Robin Mauro
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- Sep 11, 2018
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Paul is not silent on the "historical Jesus" ( that term being imvented by man). It is all the same Jesus. He believed in the same Jesus the apostles did. The four gospels are about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection - Paul took it from there. James didn't repeat these so-called historical matters either, nor did Jude, and so on. What of it? You are inventing a problem that does not exist.The puzzle of Paul that I set forth above has been acknowledged and discussed by Christians since the early days. It is not an invention of the Jesus Myth movement. I just put a very simple search into Google (Paul + Jesus + silence). Here, from the first two pages of results, are FAITH-BASED sites that discuss this issue. If you or anyone else wishes to live in Perpetual Vacation Bible School, this is certainly your choice.
paul's failure to teach us about jesus
Eschaton Now: How to Explain Paul's Silence on Jesus?
Did Paul Write About Jesus as a Historical Person?
Jesus Tradition in Paul’s Letters
http://www.barriewilson.com/pdf/If-We-Only-Had-Paul.pdf
http://www.faithfutures.org/Jesus/Jesus_Paul.pdf
I have set forth the evolution of my beliefs in great detail immediately above. You obviously did not read my post. I am not answerable to you. Questioning whether I am a believer is contrary to the terms of service of this site as I understand them, and I'm going to let the Site Administrators review your post.
No, I did not. As I pointed out to you the first time you said this, what I said was that the Gospels astoundingly never mention the appearance to 500 witnesses at one time that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians. Deliberately mischaracterizing what I have stated, even after your mischaracterization has been pointed out once, is contrary to the terms of service of this site as I understand them, and I am going to let the Site Administrators review your post.
This is what I said - I believe rather clearly, as is my wont - in my first post: "On the other hand, the Resurrection appearance to more than 500, which Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians, is never mentioned in the Gospels - an extremely odd omission that I find as puzzling as Paul's omission of the historical Jesus."
In the interests of strict accuracy, I should admit that this photo is almost two months old. I now favor a propeller beanie. I'm one of them there child prodigies.
On the other hand, to NOT be the "creator and leader" of one's own religion, at least in the sense that I describe in my very lengthy post above, inevitably places one in the position of pretending to believe and/or choosing to ignore things that are contrary to one's own experiences, observations, studies, reflection and intuition. This is simply impossible for me. "Bibliolatry" is to me one of the truly great puzzles. I see no reason to start with the unalterable axiom that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God in its entirety and then try to interpret all of my experiences, observations, studies, reflection and intuition on the basis of this axiom. For me, this is nothing but trying to pound a "round Reality" into a "square Bible" and a sure path to cognitive dissonance.
You have provided what you believe to be a satisfactory explanation for the "Paul puzzle." The fact that you have 'told" me your explanation does not mean that I am obligated to accept it or that the puzzle has been solved. The puzzle continues to puzzle sincere Christians, and various explanations have been offered (as you can quickly see from the links I posted above). I started this thread because the puzzle was only recently highlighted for me (in the HISTORICAL JESUS text I cite above) and I find interesting and worthy of discussion. Ditto for the non-reference in the Gospels to the Resurrection appearance to the 500 that Paul describes; rather a screaming and virtually inexplicable omission, it seems to me. If those whose Christianity stands on such a shaky foundation that they find discussions such as this disturbing, it seems to me that it's their obligation, not mine, to avoid such discussions.
I would like for it to affect your thinking in whatever way it affects your thinking. Why would I care how it affects anyone's thinking? I simply raised it as a point of discussion. Your second question simply makes no sense to me. How you would move from anything I have said here to the suggestion that "all we need to do is have the same knowledge and attitude of Paul to be saved" is an utter mystery to me. I would assume that anyone with the same knowledge and attitude of Paul would be a pretty enthusiastic Christian and possibly even the leader of his very own mega-church. What does this have to do with the simple and undeniable fact that Paul's epistles are virtually silent regarding the historical Jesus.
I have never met a believer who would hesitate, even for a second to say they believe in Jesus, the lamb of God, the only savior of the world.
If you have read the entire Bible, you would understand there are many ommissions; a lot is packed into a tiny space, and what God considered important for us to know is in there.
The fact that Paul mentions 500 witnesses means very little. To me, it seems apparent that there were many witnesses, and needs not be spelled out.
I was in a Bible study once where the Pastor was kind of trying to let the pharisees ( sp?) off the hook (not the first pastor I've heard do this), saying they were learned, faithful, etc. about those who murdered our Lord Christ ( not that we all didn't. We all did because of our sin). I pointed out the scripture about others being raised when Christ was, to add to the vast evidence that they were without excuse; they not only knew Jesus was risen, they knew others were risen too.
No one in the Bible study had ever read these verses.
God leaves things ls out to challenge our faith, to prompt us to study, to entice us to search the scriptures; but most importantly, to read the Word for ourselves, so we don't miss these hidden jewels.
What you consider to be astounding ( the 500 witnesses Paul mentions) I find to be obvious, and barely worth noting.
And many things that we find difficult, are, in fact, very simply answered. Most difficulties arise from our own misinterpretations, such as ' no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven.' Many believe this proves no one is in heaven, yet. But what if our souls are eternal? What if many came to earth in bodily form from heaven? There are many things we do not know, that when we meet the Father face to face will be answered in less than a heart beat. If this is true, it would also explain Jesus calling some people sons of their father the devil. Maybe some people aren't really people, but demons in human form. We cannnot know for sure from here. We are not meant to know, yet, but one day we will. For now, we are called to believe, and to love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. Some scriptures say he will reconcile the whole world to himself. Does that include demons? I don't know. Can demons change, and be saved? I don't know. All I know for sure, for now, is Christ crucified, and Christ risen, for our sins. And I know, that is what matters. Paul knew that too, as well as all of the apostles.
I've noticed on this site there are many trolls; those who do not believe (even though they claimed they do in order to take part in these discussions), but are actually on here, to try to stir up trouble and harm people's faith. And when I thought about it, it became obvious; it made perfect sense. Of course there are. Would Satan leave a Christian Forum alone? Of course he wouldn't.
I am not saying that about you. I do not know you.
But I am also not surprised, in the least, that you refuse to say that Jesus is Lord, the lamb of God, the one and only savior of the world.
And, as for your threat, if I were kicked off this site, it would be nothing short of a blessing. "Let us go outside the camp..." because to tell you the truth, all the unbelievers on here, and those who just want to argue, stress me out, so I only come on this site in spurts anyway. Life is short, and the joy of the Lord is my strength. It is a beautiful California day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the whole earth speaks of God's glory. There are much better places to be than here.
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