Paul

Jesus

This is a description of the main differences between the theology of Paul and that of Jesus. The theology of Paul is in opposition to people loving their neighbour as themselves. This chapter is designed to highlight a major problem with the Church and general Christian theology.

Jesus was opposed to the stifling effect of traditions, and his ministry focused on the disadvantaged and outcasts to society. By contrast, Paul's letters misrepresent the teachings of Jesus in such a way as to encourage people to place emphasis on things that do not help others. Pauline theology is harmful to its followers because it is very restrictive to individual freedom. It is harmful to those that Jesus came to teach about (e.g. the poor and outcasts to society) because Paul draws a false interpretation of the second commandment of Jesus (he says that it summarises the whole of Jewish Law) and uses the concept of grace to water down the teachings of Jesus. The Church does have a positive effect on the poor, but this effect is severely hampered by Pauline theology. The problems of poverty, inequality and suffering could be solved through loving our neighbours as ourselves, but I do not believe that they will ever be solved by the Church.

I have been in several churches, and they are environments in which I am not comfortable. I have found that some churchgoers also find going to church difficult, but they regard it as their duty to do so.

Paul advocates payment for priests:

• 1 Corinthians 9:11: "We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap the material benefits from you?"

• 1 Corinthians 9:17: "If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid."

• 2 Corinthians 11:8: "While I was working among you, I was paid by other churches. I was robbing them, so to speak, in order to help you."

• 1 Timothy 5:17-18: "The elders who do good work as leaders should be considered worthy of receiving double pay, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, 'Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh corn' and 'Workers should be given their pay.'"

Jesus does not advocate that his followers need to be paid a regular wage. He suggests that we should give up what we have and follow him. While I appreciate that some jobs can contribute to the suffering to other people, I also appreciate that many people have families to support. Giving up your job to love your neighbour as yourself is only really possible if you have support from other people.

However, I feel that priests are being paid to teach people to follow the religion defined by St. Paul. It would be much more useful if there were people to teach the benefits of loving your neighbour as yourself. If they did so, those who they teach could support their activities on the basis of loving their neighbour as themselves. I suggest that they could be supported by people in their personal heaven rather than being paid a wage by a church institution. This is the way that Jesus taught his disciples to support themselves, to stay in a house and teach people in the surrounding area about him. I believe that a similar type of teaching activity could be extremely useful and would be worth supporting. In my opinion, the best way to show people the benefits of loving their neighbour as themselves is by serving them.

It was Paul and not Jesus who set up the Church. All of the rules about churches are in Paul's letters. Paul was not an eyewitness of Jesus – he says that he heard a voice, and his letters are the result of the teachings that he received from the voice. In addition, there were unusual miracles performed through Paul (his used handkerchiefs made people better). I suggest that Paul's teachings are derived from a negative spiritual interaction, which supported his teachings with spiritual occurrences and continues to do so in modern churches.

Paul was not the only person who thought that a disembodied voice was a positive spiritual force or Holy Spirit. For example, in Acts chapter 2, the voices of the disciples are claimed to have been translated into the native languages of their listeners by a disembodied voice. In addition, a disembodied voice claiming to be God is described in the Old Testament, and often encouraged people to kill each other and go to war. Some churchgoers claim to have a personal relationship with God through a disembodied voice. Unfortunately, many people who have no experience of spiritual occurrences dismiss them as psychological illnesses, meaning that this spiritual entity is free to continue exacting the maximum amount of individual suffering. It is possible that the hypothetical document (Q) used by the Gospel writers is another example of this voice, and would explain the presence of inaccurate teachings in the Gospels.

I believe that God represents an extremely intelligent spiritual force that promotes the maximum suffering of all individuals. Here are some examples:

Moses, Leviticus 24:13-14: The Lord said to Moses, "Take that man out of the camp. Everyone who heard him curse shall put his hands on the man's head to testify that he is guilty, and then the whole community shall stone him to death."

Paul, 1 Corinthians 5:4-5: "As you meet together, and I meet with you in my spirit, by the power of our Lord Jesus present with us, you are to hand this man over to Satan for his body to be destroyed, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord."

Muhammad, The Cow (2:191): "Kill them wherever you encounter them, and drive them out from where they drove you out, for persecution is more serious than killing."

Compare these to Jesus:

Jesus, John 8:7: As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened himself up and said to them, "Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her."

