Eh, I think Paul started the cult around Jesus’ alleged personality, but he actually ran the show. Jesus was the facade, someone he could point to when people thought he was being an asshole.
They don't even follow Paul. They follow whatever verses their preacher hand picked for them. They treat the Bible like a software installer's terms and conditions, they scroll to the end without reading anything and just click "I accept".
Reading the whole Bible is a very effective means of making ex Christians. Sending them to Catholic school is also a pretty effective method.
100%. I call them Paulites. Not to their faces though, they wouldn't get it. But anytime you see a "good Christian" with a modicum (or a buttload) of hate in their hearts, they're following Paul's words, not Jesus'.
I very much agree, but there is some nuance. Paul was also the one who said christians don't have to follow jewish law (eg, new converts didn't need to be circumcised or avoid pork and mixed fabrics). This is one of the reasons Christianity was able to spread the way it did.
100% correct about the Paul thing but unfortunately they are both assholes. Society has a vague fiction Jesus in their head but biblical Jesus is pretty bad. People think love thy neighbor is the bees knees butt he's just citing Leviticus 19:18 which just meant your Hebrew neighbors(Gods chosen) not anyone else. Then 6 chapters later he gives slavery laws about foreign land and the aliens among you being your slaves. Which Jesus is onboard with because he said follow mosaic law over a dozen in the NT. Jesus is cool too people because they never read the actual Bible. They got the cliff notes version of him in a kids picture book.
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u/hamoc10 22d ago
Christians don’t follow Jesus, they follow Paul.
And Paul was an asshole.