Selfishly, I wish I was told more about Paul before his conversion on his way to Damascus. What we are told largely appears in just a few chapters in Acts. We are told that he brutally heads up the persecution of the early Church—dragging men and women from their homes to prison for the even the slightest association with the Church (cf. 8:1-2; 9:13-15). Heck, he was apparently so nasty that Ananias verbally questions God when he is told to go and heal Paul after his Damascus Road experience. As if to say, “Um…God? Seriously?! I know that you have heard about this guy…and you want me to seek him out?!”
Later in Acts, in two locations (chs. 22
and 26), Paul himself recounts what he was like before his conversion. Yet the
way he does it is very interesting. Furthermore, it really becomes his modus operandi on the
topic: speaking to his past only to emphasize the dramatic nature of
his conversion. And we see other examples of this in the New Testament (for
example, Galatians, Philippians, Corinthians, etc.). So, on the issue of Paul
pre-conversion, the New Testament, as a whole, largely discusses the topic only
when it needs to. It certainly does not dwell on it. Nevertheless, given what
we know about Paul as a missionary and preacher of the gospel—how bold,
convinced, and decisive he was—it is a worthwhile endeavor to consider what he
was like before his conversion. Consequently, I applaud the writers and
producers of AD: The
Bible Continues for devoting
so much time in episode 6 to Saul as a Pharisee and persecutor of the Church.

Again, there was so much artistic freedom exercised in this
episode, and I can see how people may be getting fed up with how the miniseries
has unfolded. Yet before one gets too bent out of shape, he or she must
consider how that artistic freedom is being utilized. Simply, "How is the
freedom being used to push the flow of the episode and overall miniseries, and
is that flow honoring the message of the biblical text?" Overall, I cannot
complain too much. By the end of this episode, we have been introduced to a man
who is passionate about destroying a new movement that he believes threatens
the core of the Jewish religion. Sure, none of this is in the Bible, but we
have a better of understanding of the type of person who would later experience
a world-altering encounter with Jesus and who would later channel those same
traits for the glorification of God and edification of the Church. And that is
true to the message of Acts.
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