There is a clear contradiction between what the Old Testament god told Moses to do (stone someone to death) and what Jesus taught people to do. I find no useful purpose for the Old Testament; it instructs people to kill others on many occasions. It is very different from the idea of loving your neighbour as yourself.

Christian theology is very concerned about the concept of 'false teaching' (it could be described as anything that contradicts with Pauline theology). I define false teaching to be anything that causes suffering if people choose to follow it. Using this definition, it is possible to show that the teachings of Paul are false because they tell us how to live in such a way that people are discouraged from loving their neighbour as themselves. I also classify some teaching to be irrelevant; i.e. that which doesn't teach anything at all. In my opinion, Paul's letter to Philemon comes under this category. Another type of teaching defined in Judeo-Christian theology is the interpretation of religious texts and spiritual communication. I do not accept that any such interpretations are of benefit to anyone, because my experience and research has shown that spiritual interactions are harmful, even though they may appear to be harmless or even beneficial.

Teaching that promotes suffering can be very subtle – it can consist of omissions of important things, incorrect emphasis of less important things, inventing religious terminology that has no real meaning or is misleading, essentially anything that encourages people not to love their neighbour as themselves. One example is Paul's concept of grace:

Grace (definition according to Pauline theology): (1) God sent Jesus to die. (2) His sacrifice removes your sin. (3) It's a free gift; you don't have to do anything about it except believe that this message is true, because he died on the cross and rose from the dead.

If you believe in life after death, then something similar to the concept of grace must apply to all people regardless of their beliefs. For us to desire any other outcome would not be loving our neighbour as ourselves. However, I believe that it is wrong to use the concept of grace to water down the idea of loving our neighbour as ourselves, because this idea defines an optimal life strategy that is directed towards reducing suffering.

Here is an example of Paul's false teaching:

1 Corinthians 14:33-38
"As in all the churches of God's people, 34 the women should keep quiet in the meetings. They are not allowed to speak; as the Jewish Law says, they must not be in charge. 35 If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgraceful thing for a woman to speak in church.
36 Or could it be that the word of God came from you? Or are you the only ones to whom it came? 37 If anyone supposes he is God's messenger or has a spiritual gift, he must realize that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 But if he does not pay attention to this, pay no attention to him."

Here is another example of a teaching from Paul that is false.

Paul treats Jesus as an idol of forgiveness – a replacement for animal sacrifices. This is his 'grace' according to Paul which is defined above. For example:

Romans 3:21-26
How We are Put Right with God
21 But now God's way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. 22 God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. 24 But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. 25-26 God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.

Romans 6:5-10
5 For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. 6 And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. 7 For when people die, they are set free from the power of sin. 8 Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again – death will no longer rule over him. 10 And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God.

Romans 8:31-35
God's Love in Christ Jesus
31 In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son – will he not also freely give us all things? 33 Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty! 34 Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right-hand side of God, pleading with him for us! 35 Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?

• This concept falsely implies that our actions do not give rise to suffering because our sins are claimed to vanish on the cross. However, it is easy to show that the activities of people can cause suffering to others regardless of their beliefs (i.e. sins do not vanish on the cross).

• One of the reasons why people follow religions is a belief that they will obtain a ticket to heaven and will avoid hell. Paul says that this ticket is obtained just by having a belief in the remission of sins. Therefore, there is little motivation to act selflessly towards others.

Paul's false teaching is extremely difficult to identify because:

1. He constantly asserts that he is a specially chosen apostle of Jesus.
   
2. He continually tells people not to judge and to "accept his foolishness".
   
3. He goes to great lengths to make himself appear harmless.
   
4. He repeatedly insists that he is not lying.
   
5. He constantly warns against false teaching.
   
6. He uses many different keywords and phrases things very eloquently.
   
7. He played a role in spreading the Gospel, but this probably enabled spiritual interactions to have the maximum influence in the development of Christianity by taking the form of a disembodied voice.
   
8. Paul talks about Satan as an enemy.
   
9. Paul claims that he imitates Jesus.
   
10. His letters are in the New Testament, forming part of the scripture.
    
11. Paul emphasizes his own suffering and martyrdom to give his teaching further credence.
    
12. Paul is labelled as a Saint.
    
13. He condemns those who preach a Gospel message different from the one that 'they' (he) preaches (e.g. Galatians 1:8).
    
14. He continually denounces the Law but subtly introduces a new one.
    
15. He asserts that he is the least apostle and the least of all people, for example, Ephesians 3:8; "I am less than the least of all God's people." Jesus says you have to be the least to be the greatest (Luke 9:48), so Paul is implying that he is somehow greater than Jesus.
    
