IS GOD THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION

Aug 12 00:51 UTC 1998

IS GOD THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION?

GALATIANS 1:20 
In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!

GALATIANS 1:15-17 Paul says when it pleased God to reveal his Son in 
him, "immediately" he conferred not with flesh and blood; but went away 
at once into Arabia.
ACTS 9:1-26 contradicts Paul's account and says immediately after the 
revelation, rather than going to Arabia and not conferring with flesh 
and blood, Paul was told he must enter Damascus, for there he would be 
told what he is to do. Not only must the Paul of Acts (Saul) confer with 
flesh and blood to find out what he is to do; but even receives the Holy 
Spirit from one of flesh and blood! According to Acts, Paul doesn't go 
to Arabia at all, but remained in Damascus until he was forced to flee 
to Jerusalem.

GALATIANS 1:15-17 Paul says in the revelation God revealed to him that 
he was chosen to preach Jesus "among" the Gentiles.
ACTS 9:20-22 contradicts this in saying that rather than going among the 
Gentiles to preach Jesus as he was told, Paul was determined to preach 
Jesus not among the Gentiles, but in the synagogues! For the Paul of 
Acts confounds the Jews of Damascus as he goes from synagogue to 
synagogue, proving in them that Jesus is the Messiah. Not once while in 
Damascus does Acts say that Paul sought to preach to those who were not 
of the synagogues - THE GENTILES!

Now if God tells one he is to preach "among" the Gentiles, should he run 
from synagogue to synagogue searching for Gentiles? Certainly not! Yet 
this is exactly what Acts has said of Paul. For Acts says it wasn't a 
revelation of God that sent Paul among the Gentiles, but he was caused 
to go among the Gentiles because his message was rejected in the 
synagogues. 

According to Acts it is long after Paul has departed Damascus, and due 
only to the opposition of the Jews, that in Corinth he angrily threatens 
to leave the synagogues and to go unto the Gentiles. Nevertheless, his 
threats are empty, for that Paul of Acts cannot resist the seductive 
call of a synagogue; and thus, he returns again and again to debate 
within them, see Acts 18:5-19. 

Even though a small number of Gentiles had converted to Judaism, Paul 
nevertheless was not confused as to whom God had told him to go among 
and to whom he was to preach too! For according to what Paul says in 
Galatians 2:7-9 the Gentile proselytes of the synagogues were under the 
Law; and thereby, had placed themselves under the authority of James, 
Peter, and John; not Paul! For Paul did not go from synagogue to 
synagogue seeking to convert them into being Gentile churches, but did 
as God had told him: he went among the Gentiles and established churches 
in their own lands!

Some have claimed the reason Acts doesn't mention anything about Paul 
going to Arabia is because he went spiritually without anyone being 
aware of it. This hocus-pocus attempt to rationalize an obvious 
contradiction between Galatians and Acts is due to the self-serving 
interest of the self-called, who profit in maintaining the myth of 
Biblical infallibility, while in fact the Bible is composed of a 
Spiritual duality and contradiction is its rule! For Acts just doesn't 
contradict Paul's account of his conversion, it contradicts every key 
event in Galatians!

In regards to inerrancy and being divinely inspired, Acts doesn't even 
keep its own record straight. There are at least three contradicting 
accounts of Paul's conversion in Acts alone. According to Acts 9:7, 
after Saul fell to the ground the men with him stood speechless hearing 
the voice, but seeing no one. Yet Acts 22:9 says those with Saul did not 
hear a voice, but saw a light. And according to Acts 26:14 the men with 
Saul were not standing speechless, but had fallen down! In Acts 9:3-6 
and 22:6-16 Saul is told he must enter Damascus, and there he would be 
told what he is to do. But according to Acts 26:14-20 Paul is told what 
he is to do before entering Damascus.

Some have attempted to uphold the alleged inerrancy of Acts by rendering 
Acts 22:9 from "did not hear the voice" to "did not understand the 
voice." This is a vain effort, for Acts has many other contradictions 
which cannot be as easily altered, at least not without making it 
painfully obvious to even the most unsuspecting Fundamentalist that Acts 
is but a flawed fabrication. All the self-called can offer in trying to 
rationalize these other flaws in Acts away is more priestly mumbo jumbo.

