Was the Apostle Paul a former terrorist?

[KeptByTheWord]

Consider this:

Acts: 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

If this had happened in our local community today, would Saul be labeled a terrorist?

A thought to ponder.

[shazeep]

amen. Funny how God uses the last people one might expect to further the kingdom. Christ chose Judas, for a reason, for example. Saul is just another in a long line of choices that make little sense to us, possibly starting with the first Saul.

[Monterrey]

I believe that Paul was a part of the temple security, those devout Jews that helped keep the temple safe.

He obviously was a high up in the temple hierarchy because of the authority given him was given to him for a reason. He had earned it, he had made his bones.

Paul was an extremist, even by the most conservative of estimation.

Paul most likely had had some dealing with Jesus for two reasons.

1. Jesus asked him on the road to Damascus if it was getting hard for him to kick against the pricks. This speaks of a continuous dealing with from God.

2. Paul quotes Jesus in ACTS 20 35. The problem is that this is recorded by no other gospel writer. Paul possibly heard this from Jesus with his own ears while following Jesus with some of the other pharisees.

[Esaias]

One man's terrorist is another man's civil servant.

[shazeep]

yup

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Monterrey

I believe that Paul was a part of the temple security, those devout Jews that helped keep the temple safe.

He obviously was a high up in the temple hierarchy because of the authority given him was given to him for a reason. He had earned it, he had made his bones.

Paul was an extremist, even by the most conservative of estimation.

Paul most likely had had some dealing with Jesus for two reasons.

1. Jesus asked him on the road to Damascus if it was getting hard for him to kick against the pricks. This speaks of a continuous dealing with from God.

2. Paul quotes Jesus in ACTS 20 35. The problem is that this is recorded by no other gospel writer. Paul possibly heard this from Jesus with his own ears while following Jesus with some of the other pharisees.

So you think Saul was acting on the orders of the higher temple authority to do what he was doing, and considered it part of his job?

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Esaias

One man's terrorist is another man's civil servant.

True. Paul certainly terrorized the church, which was why Ananias was afraid to let him come to his house, until the Lord changed his mind.

I think that this question prompts a bigger discussion, in that we must be led by the Spirit in all that we do, and how to be sensitive to what the Lord might be trying to do in the midst of an evil and dangerous situation.

Consider this scenario today. An armed and dangerous terrorist is in your town pulling people who are Christians out of their homes, and wreaking havoc wherever he goes. If he came to your door, what would you do? Invite him in for coffee and prayer? Or meet him weapon to weapon?

[KeptByTheWord]

Or flee?

Fleeing was what Christians chose in that scenario, and that was how the gospel was spread.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

True. Paul certainly terrorized the church, which was why Ananias was afraid to let him come to his house, until the Lord changed his mind.

I think that this question prompts a bigger discussion, in that we must be led by the Spirit in all that we do, and how to be sensitive to what the Lord might be trying to do in the midst of an evil and dangerous situation.

Consider this scenario today. An armed and dangerous terrorist is in your town pulling people who are Christians out of their homes, and wreaking havoc wherever he goes. If he came to your door, what would you do? Invite him in for coffee and prayer? Or meet him weapon to weapon?

Saul was an authorized agent of the state, of the Temple in fact. A lone madman is a different story, I think.

A lone nut going around killing people wouldn't last long in my neighborhood regardless of what I chose to do.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Saul was an authorized agent of the state, of the Temple in fact. A lone madman is a different story, I think.

A lone nut going around killing people wouldn't last long in my neighborhood regardless of what I chose to do.

That's true. Saul did have the backing of the Pharisees for doing this. That is most likely why people chose to flee instead of fighting back.

A lone madman wouldn't last long in our neck of the woods either...

But generally you see these kind of people showing up at places where guns aren't carried, so the likelihood of them coming to a neighborhood such as ours or yours is not too high.