16. All of Paul's greetings to many people at the ends of his letters make him sound very popular. People gravitate towards popular people, even if Paul might not have been as popular as he makes out.

Paul's letters consist mostly of:

1. Faith in Jesus and discussions on Jewish Law.
   
2. Instructions for Church institutions (this is in opposition to the teachings of Jesus).
   
3. Marriage/immorality.
   
4. Rhetoric (his style of writing became accepted as the norm).
   
5. Prophecy about the time of the end.

His phrases and keywords are misleading and many are not explained properly, for example:

• Accepting God through the Spirit (e.g. Romans 8:9).

• Holiness (according to Paul, only picture perfect people are acceptable. According to Jesus, the focus should be on the inclusion of outcast groups whether or not they are picture perfect); Ephesians 5:27.

It is a well known fact that interpersonal communication is only about 8% content – the rest comes from delivery, confidence, body language, intonation and emphasis. As long as someone like Paul looked convincing then people would accept whatever he said, particularly as miracles were claimed to be performed through him. In turn, his teachings led to many other people who know how to say the right keywords in the right way to sound convincing. Thus, the Christian religion became based upon a series of key phrases rather than on substance and understanding, resulting in a rule/tradition based system rather than a group of people loving their neighbours as themselves.

Philemon – the one book that is very obviously of no use to us

From Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy – To our friend and fellow-worker Philemon, and the church that meets in your house, and our sister Apphia, and our fellow-soldier Archippus: May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. [Dear Philemon...]

Brother Philemon, every time I pray, I mention you and give thanks to my God. For I hear of your love for all God's people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. My prayer is that our fellowship with you as believers will bring about a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ. Your love, dear brother, has brought me great joy and much encouragement! You have cheered the hearts of all God's people. [I like you, Philemon]

For this reason I could be bold enough, as your brother in Christ, to order you to do what should be done. But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake. So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father. At one time he was of no use to you, but now he is useful. The Greek name Onesimus means "useful" both to you and to me. [There's a man, called Onesimus...]

I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart. I would like to keep him here with me, while I am in prison for the gospel's sake, so that he could help me in your place. However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree. It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time. And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord! [...and I'm sending him to you, into slavery]

So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account. Here, I will write this with my own hand: I, Paul, will pay you back. (I should not have to remind you, of course, that you owe your very self to me.) So, my brother, please do me this favour for the Lord's sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up! I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask – in fact I know that you will do even more. At the same time, get a room ready for me, because I hope that God will answer the prayers of all of you and give me back to you. [do you have a spare room?]

Epaphras, who is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, and so do my fellow-workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. [Bye for now, Paul]

Perhaps the only thing that can be gained from this letter is to note Paul's eagerness to send a free man back into slavery. Paul also tries to dominate Philemon by using his status as "the ambassador of Christ Jesus" and the claim that Philemon "owes himself" to Paul (i.e. his soul and afterlife). He also invites himself to stay at Philemon's house.

Romans is the 'Gold Standard' of Paul's teaching. This letter is summarised below:

1:1-7	Paul greets his readers
1:8-15	Paul wishes to come to Rome
1:16-17	Paul claims to accept the Gospel
1:18-23	The ungodly are scheduled for punishment
1:24-32	The ungodly have been given up by God because they are too immoral and evil
2:1-11	Don't judge people
2:12-20	Jews are judged according to Jewish Law
2:21-24	Jews are hypocritical
2:25-3:8	Circumcision is of value to people who obey the Law (repeated in 3:30)
3:9-19	No one's perfect
3:21-31	Free in Jesus (verse 24) but "we uphold the Law" (verse 31)
4:1-25	Abraham as an example of someone with faith and as someone who was put right with God before circumcision
5:1-11	We are put right with God through Christ
5:12-21	Adam committed the original sin, Jesus took it away
6:1-12	We are put right with God through Christ; don't sin
6:13-23	Don't sin; the wages of sin is death
7:1-6	Free from the Law, like a woman whose husband died
7:7-25	Sin rhetoric
8:1-17	The Spirit
8:18-25	The future glory
8:26-30	The Spirit
8:31-39	Nothing can separate us from the love of God
9:1-29	Tries to justify an arbitrary selection of a small group of people by God
9:30-10:4	Gentiles but not Jews have been put right with God
10:5-21	Salvation is for all
11:1-12	Jewish rejection of Christianity
11:13-32	Jewish and Gentile acceptance of Christianity
11:33-36	Admits that he has no real understanding of God and implies that it is not possible to understand (he implies that it is acceptable for everyone to be confused)
12:1-21	Be a nice person
13:1-7	Obey your authorities
13:8-14	The second commandment of Jesus is the Ten Commandments in compact form
14:1-12	Don't judge people
14:13-23	A discussion about food
15:1-6	Help your fellow Christians
15:7-13	Encourages Gentiles to accept Jesus
15:14-33	Paul goes to many places to teach
16:1-23	Paul greets some people
16:25-27	Thanks and praise to God