When comparing Paul's account of his conversion to that of Acts, it is 
more likely that Paul was alone and residing in Damascus when the 
revelation occurred; rather than as Acts alleges, as he was traveling to 
Damascus with a group of men. Paul's statement of having returned to 
Damascus from Arabia indicates that he departed for Arabia from within 
Damascus, for one cannot return to where they have not been!

The account in Acts of Paul going to Damascus to bind and bring back to 
Jerusalem those who belonged to "The Way" is utterly absurd! After all, 
did Roman authorities consider it to be a criminal offense if the Jewish 
religion was not being properly observed in Damascus, Syria? Was it the 
business of Rome to defend the synagogues by requiring those who were 
not living in Judaea to be subject to the authority of the high priest 
in Jerusalem?

The author or authors of Acts were not the friends of Paul. The 
conflicting accounts of Paul's conversion in Acts and its contradictions 
of doctrine and circumstances in Galatians betrays the authors of Acts 
as having not only used different sources for their portrayal of Paul, 
but they also had ulterior motives, as well!

It was not Paul that sought to undermine the work of others, but the 
authorities of the so-called Jerusalem church, for the Judaizers of that 
synagogue hated the liberty of Paul's gospel. It is their bogus accounts 
of Paul and their attempts to undermine Paul's gospel to which Paul is 
responding to in Galatians 1:20. For it is through those lies of the 
Judaizers that another crafty priesthood would cause them to resonate 
within their own creation: The Saul of Acts.

GALATIANS 1:18-24 Paul says three years after returning to Damascus from 
Arabia, he went to Jerusalem to visit Cephas. And after visiting for 15 
days, he simply left Jerusalem and went into the regions of Syria and 
Cilicia. 
ACTS 9:22-31 contradicts Paul's account and says that rather than just 
going on a journey, Paul was forced to escape from Damascus and flee for 
his life, for the Jews were plotting to kill him! And Paul didn't go to 
Jerusalem merely to visit Cephas, but was seeking to join the disciples 
of the Jerusalem church. And unlike Paul's account in Galatians of 
simply leaving Jerusalem on his own accord, the Paul of Acts must escape 
from Jerusalem and flee for his life. 

In Galatians, Paul says that while in Jerusalem he saw Cephas and James, 
but none of the other apostles. Unlike Paul's account, Acts says that 
because Paul's attempt to join the Jerusalem disciples was rejected, 
Barnabas had to intercede on his behalf and introduced him to "the 
apostles!" And that Paul was then allowed to join with them, to go in 
and out among them in Jerusalem, and to preach boldly in the name of 
Jesus.

Yet Acts 22:4-21 contradicts the account of Acts 9:28 and says that 
rather than going in and out among them in Jerusalem, preaching boldly 
in the name of Jesus, Paul is told to leave Jerusalem "immediately!" For 
the Lord tells Paul he will send him far away to the Gentiles because 
his testimony will not be accepted in Jerusalem, for he is known in 
every synagogue as one who persecuted them. Acts 22:4-21 is also 
contradicting Galatians 1:22, for Paul says that when the "churches in 
Judea" heard that he now defends the faith that he once tried to 
destroy, they glorified God because of him!

Remaining chapters of  "THIS IS THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE - THIS IS THE LAND 
OF EGYPT" are located at: http://www.cjnetworks.com/~quixote

THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM AND APOSTOLIC DECREE
THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE
WHO ARE THE PROPHETS OF GOD?
ABSURDITIES!
SWALLOWING CAMELS!
THE CHAINS OF BONDAGE
INSANITIES OF INSANITIES
THE LAND OF SPIRITUAL EGYPT
HOME PAGE - IS GOD THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION?
 
Do you require more evidence of the things of which I have reported? Go 
to the following sites:

THE WONDER OF IT ALL
http://members.tripod.com/~Carol_Harrington

INSPIRED HARMONY
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/charrington

FORGERY IN CHRISTIANITY
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/lindamontgomery

IS IT GOD'SWORD?
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/4115

THIS IS THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE
THIS IS THE LAND OF EGYPT
http://www.cjnetworks.com/~quixote