Posted on 03/31/2018 9:29:51 AM PDT by V K Lee
”PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF CHRIST”
ABOUT THE FILM
PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST is the story of two men. Luke, as a friend and physician, risks his life when he ventures into the city of Rome to visit Paul, who is held captive in Nero’s darkest, bleakest prison cell. But Nero is determined to rid Rome of Christians, and does not flinch from executing them in the grisliest ways possible. Before Paul’s death sentence can be enacted, Luke resolves to write another book, one that details the beginnings of “The Way” and the birth of what will come to be known as the church.
Bound in chains, Paul’s struggle is internal. He has survived so much—floggings, shipwreck, starvation, stoning, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure—yet as he waits for his appointment with death, he is haunted by the shadows of his past misdeeds. Alone in the dark, he wonders if he has been forgotten . . . and if he has the strength to finish well.
Two men struggle against a determined emperor and the frailties of the human spirit in order to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spread their message to the world.
It is VERY worth seeing!....highly recommend!
Best movie of the year so far. Professionally done all the way. Can’t wait for Chappaquiddick though.
it was a little slow at times, but very good. if recommend it also.
I continue to hear nothing but high praise for this movie. This could break my several year drought of going to a movie theater.
We saw it last week.
Luke had a big role in the movie.
HIGHLY recommend going to see it!
What is the source material for this movie?
My wife and I saw this movie and it exceeded our expectations. A wonderful film that really captures the difficult times that Christians faced during Paul’s time and God’s overflowing love. My favorite line of the whole film is: “Where sin abounds, Grace abounds more!” Please take time to see this movie. Blessings will be had by all.
I'd be curious to read up on the 1st. Century historical accounts of Christian persecution under Nero. Do you know where I could find them?
Nero’s persecution of Christians is what Revelation is all about.
Nero came to power by killing his mother.
Besides torturing Christians, Nero had a habit of putting on animal skins and walk the streets of Rome at night alone and attack people.
He fancied himself a musician, and would give public concerts, and people would feign heart attacks, etc., to get out, because if they walked out he would not like that at all.
He kicked his pregnant wife to death because he came in late and she ask him where he had been.
He found a teenage boy that looked like his wife he had killed, castrated him, made him wear a dress and paraded him around as his wife. The teen wound up committing suicide.
It's a piece of religious literature, not an historical account. That ought to be obvious since it's a prediction of future events.
Who taught you that???
2Ti_4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
I'll stick with the bible...
“The only problem I have with Paul movies, is that Luke probably wrote The Acts of the Apostles some years after the death of Paul, and probably never met him. I know there are “we” passages in Acts, but given Luke’s Hellenistic literary style, it is likely that he is using a common technique, used by authors of Greek sagas at the time to bolster a sense of authenticity.”
???
Probably...probably...likely—on what evidence do you base that?
Luke is one of the most accurate ancient historians there is. In Luke 3:1,2 there are 22 historical facts. Every one checks out. In Acts, Luke’s description of shipping routes is spot on. All archeological evidence supports Luke. The burden of proof is on you to show otherwise.
It is religious literature, and it was sent to comfort/warn the Christians Nero was slaughtering.
Revelation 1:1 — “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show to His servants things which must shortly come to pass...”
The Lord really missed a good chance to say: “to show His servants things which will occur thousands of years in the future.”
Rev. 1:3 — “...for the time is at hand.”
Rev. 22:6 -7 “”And he said to me, These things are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show to His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly...
Mat.: 10;23 — For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
There is no corroboration in the secular record of any systematic Christian persecution in the 1st. C. It didn't happen.
bump
“It is religious literature
There is no corroboration in the secular record of any systematic Christian persecution in the 1st. C. It didn’t happen.”
Tacitus (56 AD – 117; Annals 15:44):
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
Pliny the Younger (61 AD -113; Letters [to Emperor Trajan] 10:96-97):
...
Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.
Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ–none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do–these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.
...
Trajan to Pliny the Younger
You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it–that is, by worshiping our gods–even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.”
Suetonius (Life of Claudius 25.4)
“As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.”
Check out the historian Tacitus. He was very secular.
Pliny is authentic, but they were not prosecuted for being Christian. Originally, Pliny doesn't even know what Christianity is. Their crime was assembling without an imperial licence, not for any specific religious practice. Pliny's problem with them was political. Now did some of them die, yes. Rome could be a very tough place. But Pliny wasn't after them for their theology. But, Pliny aside, there was nothing systematic about 1st C persecution.
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