Bullying why?

what actions are you applying to Saul/Paul

you say Stephen died because of Saul. so what did he do?

to be honest I am not really sure what this post is actually about or what point the op is making

A lot of people tend to think bullying only happens in schools to new children yes thats one aspect of it but it happens in families, workplaces and online. It can happen in churches.

Ganging up on those weaker than you, that is harder for the one whos being bullied to deal with, when its groups.

Some wisdom in proverbs
Proverbs 3:31 envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

Saul previously walked by sight (out of sight out of mind). as do all of natural unconverted men . He had a zeal for God but it was according to what they eyes see. false zeal . Kill the misperceived competition as if we did wrestles against flesh and blood .(Those with no faith.)

All things written in the law and the prophets(sola scriptura) is the authority by which God reforms his church restoring His government in every generation .

Those who once walked with Saul are now seeking to make him disappear in a hope of making all things written in the law and prophets(sola scriptura) without effect so that they rather could serve the law of the fathers the false zeal for knowing God as oral traditions of men.

They called Paul the ring leader of the Nazarene denomination in a attempt to get at the real ring leader our Father in heaven. It (sola scriptura) proved them as liars and they stumbled away in unbelief. Shot themselves in the foot

Acts 24: 13-14 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: (sola scriptura)

Not going above that which is written as he did as Saul previously . Rather than worshiping the flesh of the fathers as if we they were our Father in heaven, they walked by sight.... not having faith to believe the Father not seen . A clear difference .Paul worshipped the Father of the fathers , the Lord of the lords, the King of the kings …..

Not out of sight out of mind as did Cain when he murdered the first martyr Abel. The father of lies a murderer from the beginning.

I'm not a bully, but sometimes someone just needs a slap upside the head to straighten them out .. Unfortunately, the person doing the slapping is usually the one who needs straightened out. Jesus flipping the tables over in the temple was not bullying, he was just emphasizing a point. But I'm sure the money changers thought he was mean.

Excellent point. As a mother of 2 sons, I have seen how females can be total bullies, and how devastaing it is to their targets.

how about answering what I asked you?

let me tell you what Paul did. He held onto the coats of those stoning Stephen

nothing else.

Paul was not a bully and it seems you just want to vent about bullies but your examples are not correct

so this appears to be a thread on a discussion you want to have, which it seems belongs in the family forum since it is not biblical in direction

and it's fine to have that discussion, but you are off base regarding some of the indications of your idea of what a bully is

so with all the thing you said regarding Paul, the man did not lift one stone and what he did do, was done out of religious zeal

you seem to have a problem with something the Bible says about Sauls behaviour before he was Paul. Read books of acts. He was consenting to Stephen death and said he was injurious, he threw believers in jail, um, how is that not bullying.

Its kind of like people who justify cruelty saying oh someone else made me do it. I was told to. Well no take some personal responsibiltty for your sins ok?

Ive observed can happen if girls are older they often think they in charge. Because boys can be developmentally delayed in peer groups, its the girls that pick on the boys. The boys do catch up later though. But sometimes can be relentless :-(

Please consider carefully what you said in the latter post, in light of the former. You seem to be blaming the girls' bullying on the boys, or at least making excuses for it, "because boys can be developmentally delayed" (whatever that means).

Have come up with some reasons why people bully..remember Jesus asked saul this question, saul saul why do you persecute me? Bullying is basically the same as persecution. Bullies dont let up on their targets.
When Jesus was asking why do you persecute me hes not just asking as if its happening to him personally but anyone who professes his name.


Ignorance - not knowing how another person feels, lack of empathy, self centredness, pride, absence of the holy spirit (who makes us part of the body of Christ...when we hurt, the whole body hurts)
Unbelief..thinking you are lord instead of Jesus. - pharisees, romans...
Jealousy - the other person is righteous or favoured and you are not. Many examples in the bible...king herod, king saul, cain
Hatred...hating ones enemy or seeing everyone else as the enemy - Jesus says to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us.

I'd add 'poverty mentality': if you have something, then I don't, and if it's something I want, I will either take it or destroy it so you can't have it either. That can include things like peace and joy along with material items.

Acts 9 Saul got past the coat stage into active persecution of the disciples. Paul after his conversion was feared until they saw that he was changed after Christ saved him.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

nah. the problem stems from you believing otherwise then several people tried to tell you

nobody is justifying cruelty here

try to pay better attention. we all know what bullying is but you think anything and everything is being a bully

it isn't

btw, gossip and back stabbing probably does more harm than any sort of physical assault

consider that

The interesting thing is, Jesus told saul that he would cause him to know just how much he has to suffer for his name. So Paul actually got put in prison, stoned, beaten, mocked, shipwrecked, etc. yet through it all Paul never wavered in his devotion to Christ.

Its like Jesus kind of made saul after conversion have a taste of his own medicine. He even had a messenger of satan buffet him, which became a thorn in his flesh just as he had been to others before (remmeber the kicking against the pricks?) but was told by God that His grace was sufficent for him.

We have Jesus to thank that Paul saw the light otherwise history would have been quite different and the gospel may never have reached the gentiles.

Coming back to this thread...

I recall a slang phrase that some people would call churches 'bully pulpits' now I wonder how they got that name. So churches are not immune either.

But apparently theodore roosevelts used theword 'bully' to mean great or superb. I have never heard the word bully to mean something good before. Or maybe its an american thing. So many thing in american language mean just the exact opposite in English. Its like how Michael Jackson tried to make 'bad' mean cool. Well weird al yankovich did a parody of his album and called it 'even worse'.

I would say the main cause of bullying is lack of confidence. Seeing confidence in others.... jealousy blinds the mind and desires other take sides to help ones lack of self control .

Jealousy stacks sides. That in return shows others jealously an anger towards God for bringing them into ones life.

It is why when we do entertain other believers as messengers (angels) we should be careful and both can benefit from the work of God blessing each other according to the mutual faith of Christ working in both , All gifts are two fold in that way. Never for self edification.(for bullies)

I would agree.

Saul before his conversion had "no faith'. Not little none. But a false zeal for knowing God. Therefore not knowing God or not known of God .Shown by the fact he walked by sights as a "law of the fathers" (oral traditions of men) making sola scriptura without effect.. The pagan foundation of all the religions of the world "out of sight out of mind" (again no faith) . Kill the misperceived competition. Like Cain in Genesis 4 .No value in the unseen spiritual things of God.. . . . but rather earthy inspired of the devil.

Good point I had not thought of Saul as acting like Cain before but yes the parallel is there...abel was righteous and Cain was extremely jealous. Instead of Cain admitting he was doing wrong and doing better he thinks getting rid of (eliminating?) the so called competition will solve everything.

I see so many people in workplaces act like that, even in churches. Abel probably had no idea that Cain felt this way . Imagine that his own older brother, someone he may have looked up to and trusted, was wanting to talk with him about something but ends up killing him! What a betrayal.

Do those of us who are like Abels ever know what is in our brothers hearts...are they truly our brothers or false brothers out to kill and condemn us?