why not take Paul at his word?
Jeffrey J. Sargent
he didn't want to do, and didn't do the things he wanted
to do.=C2=A0 Why do people not understand that this applies
also to his writings?
Consider how in Galatians 1:8-9 he twice said that
anyone who preached a message other than what he
had already preached should be accursed (anathema).
Now that is not in the least in accordance with Jesus's
precept to "Love your enemies", or with Paul's own
teaching to "Bless those who persecute you".=C2=A0 If Paul
had followed those teachings, if he had shown the love
he wrote about, the love that he keeps saying was
shown to him, he would not have utterly cursed those
who preached another message; he would have prayed
that they, like Paul, would have a Damascus Road-type
experience to realize the error of their ways.=C2=A0 He would
not have let his own worry about his disciples and
anger at those who would mislead them mislead him
into sin, which is what happened.
James 1:20 says "The wrath of man" (exactly what
Paul was displaying) "does not produce the
righteousness of God."=C2=A0 How many anathemas
have been wrongly pronounced through the
centuries because people mistook Paul's spleen
for the Word of God!
-- Jeffrey J. Sargent, jjsa...@go.com