One of the most devoutly religious men to have walked the earth was Saul of Tarsus. Like most religious people he insisted that everybody around him bust a gut to be religious, too. Saul took this to the extent of actually persecuting the first Christians as, clearly, their faith was sub-standard. Firstly, they actually believed that Jesus Christ was alive.
To Saul this was baloney! Jesus couldn’t be alive as he had died on a Cross. This lead to problem number 2; because Christians believed that Jesus’ death on the Cross was entirely sufficient to get them into heaven- they didn’t keep all the religious rules. And if there is one thing that a good Pharisee can’t cope with it is non-compliance with the rites and rituals which are a crucial part of any DIY religion.
So strong were Saul’s convictions, that he actually put Christians to death for speaking what they, foolish people that they were, thought was truth.
This all radically changed the day that Saul got the shock of his life- the day he met the one who ‘officially’ didn’t exist...For the next three days so bewildered was Saul that he neither ate nor drank until a disciple of Jesus, Ananias, came knocking on the door. It has to be admitted that Ananias was, initially, less than enthusiastic to go talk to a man who had an awkward tendency of killing Christians, but go he did. The happy result was that very soon Saul became a Christian!
From that moment on Saul was a changed man with the biggest change being that he knew, from a firsthand encounter with Jesus that He was indeed alive. Moreover, Saul knew that all the rule-keeping in the world couldn’t change a person -only the power of Jesus could do that! And DIY religion certainly would never take him/her to heaven- only the power of Jesus could do that!
So Saul preached this life-changing message far and wide and, funny enough, many very religious people were now trying to kill him. Then, as now, truth is a dangerous business, so be careful!
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