Many parts of this letter are irrelevant to us and can be ignored, namely his greetings and planned trips (about three chapters of text). Much of his letter is rhetoric (text with little meaning or importance) such as his discussions about Jews and Christians. In fact, his letters are a difficult read, mostly because one has to wade through a lot of text to get to a meaning that could be written much more concisely.

Paul's main emphases in Romans are:

1. Faith in Jesus.
   
2. The Jewish Law versus faith.
   
3. Don't judge.
   
4. Be nice, helpful and obedient to authorities.

1. The poor are barely mentioned.
   
2. The words of Jesus are misconstrued and rarely quoted, for example, Romans 12:20 states that the purpose of serving your enemies is to make them burn with shame.

Romans 3:7-8: "But what if my untruth serves God's glory by making his truth stand out more clearly? Why should I still be condemned as a sinner? Why not say, then, 'Let us do evil so that good may come?' Some people, indeed, have insulted me by accusing me of saying this very thing! They will be condemned, as they should be." Paul sets himself up as 'The Authority' on God, and says that anyone who questions his teaching will be condemned. Paul has two large sections on 'not judging' in Romans. Essentially he is giving himself the authority to write whatever he wants by discouraging others from judging his letters. His letters were the earliest Christian writings, and therefore had influence over many other people, even those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus. He continually asserts that he is a chosen apostle of Jesus, but his vision on the road to Damascus clearly came from another source along with the voices that he hears and the 'tongues' that he speaks.

Paul wrote thirteen epistles in total. In his other epistles, a major emphasis is the setting up of church traditions. Paul was the source of the Church and the inclusion of his letters in the New Testament made the matter fixed. Jesus said nothing about church traditions; he condemned the Pharisees for this very thing.

One thing that should strike you when you start reading Romans is this. In 1:18-32, Paul says how bad everyone is, condemning them for their immorality and so on. Then just afterwards in 2:1 he says, "Do you, my friend, pass judgement on others?"

He spends half a chapter judging others, then condemns others for judging. Most of the judging he does is for sexual immorality, yet Jesus doesn't seem especially bothered about this issue, given his friendship with Mary Magdalene. Jesus also says that the prostitutes and tax collectors are going to heaven ahead of the people he was teaching (Matthew 21:28-32). The teachings of Jesus are focused on helping the poor and outcasts to society.

Another thing that stands out is this paragraph:

Romans 7:18-20
18 I know that good does not live in me – that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.

Romans 3:1-4
1 Have the Jews then any advantage over the Gentiles? Or is there any value in being circumcised? 2 Much, indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews. 3 But what if some of them were not faithful? Does this mean that God will not be faithful? 4 Certainly not! God must be true, even though every human being is a liar. As the scripture says,
"You must be shown to be right when you speak;
you must win your case when you are being tried."

Romans 6:19
I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.

Romans 9:16
So then, everything depends, not on what human beings want or do, but only on God's mercy.

Romans 13:1-6
1 Everyone must obey the state authorities, because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God. 2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgement on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, 4 because they are God's servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God's servants and carry out God's punishment on those who do evil. 5 For this reason you must obey the authorities – not just because of God's punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. 6 That is also why you pay taxes, because the authorities are working for God when they fulfill their duties. Pay, then, what you owe them; pay them your personal and property taxes, and show respect and honour for them all.

Romans 16:19
Everyone has heard of your loyalty to the gospel, and for this reason I am happy about you. I want you to be wise about what is good, but innocent in what is evil.

1 Corinthians

The Corinthians are claimed to be a mirror of the modern day Church. They had a strong economy, idols, a fractured church and 'immorality'. Paul sent them a letter to address these issues. I'm going to summarise it like I did with his letter to the Romans. This time I have annotated it so that the things that are incorrect or against Jesus are in bold, things of no relevance are underlined, and in normal text are the things that are less contentious, and the things that people could argue about (this includes instances where Paul may have influenced the Gospel writers; he was a companion of both Luke and Mark as mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:11). Again, the poor are not mentioned in this letter.

