We now wait for the first of the wise (ass) kids to explain the joke for the rest of the kids - and roast us in doing so.

Seems to me the governmental stack might be better as something like:
Executive, power derived from
Legislature, power derived from
Judicial, power derived from
Constitution

Either way, I think Paul was just ... doing what he was trained to do and kinda created a distraction as a result.

And while there is a lot of communal instruction and structure from Paul, I suspect it would have emerged from others in time - but that kind of thing is always speculative and hard to say.

That said, I do think the move towards abstract theology is probably an unintended consequence in the case of Paul - he routinely pleads for the case of good living - it's just that they are crumbs in his body of work.

They both engage in intellectual reconstruction that takes us away from the lived message of Jesus towards abstract theology.

When I'm looking at the historical Jesus, I see the Kingdom is probably a here and now thing more than a cosmically transcendent thing - but if the latter is true, awesome.

Paul had believed obeying the Law saved him. And so he had to demonstrate that by obeying Jesus, he satisfied the Law. Whereas Luther was plagued by the uncertainty of scrupulous living and needed to be free of the consequences of his actions.

The question is whether Paul is the right kind of Pharisee after Damascus

I'm currently leaning towards not really - because he is essentially creating a new law of right believing in the name of Jesus. It's almost like he's having a similar crisis to that of Luther: "what saves me if not X?"

I think it's fair to say that the Gospels may make a caricature of the Pharisees that may not extend to all Pharisees. We see good Pharisees in Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Gamaliel.

Paul was definitely the "wrong kind" of Pharisee before Damascus

I dunno - right now, I kinda feel like the best parts of Christianity would have survived without him

... I'm understanding the assignment right? You are begging the world for this ... ? You have deep seated resentment, and you want to be invited to explore it further? So, let's ... talk about it?

And - maybe - they're all the wrong project.

Jesus wasn't exactly systematic in his elaboration of theology - and where he was, it seems to me it was always rooted foremost in love and service, not waxing poetic and philosophical about heads of needles.

I can't wait to see new pics of you in a puffy shirt

oh there you go again with your "no true fascist" argument /s

That bear man is barely bare with that bear

I definitely think I'm down for living forever - but it's definitely predicated, in part, on the idea that I'm made to live forever and that there is endless joy and discovery to be had in doing so. In the meantime, getting some more years in before whatever happens .. happens .. would be excellent