Apostle Paul & Muslims, again.

[paarsurrey]

Hi

Acts 22 - Second Narration of Paul’s Vision by Luke

1"Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense." 2When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic (Urdu Bible mentions that it was in Hebrew), they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: 3"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

1. Light- (This is in First person by Paul, though Acts has been written by Luke, strange?)6"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. Paul- 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
   8" ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. "
2. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.
3. The men-9My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. (They did not become speechless due to the shock of the voice, as Paul got blind, none of them got blind, and they were in their senses.)
4. (We gather from the previous sentence, they heard the sound/voice of the person talking but could not understand the sound or see the person talking, may be language was strange to them.
5. Nevertheless, they did not see the person talking)
   10"‘what shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
   "‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’
6. 11My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. (Why not others also got blinded?) (No mention of Paul remaining blind for three days.)
7. 12"A man named Ananias came to see me. (It is not mentioned whether Ananias told Luke of the dream/vision he saw in first person or it was hearsay?)(It is also not mentioned that Ananias saw any dream/vision, instructions to go to Paul and cure him and to tell him of his mission, though other detail is mentioned.) He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.
8. Ananias -13He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. (There is no mention of Paul taking food and regaining his strength here.)
9. 14"Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

Thanks

Continued in next pots

 

[paarsurrey]

Hi

Acts 26 - Third Narration of Paul’s Vision by Luke, before Agrippa

1. 12"On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
2. Paul-14We all fell to the ground,
3. and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic (In Urdu Bible, it is Hebrew in which the conversation took place),
4. The men-(there is no mention of what happened to his companions, whether they shared the experience or not, they heard the voice/sound or not.)
5. (no mention of seeing or not seeing the person talking by the men. )
6. (No mention of Paul’s blindness or Ananias curing his blindness or seeing a dream/vision of curing Paul and telling about his status and mission and also remaining blind for three days) ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
   15"Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
   " ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
7. (Now no mention of Ananias conveying the message to Paul.)
8. (Now no mention of Ananias curing blindness of Paul.)
9. 16’now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. 21That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23that the Christ** would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles." 24At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”

(What was the source of Luke of these information/details, whether Paul told to Luke in person, or JesusofVision told him or it was a hearsay which Luke narrated? Why could not Paul himself write it, as Jesus could not write any Gospel himself?

Why did not Jesus before the incident of Crucifixion make any Will for Paul’s succession and authority or Jesus did not prophecy about status of Paul or his being appointed as an Apostle or Jesus’ successor or after the incident; or it was a later thought or a mistake on his part which Paul himself tries to rectify unauthorized**.)

Thanks

Continued in next post

 

[paarsurrey]

Hi

Now I take the arguments of one member here:

If one opts to explain from the original language, then instead of Greek, logically the explanation should be from Aramaic or Hebrew, more, so because the Vision Language of JesusofVision has been mentioned in the text as Aramaic or Hebrew. Greek has nothing to do with the JesusofVision or previously with JesusinFlesh.

“Acts is saying “this is how it happened” three separate times.” Do you mean that there were three separate visions instead of one?

“The author does this once, and the other two times he relays Paul speaking about it in two different contexts”
(If you mean Luke the author once mentioned full detail and in other two times he shortened it, which is not the case, in the later cases, additional information has been provided to build authority for Paul, progressively.)

“It is indeed wise to fit them all together.”
(It cannot be wise rather it would be foolish, if an accused gives three different statements at three different occasions having inner contradictions, do they amalgamate all the three to let him go free; this is just to appease the blindbelievers.)

As for the witnesses; where are the witnesses mentioned? Luke was not in Paul’s company when he pretended to have seen the vision, so he cannot stand as witness. No names of the companions have been mentioned in any of the three accounts, perhaps they were strangers as nobody knows their names, nor there is any account given by them about the vision.

It seems a made up story on behest of Paul, to legitimize his authority. When his purpose was served, he turned his face away from Luke and Ananias; one cannot but resort to think perhaps they were not involved in it; only their names had been used for credence. So there are no witnesses worth the name.

What Paul mentioned before Agrippa cannot be termed as synopsis; on other matters Paul speaks on length, but on the madeupVision, the only pillar on which the Paulism or PaulDoctrine (not religion of JesusYeshua) stands, Paul is said to shorten his account. Why?

