CHRISTIANITY - ARRIVAL OF SAINT PAUL ON THE SCENE

 Salam to all.... Let me explain first about Nabi Isa a.s @ Jesus p.b.u.h.:

• hari ke8 dah berkhatan
• mengamalkan puasa 40 hari
• mengamalkan semua hukum hakam yang dibawa oleh Nabi Musa
• Beribadat hari Sabtu ( pray on saturday)
• Not eat pig ( tak makan kerbau pendek @ khinzir)

This entry is important since by here we will know how Christianity name come to the world & how the religion that Jesus(p.b.u.h) brought have been changes so much. Keep Learning ! :-)

Maurice Bucaille a French surgeon, a scientist and a scholar of world repute in his world famous book - The Bible, the Qur'aan and Science has cleared away in great detail many preconceived ideas about the Bibke. It is said that some 14 years after the departure of Jesus Christ to heaven, there appeared on the scene one Jew called Saint paul, (Ref, Bible Chapter Acts). He was a Jew who was born in Cyprus. He was a Roman citizen. He was intelligent and influential. Paul remained a staunch opponent of Jesus Christ not only during the life time of Jesus but also till 14 years after Jesus's departure to heaven. Paul being a Jew even tortured and killed many of Jesus's follower during those 14 years. Paul never personally met Jesus Christ.

As a young man Paul was a regular visitor to Synagogue (place where Jews pray). He was in close contact with the powerful Chief Rabbi(religious leader of Jewish Community) with whose beautiful daughter he fell in love. Paul asked her hand in marriage but the rabbi refused it. Paul became dejected and miserable without her. He became critical of the rabbi. Differences arosesomuch so that paul stopped visiting the Synagogue. Now, he was alone- mentally and spiritually disappointed. He remained in suspended animation. He needed some other platform to stand.

Then after 14 years, according to Paul's own statement, Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision when he was on his way to Damascus (in Syria). Jesus asked him as to why was he against his preachings and teachings and why was he persecuting his followers. This moved the heart of Saint Paul and from then onwards the hostile attitude of paul against Jesus ceased and he became an ardent follower of Jesus Christ ( Ref, Bible Chapter Acts).

Cardinal Danielou says that Paul had an access amongst the Jews who were living in far off lands across the Mediterranean sea in areas around Rome and Greece in the Roman Empire. The pagan people living in those areas were worshipping the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, and various other stars as their gods. In addition, they were also workshippping many other stone idols and deties.

Paul began to preach Christianity to these people the modified form of Christianity ( Nabi Isa kata dia hanya diutuskan untuk kaum Yahudi yg sesat tapi Paul modifed ).But there was opposition from Barnabas.(sahabat yg paling dekat dgn Nabi Isa) Ref. Bible Chapter Acts. So, Paul compromised with the pagans. He modified Jesus's Christianity with his own form of Christianity. Paul gave them an alternate god in the person of Jesus Christ to worship. But this was contrary to what Jesus had himself taught and preached his people. Those people thought they got a nearer god against the distant gods, in the person of Jesus who had performed a number of miracles as well.

James who was the younger brothet of Jesus Christ and was then the "Head of the Church" and the head of his "little group of Apostles" considered Saint Paul as a traitor to Jesus's teachings and practices. James & his followers considered Paul as an enemy to Jesus's thoughts and teachings. They considered him a renegade and a polluted person and advised him to repent, and as an act of atonement, aven advised him to shave the hair off his head and purify himself according to LAW.Ref.Acts 21.22. (dlm eksplodia Roman Catholic, kata Maryam berkahwin dgn Yusof the carpenter, sebab tu ada James. Sebenarnya, Maryam tak kawin pun, penulis mereka cerita tanpa ada sebarang rujukan dan saksi)

While Paul was going his way, these true followers of Jesus Christ who were called the Judeo-Christians continued to pray at the Synagogues. (Jesus p.b.u.h. also pray here ). The religious and ideological difference between the two groups was widening with the passage of time. The Judeo-Christians group of James was calling Paul a Tactical Double Dealer (munafik) Ref.Bible.Chapter Acts.

Paul wanted Christianity to separate itself and get clear out of the Synagogues as he himself was now not tolerated at the Synagogues. His move both religious and political. His purpose was better served by being outside the Synagogues. Therefore, he wanted a clear cut break away from the Synagogues of the Jews. He wanted to worship at another place , the Church. ( zaman nabi Isa tak ada Church, Paul yg namakan)

Thus he moved out the Jewish camp and came in the Modifiedd Christian Camp, but, of his own design and making. Here he got greater importance than what he got by being a Jew teacher. he began to reach out to the gentiles (org bukan Yahudi)  and to the lower middle class people of lands around Eastern Mediterranean actively where the people were worshipping the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, the Stars, the idols stone and the deities.

