Freethought & Rationalism Archive

james-2-24 · 05-04-2006, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomboyMom

I think what the OP is saying and it makes sense to me, is that if you wanted to teach a lot of people about Jesus, you would start with explaining how he was conceived, because that's the beginning of how we know he is divine. So it's odd that he left out this important piece of information, if it existed at the time.

I still disagree. For Paul, Jesus' birth didn't demonstrate his divinity, his resurrection did -> Romans 1:4 "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead".

Steven Carr · 05-05-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james-2-24

I still disagree. For Paul, Jesus' birth didn't demonstrate his divinity, his resurrection did -> Romans 1:4 "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead".

Oh, so none of Jesus 'I am' statements convinced Paul?

james-2-24 · 05-05-2006, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Carr

Oh, so none of Jesus 'I am' statements convinced Paul?

That's right, Jesus didn't 'say' that for another 50 years.

Soul Invictus · 05-13-2006, 01:45 PM

Unless someone can point it out to me, I don't think Paul ever met Jesus. His "vision" story is contradictory and there isn't any discussion that I'm aware of that has the two men ever together. This would seem to explain why his theology differed from Jesus's.

fromdownunder · 05-13-2006, 05:05 PM

I think there is a pretty strong case put by Paul himself that he never met the living Jesus:

1 Corinthians 15

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

(emphasis mine)

It also strikes me that appearing before 500 witnesses at the same time would have been a pretty spectacular event, and yet this is not mentioned anywhere in the Gospels.

Norm

RED DAVE · 05-13-2006, 05:42 PM

From n8sense :

Quote:

I am curious about why, if Paul's mission was to bring the gospel to the gentiles, would he not begin at the begining of the Jesus story? Why does he not mention the story of the virgin birth?

Two reasons:

1) It never happened.
2) He saw what happened when they tried to get Jews to believe it. The ticket sales were not encouraging.

RED DAVE

Agemegos · 05-14-2006, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n8sense

I am curious about why, if Paul's mission was to bring the gospel to the gentiles, would he not begin at the begining of the Jesus story?

Perhaps he did. The epistles are not a record of what Paul preached to his prospects. They aren't addressed to the the unconverted, and probably weren't written to be distributed as a pamphlet. For all we know, his speeches and witnessings to crowds and seminars might have been entirely synoptic.

It is a lot more interesting to come across a place in one of Paul's letters where some event purported by a gospel would have been directly relevant to the purpose of that particular epistle, and to wonder why Paul didn't mention it.

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05-13-2006, 01:45 PM	#14
Soul Invictus Contributor Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 15,576	Unless someone can point it out to me, I don't think Paul ever met Jesus. His "vision" story is contradictory and there isn't any discussion that I'm aware of that has the two men ever together. This would seem to explain why his theology differed from Jesus's.

05-13-2006, 05:05 PM	#15
fromdownunder Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Lara, Victoria, Australia Posts: 2,780	I think there is a pretty strong case put by Paul himself that he never met the living Jesus: 1 Corinthians 15 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (emphasis mine) It also strikes me that appearing before 500 witnesses at the same time would have been a pretty spectacular event, and yet this is not mentioned anywhere in the Gospels. Norm

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