Another point which must be noted by the unbiased believers is that it is not in the history of ProphetsMessengers of the Jews that whenever GodAllahYHWH talked to them in a vision or Revealed His Word on them, they were ever directly because of it got afflicted with any disease or affliction; rather they were blessed by Him; Paul became blind and his body also became incapacitated as told by him, so much so that his companions had to lead him to the city. This also proves that he was not blessed by this vision so naturally it was not a vision of righteousness; its source was evil that left evil signs on his eyes and body while his companions were not harmed at all.

It can also be interpreted spiritually this way that the MadeUpVision blinded Paul physically as well as spiritually, at least Paul was blinded physically and more so spiritually as from that time on he had to abandon so many teachings of Jesus and the ProphetsMessengers of GodAllahYHWH, he deviated from the right path so spiritually and religiously his RighteyeofFaith remained permanently blind (if it all his physical affliction got somewhat regained), which has become extant to those who follow Paul’s path blindly, and leave the Enlightened path of YeshuaJesusIssa.

Thanks

 

[De_Maria]

Hi

Possibly the only word which comes directly from you.

Acts 9 - First Narration of Paul’s Vision by Luke

“As set forth in Acts, this is written by a third party, Luke. Did he receive the story from his friend, Paul, or was he a witness?

He received it from Paul.

Paul’s own words bring us a sense of his experience and contradiction”.

No contradiction at all.

(It is in third person and not in first person as in second and third narration)

Since we know that St. Luke was St. Paul’s companion, it is possible that St. Paul frequently dictated his story to St. Luke. It is true that St. Luke frequently goes from 1st to 2nd to 3rd person thoughout the Acts of the Apostles. But we know that he compiled the narrative.

1. Light- suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him
   Paul- 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
2. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

1. The men-." 7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; (They don’t mention that they saw any light)

1. they heard the sound

1. but did not see anyone.

1. Paul blinded: 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

1. Ananias (It is not mentioned whether Ananias told Luke of the dream in first person or it was just hearsay?): 10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
   “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13"Lord," Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

1. 17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again.
2. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.(There is no mention of any Will from JesusofVision ,Paul’s status and mission to the Gentiles here as is mentioned in Chapter-22)

No problem. There is absolutely no contradiction in any of that.

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[De_Maria]

Hi

Acts 22 - Second Narration of Paul’s Vision by Luke

1"Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense." 2When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic (Urdu Bible mentions that it was in Hebrew), they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: 3"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

1. Light- (This is in First person by Paul, though Acts has been written by Luke, strange?)

Not at all. There are many explanations. St. Paul may have dictated the story, St. Luke may have decided to write it in the 1st person for effect. Or St. Luke may have been concentrating so much that he fell into 1st person without thinking about it. In fact, I enjoy writing and frequently I narrate stories as though they happened to me. So there is no strangeness here at all.

6"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. Paul- 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8" ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. "

1. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.
2. The men-9My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. (They did not become speechless

Where does it say that? The first narration says they became speechless and this one omits that detail but does not contradict it.

due to the shock of the voice, as Paul got blind, none of them got blind, and they were in their senses.)
Says who? I don’t see it in the text? Where are you getting this?

4… (We gather from the previous sentence, they heard the sound/voice of the person talking but could not understand the sound

or see the person talking, may be language was strange to them.

Or perhaps they were dazed, or perhaps they were confused, or perhaps they were scared to death. I’ve been in situations where there was so much excitement I couldn’t understand what people were saying to me although they were right in front of me. They had to shake me to bring me back to earth. So, no contradiction and easily understandable.
CONT’D

 

[De_Maria]

CONT’D

1. Nevertheless, they did not see the person talking)

Correct, still no contradiction.

10"‘what shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
"‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

1. 11My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. (Why not others also got blinded

Because it was God’s will that St. Paul be blind so that he would understand the meaning of this proverb:

John 9:39
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
John 9:41
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

No mention of Paul remaining blind for three days.)

Exactly. No mention. That is not a contradiction. Try a simple exercise. Tell someone about an important day in your life, like your wedding or your first job or something. Then tell someone else. See if you can do it without leaving out certain details in one and certain detail out in the other.

Or just try to write about them on two separate days, then compare the writing. See if you remembered all the details.

1. 12"A man named Ananias came to see me. (It is not mentioned whether Ananias told Luke of the dream/vision he saw in first person or it was hearsay?)(It is also not mentioned that Ananias saw any dream/vision, instructions to go to Paul and cure him and to tell him of his mission, though other detail is mentioned.)

