And now I think that there is some evidence for Paul being a liar even in Mark.
Only read this crucial passage:
“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
(Mark 13:14)
"let the reader understand" works as an indirect denial that the sense of the proposition is the common sense.
- The common sense about the 'abomination that causes desolation' is that it was a gentile monster placed in the Temple or on the ruins of the Temple.
- the esoterical sense given by the pauline "Mark" is the exact denial of the common sense: the "abomination that causes desolation" is a Jewish monster, a future Jewish rebel who will rebuild the Temple and will be placed inside it.
This is exactly the sense given by Paul in Thessalonians 2:2-12, where the Markan
"let the reader understand" is already anticipated by the Pauline
"now you know what is holding him back":
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
In essentia: both Paul and Mark:
- know that there was a known Jewish source about a prediction of a Pagan monster who will stand in the Temple
- interpret it esoterically to mean that the coming monster in the Temple will be a Jewish monster.
Corollary: the 'abomination of desolation' helps to date surely a
terminus post quem for Mark, but also to realize the Paul's and Mark's common agenda: the use of an anti-Gentile Jewish eschatological prophecy in an anti-Temple/anti-Zealot and pro-Gentile function.
This alone is sufficient to make Paul a
liar on behalf of the Flavian propaganda:
the Absolute Evil is the Jew who will rebuild the Temple.
ADDENDA:
pace Carrier, Mark's Jesus can't be accused of being a failed apocalypticist, since his prophecy has been not still falsified: until today, the temple has not yet been rebuilt by a Jew, hence the 'abomination of desolation' has
yet to appear.