Iron
Ecclesiastical Die-Hard
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
- Messages
- 7,765
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2004
In the interests of balance and fairness, I offer before the congregation this chunk of sacred text lifted from a mysterious origin.
AGAIN
Edit: Fwa Pwar! Right on the money and two steps aheadPaul was really the first Christian, or rather the "inventor" of Christianity as we know it. In a thoroughly Jewish-rabbinical spirit he "set up on a large scale precisely what Jesus had overthrown by His life." Unlike Jesus, he is a fanatic for whom the strength of a conviction is guaranty of its truth. He transformed
Christianity into a pagan mystery-cult with unio mystica, a sacrificial victim, guilt and sin, and salvation by faith as key concepts. He was "one of the most active destroyers of primitive Christianity." He brought not the evangel but the dysangel, the "bad news" of the risen Christ and personal immortality, which became easily an "expedient for priestly tyranny and the formation of herds"
In contrast to Jesus' forgiving love and repudiation of powertactics, Paul had a deep hatred of and thirst for power against ruling Judaism. Paul contrived of his own accord, without caring for the facts of Jesus' own life, a history of the birth of Christianity which is based on the notion of Jesus' death as a sacerdotal saving of mankind, whereas the actual history is that of a man who died as he had lived, not to save mankind, but to show how one ought to live. Jesus taught a way of life and happiness achievable here and now; Paul promised future blessedness on condition of belief in him as risen Lord.
AGAIN