Again, “not mentioning” a detail is not a contradiction.

He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.

1. Ananias -13He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. (There is no mention of Paul taking food and regaining his strength here.)

No mention is not a contradiction.

1. 14"Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

No contradictions.

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[De_Maria]

Hi

Acts 26 - Third Narration of Paul’s Vision by Luke, before Agrippa

1. 12"On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
2. Paul-14We all fell to the ground,
3. and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic (In Urdu Bible, it is Hebrew in which the conversation took place),
4. The men-(there is no mention of what happened to his companions, whether they shared the experience or not, they heard the voice/sound or not.)

Not a contradiction.

1. (no mention of seeing or not seeing the person talking by the men. )

Not a contradiction.

1. (No mention of Paul’s blindness or Ananias curing his blindness or seeing a dream/vision of curing Paul and telling about his status and mission and also remaining blind for three days)

Not a contradiction.

‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15"Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
" ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

1. (Now no mention of Ananias conveying the message to Paul.)

1. (Now no mention of Ananias curing blindness of Paul.)

Still no contradictions.

1. 16’now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. 21That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23that the Christ** would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles." 24At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”

(What was the source of Luke of these information/details,**

Probably St. Paul informed St. Luke. Although much of this may have been first hand witnessed by St. Luke since he was St. Paul’s companion.
CONT’D

 

[De_Maria]

whether Paul told to Luke in person, or JesusofVision told him or it was a hearsay which Luke narrated?

St. Luke has never mentioned that he received any visions. Many consider that the book of Acts is simply a continuation of the Gospel according to St. Luke. And St. Luke’s Gospel says that he gathered the information from amongst those who saw and knew:

Luke 1

1Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
** 2Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;**
3It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

Why could not Paul himself write it, as Jesus could not write any Gospel himself?

St. Paul wrote more than any other Apostle. There is no reason for him also to write this.

Why did not Jesus before the incident of Crucifixion make any Will for Paul’s succession

**

Why should he? St. Paul didn’t succeed Jesus. In fact, no one succeeded Jesus. Jesus appointed St. Peter as His Vicar.

**

and authority or Jesus did not prophecy about status of Paul

**

So? Jesus prophesied many things which men neither believed nor understood and left many things for men to discover on their own.

or his being appointed as an Apostle

**He informed the Church when it happened. Ananias reports that Jesus told Him about Paul in a dream. That is all that was necessary.

or Jesus’ successor

Again, St. Paul is not Jesus successor. He is a member of the Body of Christ as we all are. Christ is still with us.

or after the incident; or it was a later thought or a mistake on his part which Paul himself tries to rectify unauthorized

.)

**What in the world are you talking about? What mistake? St. Paul was apponted by Jesus as an Apostle to the Gentiles:
**2 Timothy 1

**10But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 11Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. **

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[dolphinlove]

De Maria,
Your a true Christian. Jesus will be so please with your efforts standing up for the truth.
God Bless

 

[De_Maria]

Hi

Now I take the arguments of one member here:

If one opts to explain from the original language, then instead of Greek, logically the explanation should be from Aramaic or Hebrew, more, so because the Vision Language of JesusofVision has been mentioned in the text as Aramaic or Hebrew. Greek has nothing to do with the JesusofVision or previously with JesusinFlesh.

“Acts is saying “this is how it happened” three separate times.” Do you mean that there were three separate visions instead of one?

No. Obviously the person you referenced is telling you that the original narration took place in either Hebrew or Aramaic. How you jumped to the idea that he is suggesting that St. Paul’s conversion experience occured three times is beyond me.

“The author does this once, and the other two times he relays Paul speaking about it in two different contexts”
(If you mean Luke the author once mentioned full detail and in other two times he shortened it, which is not the case, in the later cases, additional information has been provided to build authority for Paul, progressively.)

No, what he means is that the separate accounts each mention separate details. None of the accounts contradict but put together they add to the information of each one individually.

“It is indeed wise to fit them all together.”
(It cannot be wise rather it would be foolish, if an accused gives three different statements at three different occasions having inner contradictions,

The key words are “having inner contradictions”. But these accounts have no contradictions.

do they amalgamate all the three to let him go free; this is just to appease the blindbelievers.)

The only blind believers on this board have been proven to be the blind believers in Mohammed.