1:1-9	Paul greets his readers
1:10-17	Paul has heard that the church is divided
1:18-31	Some people don't believe us when we talk about Christ
2:1-15	The Spirit teaches us what to say
2:16	God is very mysterious
3:1-23	Don't be divided, be a part of the body of Christ
4:1-7	Paul is judged by Jesus
4:8-13	It's a hard life being an apostle
4:14-21	Timothy is coming to see you and I'd like to see you soon
5:1-13	Paul has heard that there is immorality in the church
6:1-11	Don't use the legal system with fellow Christians
6:12-20	Avoid immorality
7:1-16	Marriage should be avoided, but if you must then it's not sin
7:17-24	Don't try to change your life just because God called you
7:25-40	Paul recommends remaining unmarried
8:1-13	Food restrictions
9:1-27	Paul describes and defends his ministry
10:1-32	Don't use idols
11:1-16	The importance of head covering
11:17-34	The Lord's Supper – Paul states that misusing this ceremony causes sickness and death
12:1-11	The gifts of the Holy Spirit
12:12-31	The body of Christ
13:1-13	Paul's definition of love
14:1-25	Paul talks about strange tongues and gifts of the spirit
14:26-39	Paul describes how tongues should be interpreted/listened to, and also oppresses women
15:1-58	Resurrection
16:1-4	Financial rules for the church
16:5-12	Paul wises to visit the Corinthians soon
16:16-24	Paul greets several people.

Here are some verses from 1 Corinthians that stand out:

• 2:16: "As the scripture says: 'Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice?' We, however, have the mind of Christ."

  This makes the reader feel good, and increases the popularity of Paul's letters.

• 6:15: "You know that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Shall I take a part of Christ's body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible!"

  As mentioned earlier, Jesus came to help the poor and outcasts to society.

• 11:1: "Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ."

  Paul claims to imitate Jesus, then tells people to follow himself. This is completely different from teaching people the benefits of loving their neighbour as themselves.

As in the previous analysis, the things that are irrelevant are underlined and the things that are wrong are in bold.

1:1-14	Paul greets his readers and gives thanks to God
1:15-2:4	Paul's plans
2:5-2:11	Forgiveness
2:12-13	Paul's plans
2:14-17	Spreading the knowledge of Christ
3:1-18	The Law gives death but the Spirit gives life
4:1-15	Rhetoric about the life/death of Jesus being within our mortal bodies and the blindness of unbelievers
4:16-18	Fixing attention on spiritual awareness
5:1-10	The afterlife
5:11-21	Rhetoric about grace (Jesus dying to take away our sins)
6:1-13	Look at everything that we have suffered!
6:14-18	Have nothing to do with unbelievers
7:1-16	Joy and sadness
8:1-15	Christian giving
8:16-24	Paul's plans
9:1-15	Help other Christians
10:1-17	Defends his ministry
11:1-15	Paul condemns false apostles (implying that he is not one himself)
11:16-33	Paul's suffering as an apostle
12:1-10	Paul's visions
12:11-21	Paul assures the Corinthians he is acting in their best interests.
13:1-13	Paul wishes to see the Corinthians soon, and expects them to have followed his instructions

2:10-11: "I do it in Christ's presence because of you, in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand of us; for we all know what his plans are." Paul says things like this without explaining them. If he had said something like, "Satan (God) plans to put someone in the group of apostles as a false teacher to deflect their attention from loving their neighbour as themselves," then we would have been much clearer on what his plans were.

3:16: "His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord" – Paul does nothing to remove a metaphorical veil. In fact, he puts a veil over the teachings of Jesus and substitutes them with endless waffle. He invents many phrases to do with the Spirit and Christ, and many of these phrases have no real meaning.

For example, 2 Corinthians 3:14-18: "Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: "His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord." Now, "the Lord" in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory."

Here's a break down of what he says:

Closed minded people don't understand things properly (he complements the reader for their great understanding of his waffle). You only understand when you are "joined to Christ". Paul defines the Lord as being the Spirit, which he then does not go on to talk about. In other words, according to Paul we must be "joined" to something that is invisible and poorly defined in his letters (see 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). When we achieve this state, Paul claims that we are free and the Spirit will go on to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.

