I actually liked Paul a lot, he was a bit radical, always seemed to be on the fringes of the church. I esp. liked the time that he refused to live off charity but preferred to hold a job and work for his living and give the gospel for free. When my husband and I left the main-hub of Japan and moved to outskirts, we decided to follow Paul' fasion, and work rather than beg, and give the gospel for free. It was a relief actually, to not be begging anymore, and it was different cause noone else was really doing it. It had its drawbacks of course, the young people living with us were not strong enough to remain solid Family kids (all of them eventually left the group), and we saw more and more hypocrisy in the group. Actually, in all honesty, I didn't work much, I was taking care of my kids and the house, and my husband didn't work outside the house, he got translation work from agencies.
Anyway, the main question I have is, how much of the preachings of Paul do you consider the foundational beliefs of Christianity? I mean, he was pretty hard on women, that is true, and if we all lived according to his teachings, we'd be ugly old hags with no say in our lives (kind of like Islam?--'cept I don't know about the ugly part).
I consider that if a book such as the Bible claims to be the Word of God, then what is in there should be followed to the tiniest detail. But if that were true, then I think our lives would be a bit more miserable and racist then they are (consider the Jews killing off all other religions, kids, animals included).
So where is the true essense of Christianity found and when you read the Bible, how much do you pick and choose from it? Do you feel that Christians should do a better job of following closer to the Bible and the description given in it? Or is some of it outdated?
But wait a minute, remember, this is the Word of God and the prophets wrote as they were moved by God's spirit? How could it be outdated?