As for the witnesses; where are the witnesses mentioned? Luke was not in Paul’s company when he pretended to have seen the vision, so he cannot stand as witness. No names of the companions have been mentioned in any of the three accounts, perhaps they were strangers as nobody knows their names, nor there is any account given by them about the vision.

Ahh, yes. But St. Paul stands in contrast to Mohammed in that St. Paul’s miracles were observed by the entire Church. St. Paul brought people back to life:

Acts 20:9
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.10And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

Simply touching would heal the sick:
Acts 28:8
And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

Mohammed is no comparison to St. Paul or any of the Apostles:

Acts 5 12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

It seems a made up story on behest of Paul, to legitimize his authority. When his purpose was served, he turned his face away from Luke and Ananias;

In what way?

Colossians 4:14
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

St. Paul loved all members of the Church of Jesus Christ:

Philemon 1:9
Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

one cannot but resort to think perhaps they were not involved in it; only their names had been used for credence. So there are no witnesses worth the name.

No, I think the problem is clearly mentioned in the Bible:
2 Peter 3:16
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
CONT’D

 

[De_Maria]

CONT’D

What Paul mentioned before Agrippa cannot be termed as synopsis;

Yes, it can. St. Paul summarized his conversion because he was emphasizing other matters.

on other matters Paul speaks on length, but on the madeupVision,

You are wrong. The vision was true.

the only pillar on which the Paulism or PaulDoctrine (not religion of JesusYeshua) stands, Paul is said to shorten his account. Why?

I have no idea what you mean by “the only pillar”. St. Paul teaches Christianity. The only pillar that we have is Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:22
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

And Him crucified which is a stumbling block to unbelievers:

1 Corinthians 1:23
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Another point which must be noted by the unbiased believers is that it is not in the history of ProphetsMessengers of the Jews that whenever GodAllahYHWH talked to them in a vision or Revealed His Word on them, they were ever directly because of it got afflicted with any disease or affliction; rather they were blessed by Him;

Genesis 32:24
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
** 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.**

Paul became blind and his body also became incapacitated as told by him, so much so that his companions had to lead him to the city. This also proves that he was not blessed by this vision so naturally it was not a vision of righteousness; its source was evil that left evil signs on his eyes and body while his companions were not harmed all. It can also be interpreted spiritually this way that the MadeUpVision blinded Paul physically as well as spiritually, at least Paul was blinded physically and more so spiritually as from that time on he had to abandon so many teachings of Jesus and the ProphetsMessengers of GodAllahYHWH, he deviated from the right path so spiritually and religiously his RighteyeofFaith remained permanently blind (if it all his physical affliction got somewhat regained), which has become extant to those who follow Paul’s path blindly, and leave the Enlightened path of YeshuaJesusIssa

If you understood Scripture, you would understand the message that God was giving St. Paul in making him blind so that he could see.

Isaiah 5:15
And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[inJESUS]

Under which dictionary do Muslims find that more/less details in differing contexts are a contradiction is beyond me.

In Acts 22 Luke tells us that Paul was speaking to Jews in Jerusalem. These people knew who Paul was and what he was preaching and they had him arrested and incarcerated in the Roman Army barracks in Jerusalem. In this passage, Paul is speaking to the Jews from the steps of the barracks and begins by giving his credentials as a Jew, and then he gives a detailed account of his meeting with Jesus and his conversion.

In Acts 26 Luke tells us about a speech given by Paul. At this point in history, Paul has been imprisoned for approximately two years after his arrest in Jerusalem and his speech from the Roman Army barrack’s steps, mentioned in Acts 22. This speech was given to the Roman Governor Festus and King Herod Agrippa. Both of these men were already very familiar with the facts of this case and they did not need, and most likely did not want, a detailed explanation of Paul’s case. They only needed, and most likely wanted, a brief summary of the facts. Paul gives them a brief summary. Paul briefly reminds them of his Jewish credentials by saying “I lived as a Pharisee” and is completely aware that King Agrippa knows all about the facts of the case (verses 25-27).

Jesus told Paul his duties in Damascus according to both Acts 9 and 22. However in Acts 26 the context is very different than in the previous two passages. In Acts 26, Paul is not concerned with the chronological order of the events, or where these events occurred, because he is talking to people who have already heard his story many times. If Paul had actually contradicted his testimony, his enemies most definitely would have pointed it out.