If there really were a positive spiritual force in the Universe, we would have been made aware of the idea of a personal heaven a long time ago, and it would have received spiritual encouragement. In fact, spiritual encouragement is given to theologies that promote suffering and restrict freedom.

Paul creates rules and encourages people to enforce them with punishment in 10:6.

Paul justifies himself:

• 4:2: "Nor do we falsify the word of God."

• 7:7: "How ready you are to defend me."

• 7:9: "We caused you no harm."

• 11:1: "I wish you would tolerate me even when I'm being a bit foolish. Please do!"

• 11:4: "For you gladly tolerate anyone who preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!" Paul himself preaches a completely different Jesus to what Jesus himself says.

• 13:3: "You will have all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me."

1:1-5	Paul declares himself to be a special apostle
1:6-10	Paul condemns those who preach differently to himself
1:11-24	Paul describes how he became an apostle
2:1-11	Paul's journeys
2:11-14	Paul makes a big deal out of rebuking Peter without good cause, his motivation perhaps being to put himself above Peter and dominate the group of disciples
2:15-3:14	Faith and Jewish Law; Abraham as an example of a righteous man
3:15-20	More on the Law
3:21-4:7	The Law and Jesus
4:8-20	Paul assures the Galatians that he is deeply concerned about them
4:21-31	Being with Jesus is like being the children of a free woman
5:1-15	Christ gives freedom; the second commandment of Jesus summarises the whole Jewish Law
5:16-26	The Spirit versus human nature
6:1-10	Bear one another's burdens
6:11-18	Goodbye

1:8: "If we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell!" Verse 1:12 is an important point: "I did not receive it [the Gospel] from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me." He was with a group of eyewitnesses of Jesus, and he did not listen to any of them. The Gospels had not been written at the time, so he may have received all of his teachings from the disembodied voice that he claimed to hear.

2:21: "But if a person is put right through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!" Jesus did not die for nothing, but Pauline theology reduces the effectiveness of his teachings.

3:1: "You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!" Paul implies that just a description of a death is sufficient understanding of Jesus. He comes across as being obsessive about the death of Jesus and barely mentions his teachings or his life.

Galatians 3:20
But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved.

Galatians 5:17
For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.

Paul justifies himself:

• 1:20: "What I write is true. God knows I am not lying!"

• 1:23: "The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy."

• 6:17: "To conclude: let no one give me any more trouble, because the scars I have on my body show that I am the slave of Jesus."

Ephesians

1:1-14	Thanksgiving to God
1:15-23	Paul prays that the reader will see the light
2:1-10	Life in Christ
2:11-22	Coming to the Father through Jesus
3:1-13	God's purpose
3:14-21	The love of Christ
4:1-16	Paul talks about the unity of the body of Christ
4:17-32	A new life in Christ
5:1-20	Live in the light; sing hymns and psalms! Singing hymns is not incompatible with loving your neighbour as yourself providing that it does not act as a replacement for doing so. Personally, I do not sing hymns, pray or fast because such activities do not involve loving my neighbour as myself. However, I recognise that other people may enjoy doing these things.
5:21-33	Wives, submit to your husbands
6:1-4	Do what your parents tell you
6:5-9	Slaves, obey your masters (implying that slavery is acceptable)
6:10-20	Build up your armour to keep safe from the Evil One
6:21-23	Goodbye

Ephesians 1:6-8
Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, which he gave to us in such large measure!

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

Ephesians 3:3-4
God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this, and if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ).

Ephesians 4:28
Those who used to rob must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for themselves and to be able to help the poor.

• 3:13: "I am suffering for you." – Paul makes himself out to be a surrogate Messiah.

• 4:1: "I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord."

• 4:25: "No more lying then!"

• 4:27: "Don't give the Devil a chance." The Devil (God) is given every chance through his teachings, and appears to be responsible for them.

Here is a summary of the letter to the Philippians:

1:1-11	Paul prays for his readers
1:12-30	Paul is glad that the Gospel is preached even when he is in prison
2:1-11	Be humble like Christ
2:12-18	Don't complain, but shine instead
2:19-30	Paul talks about two of his followers
3:1-3	Avoid evildoers
3:4-11	Paul compares his life before and after his vision on the road to Damascus
3:12-21	Paul and his prize
4:1-9	Fill your minds with good
4:10-20	Paul thanks the Philippians for their gifts
4:21-23	Goodbye

Philippians 3:17
Keep on imitating me, my brothers and sisters. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you.

