What if Paul of Tarsus stayed a good Jew

Let's say Paul of Tarsus didn't have his seizure (epileptic or otherwise), never falls from his horse and never accepts Yeshua as his personal lord and savior.

He remains a good and faithful Jew and continues to persecute the heretical followers of Yeshua.

What happens to the world....

Sorry if this has been done before..but I was in a POD mood
 
Uhh, you might want to reword it to avoid offending some of the other AH members.

But to answer the question, the spread of Christianity is severly hampered, mildly hampered, finds another Charismatic leader, or becomes extinct. (Really depends on a person's views on Christianity.) Same rule applies for how butterflies change the world.
 
For one thing, he'd never have been called Paul, but Saul.

For another, we'd never have heard of the guy. Or of a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth named Yoshua ben Yosef.
 
I think Christianity could have taken off and become Europe's religion without St. Paul. But we're looking at a very different religion. Jesus was sort of saying, "hey, even gentiles can be Jews!", while Paul was saying, "actually, no one is a Jew anymore." Most of Paul's other ideas could have instead sprung from the mind of an alt-theologian in a later century, but would they have? So many OTL theologians went to great troubles to tie themselves to Paul, so maybe they would have never voiced their Pauline ideas but for Paul.
 
Let's say Paul of Tarsus didn't have his seizure (epileptic or otherwise), never falls from his horse and never accepts Yeshua as his personal lord and savior.

He remains a good and faithful Jew and continues to persecute the heretical followers of Yeshua.

What happens to the world....

Sorry if this has been done before..but I was in a POD mood
Christianity is whiped out of history. The butterflys would be legion and chaotic. So you can't predict what would happen to the world.
 
I agree with the main sentiment. Chistianity as we know it today would not exist. Saul's "non conversion" would both deprive the Christ cult of its most influential advocate and retain this obviosuly talented person in the service of Jewish orthodoxy. It is possible that the cult of Christ the Messiah might survive in certain outposts of the Roman Empire as a heretical form of Judaism or develop into its own faith, but without Paul's influence it would be radically different - and probably not as effectively spread among gentile communities.

With Saul as a remaining loyalist, it is possible he might become a powerful advocate for bringing the monotheism of Judaism to the gentiles. I suspect this would cause increased friction with Rome as the spread of pure monotheism would upset the "live and let live" polytheism of Rome - and the cult of Imperial divinity.
 
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Why are you guys totally ignoring the 12 apostles? :confused::rolleyes: Some of their epistles are in the Bible, and they had followers, who in turn had more followers, and they weren't all illiterate. They were all being told to spread the word. :rolleyes:
 
Why are you guys totally ignoring the 12 apostles? :confused::rolleyes: Some of their epistles are in the Bible, and they had followers, who in turn had more followers, and they weren't all illiterate. They were all being told to spread the word. :rolleyes:

Yes, but... Paul really was the primary apostle to the Gentiles - he was the one that fought hard for not requiring circumcision in converts, etc. Christianity would certainly have spread without Paul - but not nearly as far or as fast.

One can, of course, claim that God would have chosen someone else to do the same things - but we can't read His mind. In any case, from a historical point of view, 'Without Paul there would be no Christianity (as a major world religion)' is a perfectly viable statement/position. It might be wrong, but it might not be, either.
 
Why are you guys totally ignoring the 12 apostles? :confused::rolleyes: Some of their epistles are in the Bible, and they had followers, who in turn had more followers, and they weren't all illiterate. They were all being told to spread the word. :rolleyes:
Because those guys where less important for christianity then you might think. It was Paul who transfered Christianity from a obscure jewish cult to a own religion. For example it was Paul who enforced against most of the other 12 apostles that also nonjews should be missioned (Jewish mission against pagan mission). It was Paul who enforced that christians don't need genital mutilation. It was Paul who enforced that christians don't need to follow the rules of jewish eating (kosher).

Perhaps Jesus was the guru of christianity but Paul was its marketing expert. So no Paul, no Christianity.
 
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