by gubberningbody 20 Replies latest jw friends
After the "first century governing body" came to a decision in Acts 15 that circumsion and the Law were unnecessary burdens, what were the next two things that Paul does?
First, Paul gets in a fight with Barnabas. Second, he CIRCUMCISED Timothy because of the Jews.
By the way, that same Paul that snipped Timothy because of the Jews, condemned Peter, a "first century governing body member", for his "Jewish practice".
Yep, Paul stepped over the line more than once.
If I recall, Timothy was "snipped" because he was part Jew and so that he could join Paul inside the synagogues while Paul debated and saw the nude female mud wrestling events.
The biggest issue with Paul was that fact that he tend to NOT explain himself very much, leaving lots to the imagination.
He made seemingly contridictory claims about women and dictated letters more than he wrote and he tend to "preach in accordance witht he audience" something that can cause headcahes for those coming after the fact and trying to make sense of a religiosu movement based on letters to specific groups in rgeards to (at times) specific issues.
Paul's letters are useful as long as you don't take them as gospel.
Mad sweeney has kick the correct in the perverbial crotch !
In the same letter he wished his pro-circumcision adversaries would go all Lorena Bobbitt on themselves (Galatians 5:12). Was he being tongue-in-cheek, or was he serious?
When you think about it, (and others have at length even here) it seems that all a person who even thought Paul was trying to do the right thing could do would be to "imitate his faith". But whoops! How can you imitate the faith of people you don't know and live with? You can't. For that matter we can't even "follow Christ" because we don't even know for certain who he was, and what he taught or even if he ought be imitated.
Someone once said I was always "pulling an Abraham", but I have to when I say the only thing which seems reasonable to me is for the creator to make himself known directly and unequivocably and do a lot of explaining.
No one makes any sense and I can't even begin to explain this world in a way that seems at all moral.
Not at all! I have that passage in mind when the JWs next knock at my door
Paul was just a women hating, self righteous, two sided on the old Jewish Law, (using it when he saw fit to rule over others) controlling old man. IMHO
Leolaia:In the same letter he wished his pro-circumcision adversaries would go all Lorena Bobbitt on themselves (Galatians 5:12). Was he being tongue-in-cheek, or was he serious?
A good question, his tone was quite serious it seems!
I think the issues of circumcision was one of "entitilement", the Jews believed that it was a mark of being chosen, it set them apart, amde them God's people, Paul knew that NOT to be the case, so while one can be circumcised in terms of tradtion and the "law", one must realize how little valuew that holds in God's eyes.
In the Epistle of Banabas, the writer echos that, reminding the readers that "even the Egyptions circumcise".
Leo,
In the same letter he wished his pro-circumcision adversaries would go all Lorena Bobbitt on themselves (Galatians 5:12). Was he being tongue-in-cheek, or was he serious?
Sounds like he had a classic case of male penis envy to me, no doubt he had a very small one and while his visions and the success in getting followers may have made him feel like a dominate male, but his small penis may have left him wifeless and full of envy towards his detractors which showed up in his writings:
http://en.allexperts.com/e/p/pe/penis_envy.htm
While not the same kind of penis envy as that typically referred to in psychoanalysis, the word "penis envy" is also sometimes used to describe the envy of a male over another male's penis. Although this subconcious envy may solely be based on the misconception that a larger penis is universally more satisfying and appealing to a woman, other implications arise from the fact that a (large) penis has been seen in many cultures as a symbol of high masculinity, dominance and power. While this whole matter has probably been a part of human psychology for all time, recent developments have made the issue slightly more public in the western world.
