Hi gertie and welcome to the new tribe. I am excited about this space and the intention.

As you know, cells are the basic unit of life for biologists. Thomas Lewis compares the earth to a cellular system, which is apt.

Because what Paul was doing was SO astonishing and radical - preaching to the gentiles - it wasn't until he received Peter's seemingly cautious approval by visiting a Roman's house for dinner that the gentile church sprang up.

Before any of this, Jesus had asked the disciples to preach to the scattered aramaic tribes in Assyria and Northern Africa, THEN teach the gentiles. So the Assyrian Church in fact is the most ancient church, and due to relative historical isolation (in the heart of the Muslim empires) the Assyrian Churches still speak the same colloqial Aramaic as Jesus did.

My understanding is that Paul was the overall co-ordinator, increasingly, relied upon to hold the far-flung cells together. In a few years Paul went from doing manual labor in Ephesus to support himself while he preached, to being imprisoned as a heroic figure. His heart was focused, I feel, on spreading the message of lovingness and goodness and purity even in jail.

Paul's statements about women being quiet in church seem strange now. But that was the times for patriarchy in that society, I suppose.

Biologists don't know how cells "know" how to diversify into heart, lung, skin and brain cells etc. The organising power of the body seems to me to be a genuine Holy Spirit, and the same as that which orders our hearts and minds towards happiness and peace.

Thanks for contributing gertie! I appreciate you kicking off dialog with such a thoughtful post.

Welcome all.
Namaste!

Paul Bard.