No Road to Damascus

[Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy]

WI the Cilician Jew Saul had not converted to Christianity?

[Iñaki]

Without Saul is very possible than the Christianity had not been as universal as is now and possibily very influenced by judaism: so it is very possible that christianism is restricted more or less to Palestine and Middle East so not christianity as official religion of Rome (could be Mitraism or Paganism resurected the religions that in this ATL occupied the blank in the roman empire of a christianism a lot influenced by judaism and not universal)

[LacheyS]

Well, technically, Saul didn't convert to Christianity. He started Christianity.

James was the undisputed leader of the Jerusalem Church after the death of Jesus and he was a devout Jew, who believed the followers of Jesus should still follow the Mosaic law. In Acts 15, James instructed that Gentiles had to follow the Noachite commandments. In Galatians 2, Paul records that James forbade Peter from eating with Gentiles. And in Acts 21, James reminds Paul that believers of Jesus were zealous for the law. If you read in Josephus, the Antiquities 20:9:1, you will see that Ananus, the high priest, was removed by the Pharisees. Ananus sent James to his death for disobeying the law, but the Pharisees could find no grounds for that decision, arguing that he was a good Jew.

Paul was crucial to the development of the idea of atonement. He didn't know Jesus personally and there are a number of contradictions between Jesus' teaching and Paul's teaching. Compare, for example, Matthew 6:25-34 and II Thessalonians 3:6,10. Also Matthew 5:17-20 with Galatians 2: 15-16. Jesus preached the eternal validity of the Torah. Paul did not and the Jerusalem Church did not accept Paul. They did nothing to assist him when he was arrested and, I believe, actually hoped to have him arrested. Paul actually also mentions in numerous places his intention to take an offering to the Jerusalem Church (perhaps as a means of achieving reconciliation with them?). Look at Galatians 2:14 and you can see that Paul had a conflict with the Jerusalem Church while in Antioch, one in which Peter, Barnabas and everybody else present disagree with him.

In short, without Paul, Christianity as we know it does not exist at all, Though there may be part of the Jewish tradition that regards Jesus as a great teacher and revolutionary leader.

[highroller]

ah just shut up you, Portugese all the way

[Straha]

This sums it up...

[Agentdark]

ah just shut up you, Portugese all the way
Portugal is insulted that you are praising them

[The Mists Of Time]

Paul has been described as the great salesman for the early Christian Church. He was largely responsible for how far and how fast The Church spread in its first century, and through his letters, for much its continued spread in later centuries.

Because Paul's letters make up most of The New Testament Scriptures, had it not been for him, The New Testament would be much smaller and in many ways less interesting.