Heaven and earth will pass away... But my, Imrahis for ever

2 Corinthians chapter 12 regards Paul's vision. Unless you are claiming that Paul is to be, or has been, reincarnated at one or more points in the future (that is - the future after the vision is supposed to have taken place; syringes didn't exist until 1650 thanks to Pascal^[1]; or 1853 when the hypodermic syringe was invented thanks to Alexander Wood^[2]; the needle was invented by Francis Rynd^[3][4] in 1844^[4]), then this - according to biblical scripture - happened many centuries ago, before the year 2022, before 1853, before 1844, before 1650.




Paul’s Vision and His Thorn
12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know — God knows, ³and I know that this man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows — ⁴was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no-one is permitted to tell. ⁵I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain, so-no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations; therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, ⁹but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"; therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties - for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians
¹¹I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles", even though I am nothing. ¹²I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. ¹³How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? ¹⁶Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! ¹⁷Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. ²⁰For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. ²¹I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.


Footnotes
2 Corinthians 12:11 or the most eminent apostles



This entire passage is Paul loving being a weak individual and being nothing important, and being a willing slave, full of Stockholm Syndrome, for someone or something else. It is saying that the god of christianity is causing a thorn to be in Paul's side, and blaming Satan, to stop Paul from being overly-arrogant and full of himself - or less than that, merely proud. Pride is not a bad thing, necessarily. It is saying this God is blaming Satan for the whipping of Paul to keep Paul in his place and as a slave and unambitious, as if God needs someone to abuse. God is a constant reminder to christians that they must not be ambitious, and must be nothing, etc., and God is blaming Satan for doing so. From all of these things I have mentioned here, seeing as this is biblical scripture, christians are to emulate this; they are forced to believe that they must be small, weak, nothing, empty, useless, etc. "God has to get the glory by you being weak." Why not be strong and proud and stand on your own two feet, and get glory yourself?

Where is the actual translation of "thorn" to mean "syringe"? "Thorn in my side" is a phrase which means that someone or something annoys or frustrates you repeatedly. Not only that, but Paul not only requested God to stop this bad thing from happening, but he "pleaded" with God to make it stop - not once, not twice, but three times; and God refused, forcing Paul to endure it; after which Paul told the story of this vision, accepting that -

• he has to be nothing,
• he has to be weak,
  
• he has to be empty,
  
• God was abusing Paul in order for God to get glory for doing that abuse against Paul and
• Satan, who did nothing wrong, is to be blamed for it

(God has to blame Satan for the bad things God does so that God can get the glory?! ) God is a constant reminder that you have to rely on something else, instead of being self-sufficient - and a constant reminder that God is the thorn in your side... and blaming Satan for bad things happening against you which Satan did not do... all of this when you are relying on something else instead of fixing problems yourself. It is God who is the thorn in the side - "so I will not be conceited". If God is blaming Satan for stopping people from being conceited, then how can Satan possibly be to blame? God needs weak slaves. Being proud and self-sufficient is not being conceited, but seeing as God needs weak slaves, the tiniest amount of pride one has for being self-sufficient and standing on one's own two feet means that of course God would say that Paul is being conceited, despite it being far less than conceit (or would be far less than conceit, if Paul grew a backbone), because God needs the glory of the hardship Paul endured; and God needs Satan to be the whipping boy for the hardship God made Paul endure.

This following question was asked 5 years ago -

Where does the phrase "a thorn in my side" come from?

From the bible!

2 Corinthians 12:7

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

This letter to the Corinthians was written by Paul and it is very clear that he is using the phrase metaphorically. No one knows for sure what he was referring to but many people think it was the blindness that struck him on the road to Damascus when God appeared to him.

Because he used it as a metaphor for some weakness (he refers to his weaknesses shortly after this phrase) it is commonly used in modern times to mean something that plagues you but that you cannot get rid of. An apt usage since Paul said he pleaded three times for the thorn to be removed but God refused.

I do not know if he is the one who actually coined the phrase or if it was already an idiom at the time, but I’m sure a Hebrew or Aramaic scholar may be able to comment on that. It’s also remotely possible that the translation is bad and created the phrase itself. If that’s the case then my answer still stands—it came from the bible. The English translation of it.
^[5]


Further down the same page is a related question -


What did Paul mean by "a thorn in the flesh," and what might that thorn have been (2 Corinthians 12:7)?

"To keep me from becoming overly exalted, I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to keep slapping me, so that I might not be overly exalted." 2 Corinthians 12:7 NW

It is thought, by some, that Paul may have had bad eye-sight. He usually used a secretary to actually write his various letters, but in the case of his letter to the Galatians congregation, he wrote this.

"See with what large letters I have written you with my own hand." Galatians 6:11 NW

Another hint that his "thorn in the flesh" could have been his vision comes from this verse.

"Where is that happiness you had? For I bear you witness that, if it had been possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me" Galatians 4:15 NW

It is possible that Paul had vision problems. However, that is only speculation. The scriptures simply do not say.
^[6]

What is not speculation, however, is that God is a tormentor and causes evil and calamity. Paul was being put through suffering, just to stop him from "being conceited", and not only did he not merely ask God but that he pleaded with God to stop this from happening not once, not twice, but three times, God refused. God forced Paul to suffer. Having pride is not a bad thing, necessarily, but seeing as God is evil and calamitous and disgusting, of course God would call Paul, having some pride and self-sufficiency, conceited, when it is not conceit at all. Paul is not allowed to rely on himself, he is not allowed to be self-sufficient. He has to be more-than bullied and abused, and then God says, "my grace (from the pain and suffering I forced you to endure) is good enough for you, OK? Accept that!". God is basically a non-sexual rapist, an abuser. The word "bully" is too weak and too soft a word to describe this "god". What Paul is saying - seeing as this is biblical scripture and christians have no choice but to emulate what is in it - is that God causes hardships and pains and sufferings; Satan has to be the whipping boy, being blamed for things God does; you have to accept being put through suffering and abuse; God has to get the glory for all of these disgusting things and for the "grace" after doing these disgusting things against you; and people on Earth have to be weak and nothing, not defending themselves, not standing up for themselves, not improving themselves. God is just a mean kid with a magnifying glass - and christians are the ant.^[7]


Trying to claim that "thorn is supposed to be syringe" is seriously grasping at straws - and blaming Satan for it is weak and cowardly and ignorant. Also - what is "imrahis"? "God can do what he wants", claim christians... yet christians continue to blame Satan for the things that God does, when passages like this here prove that God causes problems and blames Satan.


[1] medicine.uq.edu.au/blog/2018/12/history-syringes-and-needles
[2] www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/syringes
[3] ibid
[4] litfl.com/francis-rynd
[5] www.quora.com/Where-does-the-phrase-a-thorn-in-my-side-come-from
[6] ibid.
[7] paraphrase from the Bruce Almighty film