Paul: How He Invented The Current Christian Faith

[ronniv93]

Hi Radiyah,


Thank you for clarifying what he/she meant by "asking forgiveness."


It is a reasonable request to ask someone to furnish proof of what they state or claim, so let me begin. The article is rather lengthy, so I'll have to conduct this in parts or sections.


===================

Now, three versions of this incident appear in this section of the Bible [Acts], not one of them is identical with the other. So let's review them & note the differences:

I had problems with earlier statements made, but felt that this part and going forward were more significant, so let me start here.

a) In Acts 9 "The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. They led him by the hand to Damascus. For 3 days he was blind & did not eat or drink anything."
b ) In Acts 22: 9 "…my companions indeed saw the light & were afraid, but they did not hear the voice.."


c) In Acts 26: 13 " … along the road I saw a light from Heaven stronger than the sun, shining around me & those who journeyed with me. We all had fallen to the ground when I heard a voice speaking to me in Hebrew…"


So, in version (a) the companions heard the sound but did not see the light & Saul was blinded. In version ( b ) they saw the light but did not hear the voice. In version © all of them fell to the ground (not just Saul as in a). How can the same crucial event be narrated by the same man (Paul) in the same chapter (only few pages apart) of the same book (the Bible) & be that different? There is no plausible explanation other than being a fabrication or that the man is feeble-minded.

<b>Statement (a):</b>


The author claims that the “companions” heard the sound but did not see the light. Yet, does anyone see the word <b>LIGHT</b> in passage (a)? No. It says that they “did not see anyone”; it says nothing at all about whether they saw the light or didn’t see the light. So, this is the first place where I see a mistake.


<b>Statement ( b ):</b>


There is no contradiction if you look at both passages together and understand the original Greek. It appears the writer is quoting from the KJV which is a good translation, probably not the best. But even if we look at the KJV, you have to do a word study on that word “hear” in Acts 22:9. When you do that, you see that the word has various meanings. Other translations translate this passage a bit more accurately. It actually means that the companions did not “perceive” or “understand” what they heard.


So, they all HEARD a sound but could not UNDERSTAND what was being said.


<b>Statement ( c) :</b>


Passage (a) {Acts 9} does not say that others DIDN’T fall to the ground. It merely focuses on Paul’s falling to the ground. It does not negate what is said in Acts 26:13.


Thus, the author’s question:

How can the same crucial event be narrated by the same man (Paul) in the same chapter (only few pages apart) of the same book (the Bible) & be that different?

Becomes unnecessary and is in fact based upon a false premise.


Also, when the author says:

There is no plausible explanation other than being a fabrication or that the man is feeble-minded.

He is also incorrect, because he has not considered that maybe there were just certain things that he didn’t know or understand about the text and the original Greek language. So, both comments about the author of the book of Acts either being a liar or feeble-minded comes off as a rather ugly thing to say, considering that he didn’t do the necessary research to understand.