Pffftt!

This is Paul writing in his second letter to the followers of Jesus living in Corinth.

He's recounting the price he has paid in being a spreader of the Good News of Jesus.

How many of us would endure just one such treatment, let alone all of them?



2 Corinthians 11

23 Are they servants of Christ? 

I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! 

I have worked harder, 

been put in prison more often, 

been whipped times without number, 

and faced death again and again.

24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods. 

Once I was stoned. (dan note: he was left for dead!) 

Three times I was shipwrecked. 

Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

26 I have traveled on many long journeys. 

I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. 

I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. 

I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. 

And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.

27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. 

I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. 

I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.


  28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? 

Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?



  30 If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.

31 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying.

32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the city gates to catch me.

33 I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall to escape from him.



I always think of this passage whenever I hear anyone talking (or whining) about how their "religious freedom" is being infringed upon.

Pffftt!