In my opinion, imitating Paul leads to restricted freedom and a life teaching others information that does not help to decrease their suffering. Converting others to the same path reduces the freedom of others, and can propagate suffering.

Philippians 3:10-11
All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.

Again, Paul justifies himself:

• 1:8: "God is my witness that I am telling the truth."

• 1:13: "I am in prison because I am a servant of Christ."

Colossians

1:1-14	Paul greets his readers and gives thanks to God
1:15-23	God created the Universe; he brought the Universe back to himself through Christ
1:24-2:8	Paul's ministry and a warning not to be deceived by false arguments
2:9-19	The grace of God
2:20-23	Don't follow pointless rules
3:1-17	Advice
3:18-25	Relationship advice (wives, submit to your husbands; slaves, obey your human masters; children, obey your parents)
4:1-18	Be wise, persistent, greetings and goodbye

2:4: "Do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments no matter how good they seem to be." The things that are highlighted in bold are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus.

1 Thessalonians

1:1-10	Gives encouragement to the Thessalonians
2:1-16	Waffle about his work in Thessalonica
2:17-3:13	Paul wishes to return to see them again
4:1-12	Don't be immoral
4:13-18	Prophecy about the time of the end
5:1-11	Be ready for the Lord's coming
5:12-28	Be joyful, greetings and goodbye

2 Thessalonians

1:1-12	Talks about judgement when the Lord comes
2:1-12	Describes a Wicked One who comes with false miracles
2:13-17	Hold onto the truth
3:1-15	Don't be lazy
3:16-18	Goodbye

1 Timothy

1:1-11	Warnings against false teaching
1:12-20	Paul says that Jesus forgives him, but in 1:18-20, Paul does not forgive two men for 'blasphemy'
2:1-15	Church worship, e.g. women must remain silent
3:1-7	Church leaders
3:8-13	Church helpers
3:14-16	The mystery of the Christian religion (Paul implies that he does not fully understand it)
4:1-5	Warnings against false teaching
4:6-16	Be a good servant of Jesus
5:1-25	Looking after widows and responsibilities to believers
6:1-21	Warnings against false teaching and instructions to avoid the love of riches

• 1:20: "Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have punished by handing them over to the power of Satan; this will teach them to stop their blasphemy." Phrases like this encourage the reader to think that Paul's doctrine has not been influenced by a negative spiritual interaction.

• 2:7: "I am not lying, I am telling the truth!" This phrase is in the middle of a detailed description of church worship.

• 5:20: "Rebuke publically all those who commit sins, so that the rest may be afraid." Paul uses intimidating tactics.

• 6:16: "He lives in the light that no one can approach." Anyone can approach the light (i.e. learn how to love their neighbour as themselves), but Paul's teachings prevent people from finding it.

2 Timothy

1:1-18	Paul requests that the reader should not be ashamed of him or abandon him like the people in Asia
2:1-13	Be a loyal soldier of Christ, work hard and endure suffering
2:14-26	Instructions and warnings from Paul
3:1-9	Paul describes the outward form of the religion that he himself establishes
3:10-4:8	Instructions and warnings from Paul
4:9-22	Final words and goodbye

• 1:8: "Nor be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ's sake."

• 1:15: "You know that everyone in the province of Asia, including Phygelus and Hermogenes has deserted me." In Acts 16:6, the apostles were forbidden by what they thought to be the Holy Spirit to preach in Asia. This spiritual interaction restricted the spread of the teaching of Jesus to the places that would accept the teachings of Paul.

• 3:11: "You know all that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra – the terrible persecutions that I endured!"

  Jesus doesn't say, "the greater masochist you are, the better Christian you are," although one might think that this is the case from what Paul says. Paul implies that suffering is what Jesus wants to see in his followers. By contrast, I believe that the ideal would be to reduce individual suffering by loving our neighbour as ourselves.

• 3:16 claims that all scripture is inspired by God. Many Christians use this statement to claim that their scripture is infallible. However, it is not a valid argument to use a claim from Paul's own letters to suggest that they are infallible.

• 4:8: "And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God." Paul implies that the religion is a competition rather than an need to love your neighbour as yourself.

1:1-4	Paul greets his readers and introduces himself as a specially chosen apostle
1:5-16	Church leaders
2:1-15	How men, women and slaves should behave
3:1-11	Being saved through grace and the Holy Spirit
3:12-15	Goodbye

• 1:10: "For there are many, especially converts from Judaism, who rebel and deceive others with their nonsense." This implies that Paul isn't deceiving anyone himself.

