Paul, Father of Christmas (and the Crusades)
Paul (AKA Apostle Paul) was a First-Century evangelist similar to a Pat Robertson or Benny Hinn of today's religious world. He had a lot more work to do than them, though. He was an ambitious and creative man of great energy.
He was the inventor and entrepreneur who took Christianity all the way from a concept to being a lucrative cash producer with rubes from most of the known world happily handing over their cash to Paul based on his promise of the imminent return of their King Jesus (who never showed up).
The first of the Christian widow-robbers, he ended (according to the Bible) still preaching his "Gospel" and living quite well in Rome in his own house and may have done fund-raising travels after that and made a lot more money, but the written story of him ends in Rome.
He was a genius, inventing both the "Christ" story and the amazing concept of "Grace."
These two absolutely brilliant ideas......when combined.....allowed you to sin at will and still get to heaven and be the equal of any righteous man.
Christ plus Grace: together, the master key to the smashing success of his new religion.
Paul had many followers (many were quite sincere, having been totally duped by him) and they continued his work and wrote "Gospels" that included a made-up "Christ" story that just got better and better as the years went by (the fact that Mel Gibson could use it to make make hundreds of millions of dollars in the 21st century is a tribute to Paul).
The written stories about Jesus were constantly revised to be in agreement with each other (well, roughly in agreement, nobody really cared about perfect accuracy) and that went on, not just for the rest of the First Century, but for several centuries after that (revisions that included altering and updating and even creating Paul's own letters).
Most interesting is that the story of the BIRTH of Jesus was artfully embellished, and more and more detail was invented--even a "virgin birth" claim (which appealed to the Greeks and Romans who loved such myth--and, astoundingly enough, STILL inspires a sense of awe and wonder in the 21st Century rubes that continue to celebrate the myth at Christmas time).
But Paul was the start of it all--liar, false apostle, widow-robber--father of the modern hate and bigotry infested perversion that is called Christianity.
Which, of course, also makes him the father of Christmas--and the Crusades.
He was the inventor and entrepreneur who took Christianity all the way from a concept to being a lucrative cash producer with rubes from most of the known world happily handing over their cash to Paul based on his promise of the imminent return of their King Jesus (who never showed up).
The first of the Christian widow-robbers, he ended (according to the Bible) still preaching his "Gospel" and living quite well in Rome in his own house and may have done fund-raising travels after that and made a lot more money, but the written story of him ends in Rome.
He was a genius, inventing both the "Christ" story and the amazing concept of "Grace."
These two absolutely brilliant ideas......when combined.....allowed you to sin at will and still get to heaven and be the equal of any righteous man.
Christ plus Grace: together, the master key to the smashing success of his new religion.
Paul had many followers (many were quite sincere, having been totally duped by him) and they continued his work and wrote "Gospels" that included a made-up "Christ" story that just got better and better as the years went by (the fact that Mel Gibson could use it to make make hundreds of millions of dollars in the 21st century is a tribute to Paul).
The written stories about Jesus were constantly revised to be in agreement with each other (well, roughly in agreement, nobody really cared about perfect accuracy) and that went on, not just for the rest of the First Century, but for several centuries after that (revisions that included altering and updating and even creating Paul's own letters).
Most interesting is that the story of the BIRTH of Jesus was artfully embellished, and more and more detail was invented--even a "virgin birth" claim (which appealed to the Greeks and Romans who loved such myth--and, astoundingly enough, STILL inspires a sense of awe and wonder in the 21st Century rubes that continue to celebrate the myth at Christmas time).
But Paul was the start of it all--liar, false apostle, widow-robber--father of the modern hate and bigotry infested perversion that is called Christianity.
Which, of course, also makes him the father of Christmas--and the Crusades.
posted by Wadena | 8:19 AM
|
5 Comments
