My Five: The Apostle Paul

     He was born with the Jewish name of Saul in the city of Tarsus. His father had been granted Roman citizenship and passed that along to his family. Thus, Saul was given the Roman name of Paulus as well. Despite this, Saul was raised by extremely devout parents. He learned the trade of tentmaking, but was sent to learn at the feet of the famous rabbi and Pharisee, Gamaliel. Saul would go to complete his education and become a member of the Sanhedrin. When the "false doctrine" known as "The Way" began to spread, Saul immediately set out to stamp it from existence. Thgis persecution was halted by a life-altering appearance by Jesus. Having been blinded and chastised, Saul somehow made his way to Damascus where he was told to wait for a man named Ananias. Reluctant, at first, Ananias followed the instructions of Jesus. Saul was healed and fully converted to "The Way". He would go on to spread the good news of this doctrine which would eventually be called Christianity. He used his Roman name to gain introductions to Gentile cities and to petition roman authorities when he was arrested. He was even more zealous for Jesus than he had been for Judaism. He endured imprisonment, slander, beatings, stonings, and eventually was martyred.
      I choose Paul because he is probably the greatest Christian who has ever lived. I would like to pick his brain about some of the more obscure points of theology. He wrote most of the New Testament and worked with most of the authors. He knew and understood the Old Testament about as well as anyone. As for what little of the New Testament he was unfamiliar with, I should think he'd still have valuable insights.
      I expect that his interest in me and the other guests would consist of two parts. What do we believe and why.
      My next post will be on author, philosopher, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.

My Five: The Preface

     There are five people from history (recent or long past) that each of us would like to share dinner. the next few posts will cover my five people. I wanted to start off by saying why Jesus is not one of my five.
     First of all, God's word says that when two or more are gathered in my (Jesus) name I will be there also. Each of my five counts Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. So Jesus is effectively there already.
     My other point is that if Jesus was one of the five the other four would be unnecessary. The whole dinner would be focused on our worship of Jesus. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does supercede the original purpose of the dinner.
     Make no mistake. Our faith would be an important topic at the table. It just wouldn't be the only one we covered. That said, I hope you will continue to read these next few posts and consider who your five would be.