• 3:1: "Submit to authorities".

Although Hebrews is not a Pauline letter, the author is equally against the theology of Jesus.

1:1-3	God spoke through Jesus
1:4-14	The Son and the angels
2:1-4	Hold onto truth
2:5-18	Jesus purifies people from their sins
3:1-6	Jesus and Moses
3:7-19	Stay with God
4:1-13	Resting and the Sabbath
4:14-5:10	Jesus and High Priests
5:11-14	Claims to be "milk", rather than "solid" spiritual food
6:1-11	Warning against abandoning the religion
6:13-20	God's promise to Abraham
7:1-14	A discussion about the 10% tithe (the author doesn't condemn it; in fact he admires Abraham for giving 10% implying that this is a good amount to give to the priests)
7:15-28	Compares Jesus to a priest called Melchizedek
8:1-13	Jesus, the high priest. Jesus was not a high priest
9:1-22	More about high priests/Jesus; no further need for animal sacrifice
9:23-28	Christ takes away sins
10:1-18	No more animal sacrifices
10:19-39	Stay close to God; threats of punishment for not doing so (10:28-29)
11:1-40	Old Testament characters are described as having faith
12:1-11	Punishment from God
12:12-29	Instructions and warnings
13:1-19	How to please God (obey your leaders; avoid immorality etc.)
13:20-25	Goodbye

• 13:17: "Obey your leaders," that is to say, "Obey this letter!"

• 13:9: "Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way." – this asserts that the teachings in Hebrews are not "strange" and should therefore be followed. The opposite is true.

• 5:4: "No one chooses for himself the honour of being a high priest. It is only by God's call that a man is made a high priest – just as Aaron was." It is my belief that spiritual interactions are responsible for calling priests, giving the false impression that there are upper and lower class citizens of heaven. Shortly after deciding to follow Jesus, I was called to be a priest, but I rejected this calling.

  Spiritual interactions also allow some individuals to have a 'personal relationship' with God; this is commonly cited by churchgoers as a necessary step in the process of following Jesus. It is not necessary to have a personal relationship with God to love your neighbour as yourself.

In the letters of the apostles, emphasis is placed on the importance of prayer, belief in Jesus as a replacement for animal sacrifices (this would have been a big change from Judaism), concerns about immorality, false teachers and patiently waiting for the end to come.

The apostles believed that the end would be very soon (e.g. 1 John 2:18), which perhaps encouraged them to think that they did not need to do very much because the end would come quickly and sort everything out. However, 2000 years later, we are still awaiting an end to our selfish society. Such an end would have to come from people taking the decision to love their neighbour as themselves. I do not believe the prophecies in the Bible that relate to a time of the end or a day of judgement, as they are all derived from voices and visions.

The apostles lived in a society that was relatively poor. They would not have been able to conceive of modern day inequality, so they did not place emphasis on helping the poor. The authors of these letters probably did not expect them to become scripture and were not writing to people 2000 years in the future.

The Gospels were not written at first and many people would not have been able to read, so early Christians had to rely on memory and word of mouth for teachings about Jesus. This may have been distorted by Pauline theology and a disembodied voice (which they believed to be the Holy Spirit). Given the confusion surrounding Jewish theology, Pauline theology, spiritual interactions, a lack of education and extreme poverty, it is unsurprising that the teaching from the apostles does not reflect a pure form of loving your neighbour as yourself.

I have rated Pauline Christianity as fulfilling the needs of others to a greater extent than average due to voluntary work and charitable giving arising from the second commandment of Jesus. However, Christians in Western society usually contribute to suffering (through methods such as consumerism) just like everyone else. The suffering that they cause can outweigh the benefits of any charitable giving, which may explain why the problems of poverty remain despite the huge number of Christians in the richest countries.

Paul's teachings are claimed to be derived from spiritual interactions rather than Jesus or eyewitnesses, and he used his influence to distort the teachings of Jesus and establish a tradition-based church system. Later, his epistles were collected into the New Testament as scripture, competing with the teachings of Jesus in modern times. They present an alternative to loving your neighbour as yourself, and people accept this alternative because the teachings of Jesus are perceived to be too difficult. In fact, Jesus' vision of people loving their each other as themselves is achievable, but only for people who are prepared to reject the teachings of Paul.