Excerpt of Paulianity Not Christianity

by Nafata Bamaguje (Nigerian Village Square Part 1 Dec. 12 2009 and Part 2 Dec. 19, 2009)

[NOTE: This is a well-documented critique of Paul based upon his own words. He makes very cogent points about Paulianity. I have edited out [shown by ellipses...] unnecessarily pejorative and irrelevant digressions to preserve the valid points from this interesting article. This is about as harsh an argument as you will ever hear against Paul. But it is grounded on valid quotes from Paul and fair analysis. Thus, while some points are verbally harsh, it gives us strong food for thought. I do disagree with his suggestion that Paul deliberately concocted the entire vision account. Instead, I believe Paul met a blinding light, but, as Bultmann's analysis unwittingly implies, this was someone other than Jesus. The inconsistencies in Paul's accounts do not mean the vision did not occur. Rather they are explained by Paul in the last version in Acts 26 wanting the words of endorsement from Jesus in Ananias's mouth in Acts 22 to now instead come directly from Jesus to Paul. Compare Acts 9, 22 and 26.]

Part 1 of Paulianity Not Christianity

[Paul wanted us to abandon] repentance from "dead works.” [Heb. 6:1-3.] But what were the “dead works” Paul denounced ? His rants in his other epistles provide the answer – “works of law”:

“For all who rely on works of the law are cursed” – Galatians 3:10

“For no human will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” – Rom 3:20

“For we believe that a man is justified by faith even without works of law” – Romans 3:28

The “law” of course being traditional Judaic law which Jesus wholeheartedly supported:

“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away not an iota, not a dot will change from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever changes one of the least of the commandments, and teaches men so (e.g. Paul), shall be the least in the Kingdom of heaven” – Mathew 5:17-19

“It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void” – Luke 16:17

Jesus would be aghast at today’s Paulinists masquerading as Christians, who deride “old school” mosaic law as they are now under the Pauline dispensation of “grace”:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works  - Ephesians 2:8-9

Paul’s doctrine of belief and faith rather than good works brought him into conflict with Jesus’ handpicked disciples who knew Jesus personally and better understood his teachings. The apostle James in obvious response to Paul’s misleading preachments countered:

“Faith by itself, if it has no works is dead” - James 2:17

“A man is justified by works not faith alone” - James 2:24

“As body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” – James 2:26

Paul himself alluded to this doctrinal confrontation with Jesus’ handpicked disciples:

“If someone preaches another Jesus different from the one we preach…if you receive a different gospel from the one you accepted…I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superlative apostles” - 2 Corinthians 11:4-5

Note Paul’s sarcastic derision of Jesus’ apostles as “superlative”. ****

Pauline Christianity which was initially a fringe cult only became ascendant after the 70AD Roman destruction of the Jerusalem temple in response to a Jewish revolt against Roman rule. ****

Thereafter the original Judeo-Christianity was crushed and the pro-establishment Pauline Christianity (Rom 13:1-2) which was later adopted as the official religion of Rome became ascendant, with Paul supposedly authoring most of the books in the New Testament that now define Christianity.

To avoid the terminal fate that befell Judeo-Christianity which was crushed by Rome, Paul the loyal Roman citizen advised:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing (Roman) authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority (of Rome) is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” - Romans 13:1-2

Pauline Christianity is actually a paganised distortion of Judaism, as the Christ described in the New testament gospels was plagiarized from pre-Christian pagan cultures of the Middle East. Mithra, Dionysus and Osiris were all pre-Christian pagan deities [of similar types which Paul depicted as Christ]....

Since Pauline Christianity was mainly addressed to non-Jews (Acts 22:21, 26:18), it is not at all surprising that gentile pagan myths and practices found their way into the New testament and Christianity. Even the Christian worship day (Sunday) is not the Biblical Sabbath (Saturday), but the worship day for the Roman sun deity – Sol Invictus - as was decreed by Emperor Constantine.

[Our website note: on the validity of this charge, see heading "What Was Constantine's View of Christ Going Into the Nicene Council" in our article "Council of Nicea 325 AD."]

Part 2 of Paulianity Not Christianity

Why was Paul so vehemently opposed to good conduct (works) as means of salvation, and insisted that faith alone suffices, conferring righteousness even in deadly sin (Rom 8:10) ?

The answer can be found in Paul’s deranged personality. From his epistles it is evident that Paul was a morally weak troubled soul who agonized and battled in vain with some unspeakable personal demon or abominable sinful trait, which try as he may, Paul couldn’t give up:

“I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want but what I hate… For I know nothing good dwells within me…As I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want” – Romans 7:15-19

... Paul didn’t have the guts to mention in his epistles the unspeakable evil that troubled him....

Hence the heretic...formulated the warped [idea] that faith can actually transform ungodly evil into righteousness:

“To one who does not work (by the law) but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” – Rom 4:5

 

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Paul blundered further:

“If Christ is in you, even if your bodies are dead in sin, your spirits are alive in righteousness” – Rom 8:10

Seriously, why would any sinful Paulinist (sorry Christian) bother to be good, if faith in Christ is all that is required for righteousness?

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Paul concocted the inane claptrap of faith transmuting evil into righteousness as some sort of ego defence mechanism to deal with his self-loathing “sinful” guilt – “nothing good dwells in me” (Rom 7:18). ****

Paul’s ... doctrine is further laid bare by his own admission that his misleading preachments were not from God but were driven by egomania:

“What I am saying, I say not with the Lord’s authority but as a fool in boastful confidence. Since many of you boast, I too will boast” – 2 Cor 11:17-18

**** Paul on the other hand, the most pre-eminent author in the New testament not only clearly stated that he wasn’t inspired by Yahweh, but actually admitted to lying for his quasi-religious agenda:

“But through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abound, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” – Romans 3:7

From the above verse, ... Paul seemed genuinely perplexed that his lies for his bogus dogma were considered sinful. Such was the perverted morality of [Paul].

[Our website note: Paul similarly speaks in 2 Cor. 12:16, "I caught you by guile," i.e., by deceit.]

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...[T]he road-to-Damascus ...[has] inconsistencies and contradictions of the various accounts of the purported conversion in books of Acts and Galatians, as well as in Paul’s own admitted proclivity to lying in order to advance his self-glorifying quasi-religious agenda (Rom 3:7). The book of Acts alone contains 3 disparate versions of the ... road to Damascus fabrication.

Even among early Christians [thought] Paul lacked credibility, hence he desperately cajoled:

What I write is true. Before God I do not lie! - Galatians 1:20

This beggar’s belief!! Having confessed to falsehood (Rom 3:7) and admitted his false preachments aren’t from God (2 Cor 11:17), he invokes the same “God” to cover up his lies.

Other inconsistencies in the New testament narrative of Paul... are beyond the scope of this already lengthy write-up.

Suffice to surmise that Paul’s lack of tangible connection to Jesus as did the chosen 12 apostles who were Paul’s major rivals (2 Cor 11:4-5), adversely affected his credibility among early Christians. Consequently, the blaspheming charlatan concocted the road-to-Damascus canard in which he purportedly met Christ, just so as to boost his (Paul’s) flagging credibility and popularity among early Christians.

Nafata Bamaguje