I think that this confirms the idea that Paul, when he was Saul, was not acting out of disdain for God, but out of misguided love. He was a zealous follower and felt he was preserving Gods laws. I think the statement from God to Saul, “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” indicates that even though Saul was zealously doing what he thought was right, he FELT that it might not be.
This is a good lesson for us to remember. Do we zealously follow the Spirit? Or do we zealously follow the more pharisaical “doctrines” of today when dealing with those not of our faith?
Do we not allow our children to play with kids whose families are non-believers? Do we look upon others behavior to determine how “Christian” they are? Do we constantly teach our children why “so and so” is bad or lower class because they made a choice we wouldn’t make? When someone does something of good report or praiseworthy, do we scour their social media accounts to find out what bad things they’ve done? All of these things often come from a mindset of what we believe to be good, but it too is misguided zealousness.
While it may be appropriate at times to help our families understand when someone has behaved poorly, it’s not our job to condemn or demote others, or to teach our children to do so. I believe that behavior is one of our most glaring modern forms of stoning and persecution we see today.
Galatians 1:14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/gal/1?id=p14#p14
