Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Apostle Paul

     Paul (previous name 'Saul') the Apostle was born circa 5AD and died in approximately 67AD. The number three is associated with Paul. St. Paul is the patron Saint of Gentiles, Christians and Theologians. Feast days for St. Paul are January 25th (Conversion of Paul), June 29 (Feast of St. Peter and Paul and November 18 (Feast of the dedication of basilicas of St. Peter and Paul. Paul wrote several books of the New Testament including Acts. There is controversy over whether or not Paul was an actual apostle, in Islamic theology. Paul was converted to Christianity after having persecuted Christians. While traveling through the dessert he had a vision of Christ and heard him demand "PAUL WHY ARE YOU PERSECUTING ME?". Paul was temporarily blinded by the vision and changed his name, which at the time was Saul. With the changing of his name he was converted to the Gospel of Christ. 14 years later he would travel to Jerusalem.

     I have chosen Paul as my patron Saint for personal reasons that I will not go into here. I disagree with the Moslem belief that Paul is not a true Apostle. It is sighted that he was not confirmed by another Apostle, to his Apostleship. Though, I don't have the particular scripture on hand, I seem to remember reading that he had been recognised by at least one other Apostle. His vision is convincing to me that Christ himself recognised his position, since it is unlikely that a former persecutor of Christians would spontaneously convert to the very people he was against for fraudulent purposes. It can be debated that his vision was hallucinatory in connection with his travel through the hot dessert and his blindness a result of the bright sun. I do not consider this to be the case and stand by the conviction that Paul was an Apostle, even if I do not agree with all the things he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment