Corrupting the Old Testament at all costs?

Thank you Ifen, for that well bridled tirade.Be assured that you are not alone in your small town experience: being brought up surrounded by well meaning idiots.Were it not for the ridiculous doctrines and really bad Christians out there, I might never have abandoned the church and come to know the joyous freedom of independent Bible study.db

Was the synagogue not an international organization then, as now?

The synagogue, as an international organization, would not recognize national (Syrian) boundaries or alien (Roman) rules of conduct. They were surely self-policing and must have considered the renegades (Christian sect) as within their jurisdiction and subject to their justice.I think this is reasonable assumption and avoids an unnecessary attack on the NT. Lord knows there are plenty of other reasons to be skeptical of it.On the other hand, this is an off the cuff response to your post and I have been known to eat my words. db

What you say is true, of course, but despite the wonderful attributes of Roman law and order, I expect that dissidents (Hebrew nationalists) did whatever they could get away with: The stoning of Stephen for example. These acts were doubtless illegal in the context of Roman Law, although I expect they were readily justifiable in the context of Yahwistic fervor. Yes?db

You rightly point out problems and challenges for Paul's role as persecutor. I expect that a lot of illegal and unsavory activity was going on under the Roman nose but whether they knew of it, or cared about it, or had the manpower to deal with it is another matter.I'm glad you brought up this subject. I had never before considered this aspect of the story. For me, at this point, it seems all too believable. The Romans didn't really have as much control as they would have liked people to believe. Seems to me that if the situation had been easier for them to manage, they would not have found it necessary to sack Jerusalem.This is probably my last response for the moment. I look forward to taking this up later today.db