In old Ireland, epilepsy was known as 'Saint Paul's disease'.

The name points to the centuries-old assumption that the apostle suffered from epilepsy.

To support this view, people usually point to Saint Paul's experience on the road to Damascus, reported in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament (Acts 9, 3-9), in which Paul, or Saul as he was known before his conversion to Christianity, is reported to have an encounter or a fit similar to an epileptic seizure:

'...suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him: ''Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?''...Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but he could not see a thing... For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.'

Saul's sudden fall, the fact that he first lay motionless on the ground but was then able to get up unaided, led people very early on to suspect that this dramatic incident might have been caused by a grand mal seizure. In more recent times, this opinion has found support from the fact that sight impediment-including temporary blindness lasting from several hours to several days-has been observed as being a symptom or result of an epileptic seizure and has been mentioned in many case reports.

In his letters St Paul occasionally gives discreet hints about his 'physical ailment', by which he perhaps means a chronic illness.

In the second letter to the Corinthians, for instance, he states: 'But to keep me from being puffed up with pride... I was given a painful physical ailment, which acts as Satan's messenger to beat me and keep me from being proud.' (2 Corinthians, 12,7).

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul again describes his physical weakness: 'You remember why I preached the gospel to you the first time; it was because I was ill. But even though my physical condition was a great trial to you, you did not despise or reject me.' (Galatians 4, 13-14)

Perhaps more than any other know famous epileptic, Apostle Paul had all the clear visible symptoms of temporal epilepsy.

Aside from he grand epileptic fit that had him see visions and voices of Jesus, he became overly religious , and according scriptures, contunued to suffer from seizures for the rest of his apostolic career.

In addition, Paul obviously suffered from hyper-graphia.
Hyper-graphia.

The phenomenon of hypergraphia, or the tendency toward extensive and, in some cases, compulsive writing, in temporal lobe epilepsy is described in seven patients, in each of whom there was electroencephalographic demonstration of a temporal lobe focus. Unusually detailed and strikingly copious writing was evidenced in each patient. Six patients provided documentation of their extensive writing, which often was concerned with religious or moral issues. A seventh patient claimed to have written extensively, but refused to exhibit his writings. Aggressiveness, religiosity, and changes in sexual behavior in temporal lobe disorders have been described previously.

The hypergraphia of temporal lobe epilepsy appears to be part of a specific behavioral syndrome of special interest because of its association with dysfunction at specific anatomic loci.

In addition to the above, from scripture, Paul also suffered from Hypo-sexuality.

Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is considered a sexual dysfunction and is characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity, as judged by a clinician. For this to be regarded as a disorder, it must cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulties and not be better accounted for by another mental disorder, a drug (legal or illegal), or some other medical condition.-Wiki

In 1 Corinthians 7:7 Paul wrote:
7. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8: Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9:But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Paul, of course, was single, but had this “gift” of not requiring close female companionship .

The bolded above is what may be termed Hypo-active sexual desire disorder, a well known symptom of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy(TLE) .

So, from the foregoing,
We see that Apostle Paul had all clear symptoms of TLE.

He;

1. A grand mal epileptic seizure that caused him to see and hear voices.

2. Suffered from hypergraphia. His many epistles clearly demonstrate that disorder.

3. Suffered Hyposexuality. Obvious from scriptures that he lacked sexual desires and any attraction to opposite sex, and envied those that did.

Next:
Prophet Mohammed.

Anyone seeing a pattern yet?

Stay tuned.

you have a witness bro! i see them patterns clearly.

While we are at it,why don't we add Obadiah to the mix!
That crazy Hebrew Israelite Prophet clearly displays most of the aforementioned symptoms namely
*Hypergraphia(Read his exegesis)
*Paranoia(The Lord's nukes ),
*Schizophrenia

He would make a most excellent addition to the list.

Following thread.out of those u ve mention i kinda see more sense in dat of apostle paul and dat egyptian pharaon who is speculated to be moses.

Creatrixity: While we are at it,why don't we add Obadiah to the mix!
That crazy Hebrew Israelite Prophet clearly displays most of the aforementioned symptoms namely
*Hypergraphia(Read his exegesis)
*Paranoia(The Lord's nukes ),
*Schizophrenia

He would make a most excellent addition to the list.

Yes. I have mentioned it briefly in another thread that Obadiah777 is a schizotypal personality and our very evolved Nairaland Shaman. The fascinating thing we are discovering is that evolutionary errors actually make room for the existence of the Obadiahs of this world.
Their apparent oddness makes them a rallying point for the consciousness of the community.

