any kind.  What we have are letters he had written in response to specific issues that
arose within the churches he had started.  So I have decided anyway, that if you believe the resurrection,
you pretty much have to believe the conversion of Paul happened pretty much the way he described it.
Jesus himself stopped him and interceded to make sure the gospel got spread to the rest of the world,
which means his mission to the Jewish people was completed.

I always wondered whether the story of his conversion was just an allegory of some sort, his explanation
of what happened to him when he saw the light so to speak.  He realized with great guilt that he had been
persecuting Christians unjustly, and it was such a life changing experience for him that his zeal changed
into a different direction.  That he was blinded in the process by the bright light seemed irrelevant in some
way and an embellishment.  But if you think about it from the perspective of Christ, you've just given your
life for the world and here your apostles are just sitting on it and keeping it to themselves, or at least within
the Jewish community, will you let the rest of the world not know?  And who better to spread the word, than
a man of zeal for his faith?  So from that aspect it would make sense that Jesus really did interfere, and Paul
really was God's chosen apostle to the gentiles.

So I would have to say, as a believer much authority would have to be given to Paul's writings.  Now how
about those writings by his followers that were written in his name?  Several of the letters we have as Paul's
weren't written by Paul.  In fact, in the years of the early church there were many many forgeries.  We know
now that the gospels weren't written by those attributed to them.  Perhaps Luke, but he was not an apostle.
I think in cases where the forged letters contradict Paul's and Jesus' teachings, I would give them no credence.
For instance, in 1 Tim we are told, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent...But women will be saved through childbearing..."  And yet, in his letter 1 Cor, Paul wrote, "And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head-it is just as though her head were shaved."  But within the kingdom, there
is no male or female.  Chapter 14, vs34,35 appear to have been later additions to the text, most scholars
agree they weren't written by Paul, and with good reason.

It appears we must do a little research of our own to find out the truth about some of these doctrines.  Nothing seems to have been just laid out for us, we are required to search.  Well, not required for our salvation, but for the deeper understandings of God.  We cannot just take some teacher's say so, or some preacher or evangelist.  They are all passing on what they've been taught, perpetuating the same and often invalid teachings throughout the centuries.  On almost every issue, you will find God fearing Christians on both
sides of it.  Sometimes it seems the truth lands in the middle, sometimes nowhere you would expect.  In Galatians Paul wrote there is no man or woman in the kingdom, so the debate can either end or be fueled, depending on which side of it you are. 

To me, it appears that Paul, who explained grace so well, sometimes struggled with it as well.  I guess that
should be expected, since he was well indoctrinated in the Law.  He gave instructions and dos and don'ts, but would sometimes then suffice it with "but if you..."  In other words, not following his instructions wouldn't get
you removed, or separated, but more like you weren't following his advice.  We're still free to think things out
for ourselves, and I still think we should give credence to his advice.  He was, after all, the one who brought
our faith outside of Judaism, and it appears Jesus chose wisely in picking him for that purpose.

Bart Ehrman

Well I just finished a most excellent book.  I started looking at the Nag Hammadi, it made me remember that I had gotten a book that was a commentary on it by Bart Ehrman (sitting on the shelf of course).  I decided to give it a go, and "Lost Christianities" turned into an excellent read, but before I got too far along in it I got a notice from Amazon (you know, related books to what you've bought email) and there was another Bart Ehrman book on there.  I ended up ordering a few more, and got into "Misquoting Jesus" as soon as it arrived.  I will have to go back to "Lost Christianities" because now the Lost Gospel of Judas has my attention.  Anyway, "Misquoting Jesus" turned into a must read in my opinion. 

Bart Ehrman is probably our foremost scholar on ancient Greek texts.  I never realized how readable his books were, but they are packed with information.  I always knew there were differences in manuscripts, but I had no idea how many and how many were deliberate.  Whole doctrines were made with changes to scripts.  Once a copy was changed, all the copies after it would keep the change, unless somewhere along the way a knowledgable scribe recognized it and changed it again.  Changes were made to support Christ's diety, to support the trinity doctrine, to support the repression of women (Jesus and Paul both taught women would be equal to men in the Kingdom of Heaven), to refute doctrines from gnostics, docetists, gospels were written to pin the blame for the crucifixion on the Jews (squarely), and on and on. 

When a letter was written to the churches, it was written to be read aloud, since most people were illiterate.  To share the letters with other churches and reproduce them within the churches, anyone who could would do the copying.  There were scribes who couldn't read what they wrote, and would practice there signatures, and if they missed a letter, they would miss it with each rewrite as well.  I found the whole lecture rather fascinating and would highly recommend the book to anyone wanting to know about their scriptures, and why there are so many little footnotes with various readings all the way through.  I got this on Amazon for less than $15, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it at a discount book store (which is really sad considering who the author is).