Why Was It Against The Law To Make Friends With A Gentile?
Answer: A Gentile was anyone who was not a Jew. It wasn’t against the law to make friends with a Gentile.
Instead, God wanted the Jewish people not to copy and be like Gentiles because they didn’t follow the Jewish laws and didn’t worship the true God.
Some Jews wouldn’t even walk through Gentile towns. Jews did accept some Gentiles into their religion.
They were called “God-fearers.” By breaking down this barrier, the message about Jesus could be taken to everybody, not just Jews.
God wants us to accept all people and not think we’re superior just because we know God.
Key verse: Peter told them, “You all know about the Jewish laws. They say it is wrong for me to come into a Gentile home like this.
But God has shown me in a vision that I should never think of anyone as impure.” (Acts 10:28)
Related Verses: John 4:9; Acts 10:1-11:30; Galatians 2:11-16
Related question: What is a Gentile?
Why Was Saul Blinded By A Bright Light?
Answer: At first, Saul (also known as Paul) was totally against Jesus and anyone who followed him.
In fact, he watched and approved when a Christian named Stephen was killed for believing in Christ.
Saul hated Christians so much that he got permission to capture them and put them in jail.
But God had other plans for Saul’s life. One day, while Saul was traveling to another city to look for Christians, he was blinded by a bright light.
God used the light to get Saul’s attention. Then Jesus appeared to him. Through this experience, Saul believed in Jesus.
He became a strong follower of Christ and a great missionary. Instead of trying to get rid of Christians, he went all over the world helping people become Christians.
He wrote many letters to those Christians; some of those letters are in our Bibles today.
Key verses: Saul was almost to Damascus to arrest the believers there. But suddenly a bright light from Heaven shone down on him!
He fell to the ground. And he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you trying to hurt me?” (Acts 9:3-4)
Related verses: Acts 7:59-60; 9:1-8;26:1-18; Galatians 1:13-14
Related question: Which books of the Bible did Paul write?
Note to parents: Paul wrote Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.