of their deities abounded in the land, and Roman law had it that all people, with the
exception of the Jews, must pay homage to the gods.
Paul knew that people with such deep-reaching pagan beliefs were not going to
accept the idea that grace and salvation could come from a person who was only
considered to be a most upright and righteous human being. If Paul wanted quick
results in his ministry, he knew that he would have to "modulate" things a bit, taking
into account the culture of the Gentiles.
Paul Maier, in his book "First Christians", tells us that thirteen years elapsed
between the time Paul "received his calling" and the time that he began preaching.
During that thirteen years, Paul's creative mind put in a lot of overtime; when he
finally returned to Damascus, he came back armed with the knowledge that the
Gentiles would demand a tangible god within their new religion, and he was
prepared to give this to them.
Paul was wildly successful in his subsequent missionary efforts, what with the
accommodations he ended up making for the Gentiles. Although the religion of
Christianity takes its name from Jesus Christ, Paul of Tarsus must be considered as
its true founder, as he is the one who conceived all of its doctrines, and set up its
churches throughout the world of his time. Christians don't deny this, either: "No
figure in Christian history stands so tall or has had such a tremendous influence as
has Saul of Tarsus..."
In his book "The 100: A Ranking of the most In>luential Persons In History", author
Michael Hart concurs in saying:
"No other man played so large a role in the propagation of Christianity."
There is one big problem with this picture, however: The teachings of Paul, the true
founder of Christianity, cannot be found anywhere in the teachings of Jesus or in
those of prophets before him.
The following are some of the innovations that Paul introduced into "his" religion of
Christianity.
From among the innovations of Paul.
- The divinity of Jesus 2. The trinity 3. Atonement 4. Salvation by faith
Using these doctrines Paul achieved phenomenal success in his ministry. The Jews
may have brushed Jesus aside, but the Gentiles flocked to Paul's side, as he gave
them just what they wanted in their new religion from amongst those thing that
they wanted was drinking wine which was permitted for them, circumcision was
also lifted from them. The term for the earlier followers of Jesus –Nazarenes was
dropped in favor of a new, more 'appropriate' name: Christians, or followers of Jesus
Christ.