Paul's Conversion! Paul's Conversion. *

* Read the ninth and the twenty-second chapters of Acts.

Paul's Conversion.! Paul's Conversion.
Story No. 1. Story No. 2.
And the men which jour- And they that were with
neyed with him (Paul) stood me saw indeed the light
speechless, hearing a voice, . . . but they heard not the
but seeing no man. voice.

The only way to account for so decisive a disagreement in the narration of, presumably, one of the most significant events in the history of Christianity, is that the writer or writers had no first-hand knowledge of what they were reporting, and that both of the above versions were matters of popular gossip—some holding to the earlier and others to the later accounts, and the narrator, wishing to please both parties, and possessing no reliable data himself, incorporated them both in his report.

An equally impressive event in the rise of Christianity is the suicide of Judas, one of the twelve apostles. That Jesus should have selected Judas for an apostle, knowing he was a murderer in embryo, is puzzling enough, but that there should be no unanimity as to the fate of a man who plays one of the principal rôles in the Christian scheme of salvation, lends serious support to the theory that Judas, too, is a myth. Observe the irreconcilable accounts concerning Judas, as given in Matthew and in the Acts of the Apostles:

* Read the ninth and the twenty-second chapters of Acts.

According to Matthew. According to Acts.
Judas . . brought Now this man (Judas)
again the thirty pieces of purchased a field with the
silver to the chief priests and reward of iniquity. **
elders. *

Matthew's account makes Judas return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders who had bribed him with the amount; the other makes Judas purchase a piece of land with the money.

There are also two contradictory accounts of the way in which Judas met his death.

According to Matthew. According to Acts.
And he (Judas) went and And (Judas) falling head-
hanged himself. *** long, he burst asunder in the
midst and all his bowels
gushed out. ****