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Why did Paul evangelize? Why was he willing to risk his life?
During the past few months, our sister Web site at About-Jesus.org has been building and publishing interactive Google maps showing each of Paul's mission journeys that are described in the Bible's book of Acts.
The maps are useful for people who want to learn more about Paul, who lived about 2000 years ago and saw the resurrected Jesus Christ, and his travels to tell other people about Jesus Christ.
As you can see from the maps, Paul traveled roughly 10,000 miles during the four journeys, by land and by sea. The maps show us the cities and towns scattered throughout western Asia and southern Europe that Paul evangelized in.
More importantly, though, the maps reveal something far more important than journey routes and place names. The maps show us the dedication of a person who lived during the first century of this era, the century in which Jesus lived. Paul traveled throughout the Roman world, preaching about Jesus. He did this at great risk to own health, safety and well-being.
Paul literally risked his life to preach about Jesus. He was threatened, hated, beaten, whipped, stoned and imprisoned. And still, he continued to evangelize.
Why? Where did Paul's dedication come from?
For an answer, we can look to the Bible's book of Acts, where, in Acts chapter 9, we are told that Paul was persecuting Christians when suddenly Jesus, who had been crucified many years beforehand, appeared to Paul.
Acts 9 says that Paul saw the resurrected Jesus Christ and immediately became a Christian. Some people, skeptics and nonbelievers, might dismiss this claim, that Paul saw the resurrected Jesus. But the fact is, it would explain Paul's motivation to travel thousands of miles, at great risk to his own life, to evangelize about Jesus Christ.
And, it would help to explain the miracle of how Christianity managed to survive the first three centuries of this era, during which the Roman Empire often persecuted people for the mere act of preaching about Jesus and for the mere act of accepting Jesus as their savior.
By George Konig
11/4/2007
www.konig.org
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Copyright ©1999-2008 George Konig
www.konig.org
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