Originally posted by twhitehead
I do not know the circumstances surrounding Pauls death. Can you enlighten me. Who did he lay his life down for?

I believe that a genuine believer in the afterlife is not in fact making as big a sacrifice as an atheist would be.

If you read my earlier post, you would see how he died. Nonetheless, I think it has to do more with how you live your life for the ones you love to be honest. As for Paul, he went around preaching "the good news" and continued to do so even at the cost of his own life.

Of course, you may not agree with his theology, however, his theology was to show love for your fellow man. In addition, he did so in a servant like attitude much like Christ or Ghandi.

Originally posted by twhitehead
My sincere apologies.
So, do you consider the Gospel of Thomas to be part of your Bible? What about the writings attributed to Paul? Is your answer based on your own judgment of the validity of the documents or a decision made 1700 years before you were born? And obviously the same questions apply to John and Luke.
Do people hold onto the current set fo ...[text shortened]... theological reasons or because of tradition (ie they were told that 'that is the way it is'😉?

No, but I consider it to be useful and worthy of study. And I don't believe it to be some heretical, demonic work as do some Christians.

I doubt Paul wrote everything that is attributed to him, and the same can be said of almost any author from antiquity. My answer is based on reading books by people who know far more about the subject than I, common sense, and I suppose my own judgement comes into play as well, somewhere in that mix.
🙂

You know that some people hold tightly to their views based on tradition, and some believe devoutly even when confronted with facts antithetical to their position. That doesn't bother me--if they are comforted in this way, I am pleased. I do respect Kepler a great deal for having to come to grips with where his faith disagreed with his observations, at a time when scientific thought wasn't exactly embraced by the church. Still, I am not a "natural law" person--I do believe in the supernatural nature of God, the miracles of Jesus, the trinity, etc., that mainline Protestant faiths teach (at least the ones I have been invilved with). And, as much as I believe I would have not enjoyed working for Paul, and I disagree with some of his writings, I still find the passages attributed to him are indeed "useful and worthy of study", and I believe he was a man of true Christian faith.

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
No, but I consider it to be useful and worthy of study. And I don't believe it to be some heretical, demonic work as do some Christians.

I doubt Paul wrote everything that is attributed to him, and the same can be said of almost any author from antiquity. My answer is based on reading books by people who know far more about the subject than I, common indeed "useful and worthy of study", and I believe he was a man of true Christian faith.

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And, as much as I believe I would have not enjoyed working for Paul, and I disagree with some of his writings, I still find the passages attributed to him are indeed "useful and worthy of study", and I believe he was a man of true Christian faith.
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I don't see anyone in the New Testament "working for Paul". What makes you think he was a boss or an employer?

I see many (though not enough) men and women coordinating with him cooperatively. I see people working with him because they shared his vision of a resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus.

He didn't stop Demas from leaving him because he loved the present age more (2 Tim. 4:10). He sighed that "all Asia" turned against him including Phygelus and Hermogenes(2 Tim. 1:15). He mentioned that at his trial only Luke stood with him. And he let co-workers come and go as they pleased. He asked Apollos to go to a city but Apollos found the timing inconvenient. He gave lattitude and freedom to his fellow ministers. He was not coercive and usurped no one's human will.

Of course to those who were equal in ethusiasm for the labors, he had the liberty to send and call for them, like Titus and Timothy. But this was a harmonious coordination.

Perhaps your concept of working for Paul as an employee to employer relationship just reveals that you don't share Paul excitement over the truth of the Gospel and over the resurrection of Jesus.