Obadiah777 has clearly demonstrated that here in NL.
Genius or madman?
Whichever suits you.

And now back to our roll call.

Next is Prophet Mohammed.


There appears to be a strong correlation between the symptoms of epilepsy and the witness descriptions of Muhammad's condition while in his "trances". Epilepsy (the "sacred disease", also known as the "falling sickness" is what the ancients thought were demon possessions. Muhammad was known to have had epileptic symptoms from at least the age of 5. His guardians were (allegedly) afraid he was demon possessed and pawned him off on other relatives.

Epilepsy would explain Muhammad's visions and preoccupation with spirituality and his solitary retreats to the mountains for contemplative meditation. Many epileptics describe the spiritual sensations surrounding seizures as so exquisite that they actually look forward to these fits. Fyodor Dostoevsky claimed that he would not trade 10 years of life for a single epilepsy-induced spiritual experience.

Ignorant and superstitious people, especially in Muhammad's day, were easily impressed by these seizures. They seemed real, because they were. However, they weren't demon possessions or contact with God; they were epileptic fits. These fits are reported to have scared Muhammad until his wife (the first, ever, Muslim) convinced him that they were divine communiqués. That's right . . . Muhammad's wife was the first Muslim - Muhammad was the second to believe.

There is only anecdotal evidence that Muhammad was an epileptic. It's just a theory. But, due to the preponderance of evidence, many historians and researchers believe it. The first to suggest it was the Greek monk, Theophanes. Theophanes (752-817) wrote, in his "Chronography", that Muhammad suffered from epilepsy. In 1869, Sir William Muir, made the same connection in his book, "The Life of Mahomet". More recently, Clifford Pickover writes:
Dostoevsky, another famous epileptic whose works are filled with ecstatic visions of universal love (and terrible nightmares of uncanny fear and radical evil), thought it was obvious that Mohammad's visions of God were triggered by epilepsy. "Mohammad assures us in this Koran that he had seen Paradise," Dostoevsky notes. "He did not lie. He had indeed been in Paradise - during an attack of epilepsy, from which he suffered, as I do."

Is anyone seeing a pattern?

plaetton: Is anyone seeing a pattern?

I see butthurt coming your way. What intoxicated you to make the link between the prophet and epilepsy? You know that the guys in the other section don't like to heart the truth about their prophet!

Logicboy03:




I see butthurt coming your way. What intoxicated you to make the link between the prophet and epilepsy? You know that the guys in the other section don't like to heart the truth about their prophet!

I don't know why truth stings so much.
Perhaps most human minds prefer too exist in a state of conflict and confusion.

plaetton:


I don't know why truth stings so much.
Perhaps most human minds prefer too exist in a state of conflict and confusion.

Amazing job.

Nawa o.

Wow!!! Great post!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a 2 dimensional illustration of the founders of religion in both Africa and the Indian sub continent!!!!!!

@Plaetton,

How do you explain the miracles Jesus and Paul performed, since your explanations assumes they existed and those stories were true.

NairalandSARS:
@Plaetton,

How do you explain the miracles Jesus and Paul performed, since your explanations assumes they existed and those stories were true.

There is no evidence that any such miracles were performed.
Much in the same way that there is no evidence that any Nigerian pastor performs miracles, even though millions of Nigerians believe that pastors perform miracles.

Don't forget that religion, by it's very nature, relies on people to BELIEVE in unsubstantiated claims, and applies direct and suble forms of blackmail to cement such beliefs.

Don't forget, that in 1st century Palestine, Christianity was a small movement competing with hundreds of century-old religions and well established philosophical movements.
In order to gain momentum and reach critical mass, it had to ' up the ante' , so to speak, by fabricating and boasting of miraculous feats. Same thing that today's Pentecostal fraudsters do here in Nigeria to gain market share the highly competitive religion market, for example,

In fact, Father Eusebius, the grand daddy of PIUS FRAUD, and who probably had the greatest influence in the authorship , compilation and editing and redaction of the biblical scriptures, once boasted , albeit indirectly, that it was a normal thing to exaggerate and fabricate events just like the other competing religions did.

Besides, a good understanding of the cultural and religious practices of the different sects in 1st Palestine will show that most of the feats promoted as miracles can easily be explained as exaggerated and misinterpreted cultural and religious rituals.

For example, Jesus turning water in Wine, raising Lazarus from the Dead, healing lepers Jesus crucifixion, resurrection and ascension can all be easily explained as coded religious ritualism of a particular sect within the cultural and religious Mosaic of 1st century Palestine.