In other to win over the confidence and the faith of these peoples, Paul even compromised on the principles, teachings and preachings of Jesus. He wanted the door of Christianity to be opened to all gentiles  - the non pious poor people, the people of the slums of Roman Empire.

Paul had therefore to compromise with them. Paul said circumcision of males was not really necessary. This he said despite the fact that Jesus himself was circumcision on the 8th day after his birth. ( Nabi Isa a.s @ Jesus berkhatan tapi Paul kata khatan tak berapa penting. Dalam Islam, berkhatan ialah Sunat Muakkad(yg amat dituntut)) Gentiles were already celebrating Sunday as a holiday in honour of their god-the son. Paul replaced Saturday-the day of Sabbath of Jews with Sunday to concide with their holiday which they were already observing. The gentiles used to observe 25th of December as the birth date of their god Son.Now, this date was adopted as the birth date of their new found god-Jesus. Paul also rejected the Jewish form of worship which was in practice at the Synagogues i.e worship of ONE TRUE GOD. Instead, Paul offered them Jesus Christ as an alternate god. was he right?

Paul raised the status of Jesus Christ from the messenger of God to the "son of God". Paul borrowed from pagans and gave the concept of "Trinity" i.e. the three Gods - the father, the Holy Ghost and the son. Paul put forward the concept of a "begotten son of God".

Trinity came into Christianity from Greeks. Ancient Egyptian religion also had their Trinity of ORISIS, ISIS and HORUS. Hindu religion believes in Trinity consisting of BRAHMA, VISHNU, and SHIVA. Three headed statues of BUDDHA are also found in Far East. Trinity is an idea coming from ancient times.

Ancient Egyptians believed that PLATO was the Son of God. Romans and Greek believed that HERCULES was the Son of God. Greeks believed that PHYTHAGORAS was the son of God. Romans believed that Alexander's mother was the daughter of God. So, in the past people have mis-believed in the son of God theory.

If Trinity formula was true the Jesus should have had three noses and three pairs of eyes as well!! There is another angle. Since Jesus was man therefore why not all humans then should look be similarto Jesus as well!

Paul thus offered to gentiles an alternate god and persuaded them to forget about their other gods - the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, the Star gods and other idols and deities. Thus he tried his best to win over a large number of Pagan population even if he had to speak a lie for the sake of a bigger gain. He adopted the principle of "give and take". Fiction replaced truth.People got deceived. Ref. Bible Chapter Romans. Will Durrant said Christianity did not destroy paganism. Instead it adopted it.

Saint Paul had a tendency to exaggerated things from their true perspective. He tended to exaggerate Jesus' miracles in order to drawa a result. He wanted to magnify them to have a large following. Amongst his first writings include Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians' and Philippians.

Despite his efforts to establish his form of "Modified Christianity", the Original Judeo Christianity remained in majority and the continued to pray at synagogues. But Paul had started to pray at the separate building called the Church instead of Synagogue and the fellows who were going to the Church building were called by others as Christians-rather than derogatorily. But today the Christians are following Paul instead of Jesus and yet they call themselves Christians. Are they honest in thier faith? Surely there is a double hypocricy.

Christian religious scholar Clement states that this state of religious scenario continued to exist till 70 A.D. This period was a period of fierce struggle between the two forms of Christianities the "Judeo Christianity" and the "Paulinic Christianity". In 70 A.D. Jerusalem fell to Roman Emperior Titus. So, under such disturbed conditions the "Paulinic form of Christianity" won. It gained an upper hand over the "Judeo Christianity". Thereafter, the situation reversed and Saint Paul won a victory over Judeo Christianity of Jesus. This victory is not a mandate from GOD, but it was through the ignorance and weakness of their faith. They took a path whick was clearly against the Divine Law. Jesus while biding his time in heaven must be lamenting over the conduct and behaviour of his followers. Surely Jesus Christ is the most unfortunate ao all messengers of GOD that - he has been grossly misunderstood..

Under such circumstances, the Paulinic Chriatianity separated fully from Judaism and also from Juedo Christianity. It separated religiously, politically & sociologically. Separate Church buildings sprung up later for Christian worship and prayer.

During the years of fierce struggle between the two forms of Christianity, a large number of writings emerged, each side challenging others' point of view. Such writings therefore are called "Combat Writings".